It can seem daunting to send a marketing follow-up email to your company’s leads. If your business is looking for ways to entice potential customers, email marketing can be incredibly effective. If written correctly, marketing follow-up emails can convert leads into customers. However, there are rules and best practices you need to be aware of before writing another email to a prospect.
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What is a lead follow-up email?
When you send a marketing follow-up email to a lead, you are contacting your prospective client. You might be reaching out to someone you met at an in-person event, someone who has just subscribed to your email list, or someone who started a free trial of your service. In any number of situations, it could be appropriate to send a follow-up email.
You can send a follow-up email manually or automatically. Many companies choose to automate their emails with marketing software like Mailchimp or Constant Contact. It’s important to stress that when sending marketing follow-up emails, you need to have a planned strategy. You can even test out different strategies to see what works best for your business.
Why send a marketing follow-up email?
Remaining in contact with leads and keeping them up to date with your company is essential to growing your business. Consumers are constantly receiving emails each day, and it can be difficult to keep up. There’s a fine line between keeping your lead informed and pestering them. You want your company to stand out. Being able to write good follow-ups can turn leads into customers, and, as we all know, customers keep a business going.
How to write a follow-up email
As stated before, there are many different scenarios in which you might want to send someone a marketing follow-up email. Before we give you a few hypothetical situations and introduce you to some lead follow-up templates, let’s go over some of the basics.
Start off strong
The subject line of your email is important, so don’t be vague. If you are offering the recipient something, whether it’s a discount code, rewards points, or your business is having a sale, make sure to flaunt it by including it in the subject line. If you don’t have something to offer your lead, you want to find something relevant that will draw them to open the email.
In addition to creating a compelling subject line, you must greet your lead. Don’t just launch into your announcement. Make the email feel comfortable to the person you’re talking to. Start with a simple “Hello” or “Hi.” Adding the lead’s name after a greeting is always a good way to start off as well.
Know your audience
Before writing a marketing follow-up email to a specific person, consider how they will receive the message. You want to personalize your message as much as you possibly can. This means including the person’s name in the greeting or possibly even the subject line. You can also remind them of how they have interacted with your business in the past. For instance, if you met this person at a conference or they’ve expressed interest in your company in the past, remind them of it.
If you’re sending out automated marketing follow-up emails to a group of people, take in mind the demographics that your business generally interacts with. Incorporate sentiments that you know will please your readers. Use whatever information you have about the people you are contacting to your advantage. If you’re sending out a marketing follow-up email to a particularly large group of people, it could be beneficial to segment your contacts.
Keep the email focused
The biggest mistake you can make when writing a follow-up email is losing sight of the email’s purpose. You don’t want to bombard your lead with too much information. In a first follow-up email, you want to remind your lead of the circumstances of your connection, thank them for their time or interest, and encourage them to take a specific action and interact with your company. You can mention new products, company updates, and the like in later follow-ups. Keep it short and sweet.
End with a call to action
Remember to remind your lead to interact with your company in whatever way you believe they should. If this person isn’t yet on your email list, you can start gently by urging them to sign up for it. You can also, link them to your website by asking them to join forces with your company or telling them to learn more about your company.
However, if you know the lead has a specific problem that you feel your company has the solution to, don’t be afraid to suggest the solution outright. A personalized call to action can be effective at the end of a marketing follow-up email.
Lead follow-up templates
Here are some hypothetical situations and templates for you to use in a marketing follow-up email.
Template 1 – After they subscribed for a free trial
Subject line: Make the most of your free trial
Hi [name],
Thank you for your interest in [product or service]. To make sure that you’re getting the most out of your free trial, we wanted to send you a list of resources, including tutorials and articles to help you start you off. Be sure to check them out.
If you have any questions, concerns, or if you simply want to chat, feel free to reach out any time.
Best,
Template 2 – After no response
Subject line: More about [company name]
Hey [name],
I wanted to follow up on the email I sent about [subject of email] on [day email was sent]. I think you and [company] would benefit greatly from working with us. See attached a case study we conducted with [similar company] and how we helped them with [pain point]. If you’d like to discuss our services in more detail, I’d love to schedule a phone call.
Warm regards,
Template 3 – After they subscribed to your blog
Subject line: Welcome to [blog name]
Hi [name],
We just wanted to say thank you for subscribing to our blog and welcome. [Blog name] offers you the best content from leading experts in [industry].
Feel free to let us know why you subscribed and what kind of content you’re looking for specifically. Additionally, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns about our content, don’t hesitate to let us know.
Sincerely,
Template 4 – After they bought one of your products
Subject line: Like your [product]? Write a review!
Hey [name],
Thank you for your purchase! Let us know about your experience by leaving a review at [link]. If for some reason you’re not satisfied with [product], let us know so we can help.
Thanks again,
Other things to keep in mind
As stated before, there is a fine line between spamming people with emails and keeping them up to date with your business. It’s important to keep that balance, and the way to do it is through having a good email marketing strategy. Being able to send good marketing follow-up emails is part of this.
When to send a marketing follow-up email
You might be asking yourself when you should send a follow-up email. Try not to reach out too soon after your first email goes without a response. Not allowing the recipient time to respond could risk losing them as a lead.
There are also optimal times to send an email. Studies have suggested that you should avoid sending emails at night, on the weekend, and on Mondays. The best time to send an email out is mid-week from 1 to 3 pm. Of course, take time zones into consideration.
Know when to move on
It’s best to avoid passive aggression even after sending out multiple follow-up emails with no response. Try to keep your tone professional and polite no matter what. It’s important to know when to give up. If someone messages you back asking to be removed from your mailing list, remove them immediately. Moving onto a new lead will help you in the long run.
Why marketing follow-up emails matter
Persistent contact is important in marketing. Keeping up your base of consumers and staying in touch improves your brand recognition. Any time your interaction with leads goes up, your potential to convert them to customers goes up. If you pay attention to each of your leads individually and keep an eye on your analytics, you can find the right email strategy for your company to grow.
If you’re interested in learning more about email marketing or have any questions about marketing follow-up emails, don’t hesitate to contact SEO Design Chicago today. We offer services for email marketing including building your email list, improving your click-through rate, and more. Contacts us if you want to send the kind of emails that customers want to open.
FAQ
- How do you write a follow-up email?
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- What is a follow-up email?
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