In the outbound campaign, the first email is not the most important thing on your way to success. Of course, you cannot be great without starting it anyway. But you do not have to focus on the open and reply rate of that message. You can achieve much higher results with the follow up emails. Every cold email campaign can benefit from such approach a lot. That is why it is crucial for an online marketer to learn how to use it. This article is dedicated to this topic and will help you to learn the basic aspect of professional following-up.
Features of Good Follow Ups
We have started with the general importance of the follow-ups in the online marketing. However, the whole their usefulness is achieved via their quality. That is why you need to define what follow up can be called good.
The first parameter here is the content. Let’s say the person just forgot about your previous email and the kind reminder will serve a great deal in getting new client or partner. But you need to provide the valuable reason to open your follow-up email in the first place and then show the value of your business to the target person.
The second thing you need to take care of is the reference to the previous message. This is the follow-up email, not the cold one. The person may remember you or the new letter will remind the previous one. Do not make it sound like it is the first touch. Provide some references to the previous message to refresh its main point and add some new info (updates, products, features etc.).
Quick checklist about general follow-up email quality
- Short as possible. Treasure the receiver’s time and get straight to the point.
- Clear and easy-to-answer. Have a professional email signature and make your message understandable to the person, as well as its purpose and provide the reply feature or call-to-action.
- Reference to the previous email. Provide the logical tread with the offer and info you have provided before.
- Natural writing. Write in a human language and avoid robotic phrases, make it feel like it is a real-life communication.
Quantity and Frequency
Marketers know that the number of the follow-ups depends on the quantity of the previous interactions. Considering cold emailing, up to two follow-ups are enough. But if you have already set the contact and had the communication with your prospect, this number can vary depending on the type of action you want to achieve. There is no any universal solution, however, the common practices show that up to 8 emails are okay.
Speaking of the frequency of follow-ups, you need to stick to the principle of the “pleasant persistence” which encourages us to look for the golden mean. Good tool for cold emailing and follow-up delivery is the Remail.io service. This tool will help to control the frequency of emailing and reaching the prospects at the required time. Start with one week period to let the person answer your email. Make sure the adress is real using verifying email address service. Then you can use the following scheme:
- 1st day – first follow up;
- 2nd day – 2nd
- 7th day – 3rd;
- 14th day – 4th;
- 28th day – 5th;
- 58th day – 6th;
- (next emails in a monthly frequency).
Also, there is an approach when you deliver follow-up in three days in case of no answer and then the next one in a week. The last email contains the visible and clear option to reply in order to show whether the person is interested.
Be Patient with Follow-up Campaigns
Remember that we are writing to real people with their own interests, businesses, and priorities. And often the cold and follow-up emails are not the top things in this rating. That is why people may answer in a few days or even weeks when they have time. That it is better not to overdo the following up, but be constituent and understandable. But still, keep doing it in a wise manner and set the connections with receivers who miss the chance to know you via the cold email.