Whether you’re writing a follow-​up email to an existing client or a prospect, it needs to be carefully written. How will anyone take you seriously if your email is full of spelling and/​or grammatical errors? Or worse: Your content is completely off base. In a recent HubSpot article, Max Benz offers some advice on how to format and what to include in various types of follow-​up emails. In addition, if you're really struggling ask your manager for training on follow-​up emails.

Writing Follow-​Up Emails

To Cold Prospects

Follow-​up emails are a touchy subject when it comes to reaching out to prospects who have never responded to you. For starters, you’re not following up on anything the prospect was involved with or benefited from, such as a sale. You don’t even know for sure if they’re interested in your product or service. Also, how many emails is too many? It can be difficult to tell when to give up on a cold lead. But what if you didn’t have to determine that yourself?

Benz recommends that, after sending a few introductory emails to a prospect, send a follow-​up email that openly offers the ability to unsubscribe from your messages. Obviously you need to make it friendly. Just casually add a line in your email that says something along the lines of, “If you’d prefer to not receive these emails anymore, click 'No' below,” with yes and no buttons under that line. “Sometimes leads are just not ready to buy but might want to in the near future,” says Benz. “By allowing them to choose whether or not to stay subscribed, you’ll make sure you're only keeping your qualified cold leads to nurture — all while removing the rest to save time and money.”

To Qualified Prospects

Sometimes you get within an inch of the meeting when you’ll finally close the deal… and then the line goes cold. What happened? Does the prospect need more incentive? Your training on follow-​up emails should have included a section on this situation. Definitely, you’ll want to send a follow-​up email to find out. However, you don’t want to make it seem as if you’re being demanding or placing blame on them for the missed meeting.

When this happens, send a personalized follow-​up email that spotlights the good your product or service could do for the prospect’s company. Benz turns to an email from Twilio to Starbucks as an example. The introductory line reads, “After sending my last email, I got really excited and wanted to share some ideas I had on how Starbucks could leverage Twilio.” Your email should then display a bullet point list of specifics on how your prospect’s product or service could help them achieve a goal you’ve previously discussed. Your prospect’s main concern is their company’s well-​being, so spotlight that to renew their attention.

To New Clients

The best way to let a new client know that you’ll continue to care about them beyond the closing of the sale is to send a follow-​up email. Benz lists a customer service email from Apple as a great example. A few of the lines to take note of are, “Please feel free to send us an email for any concerns that you may have with the iTunes Store. We are just an email away and will always be happy to assist you.

Basically, be gracious, be pleasant, and be available. Those are the keys to stellar follow-​up emails. Don't be afraid to review your training on follow-​up emails in order to keep you approach fresh and effective.

Topic=follow-up email for training