Sales follow-up e-mail: Templates, examples, and tips

You’ve met a promising contact or hope that you have found a new potential customer: Then don’t let them slip through your fingers! Even if an initial contact was not suc­cess­ful, you should not throw in the towel just yet. From everyday office life, you probably know how often an e-mail can be over­looked amid the flood of messages. That’s why it’s worth checking again, and writing a sales follow-up e-mail. You might well prompt your contact to make a first or renewed purchase after all.

Far too often, even ex­per­i­enced salespeople give up too early – for fear of being too per­sist­ent or because they are concerned that the effort might not justify the reward. After all, writing and or­gan­ising e-mails takes a lot of time – time you could be spending with other contacts. Here’s a trick to make your life easier: Use sales follow-up e-mail templates. This way, you will always have for­mu­la­tions and struc­tures at your fin­ger­tips; you only need to enter in­di­vidu­al contact details and facts.

We have put together several templates for different purposes for you to use.

Let’s assume that you’ve made a promising contact at a trade fair or an informal net­work­ing event. During your con­ver­sa­tion, the person was very in­ter­ested in your offer of products or services. He presented you with his business card and said that you could get in touch with him anytime. You’ve already tried to reach your new contact by phone or e-mail, but you didn’t get any answer. However, this should not prevent you from trying again. It is not uncommon to need several attempts to turn a contact into a customer. Effective sales follow-up e-mails can increase the like­li­hood of a response.

Everything starts with the subject line. This is the first and sometimes the only thing the recipient of your e-mail will see. If you are not already con­vin­cing here, the e-mail will most likely end up in the trash. The aim is to pique the interest of the recipient. Rhet­or­ic­al questions, for example, are suitable for this. However, subject lines that address the re­cip­i­ents’ concrete problems or goals are also par­tic­u­larly apt. Make it clear in the subject line that you have a solution to offer. In this respect, the follow-up e-mail differs only a little from the cold e-mail you write to try to make first contact.

Otherwise, the wording of the subject line depends heavily on the level you are at. Is this the first attempt or have you already sent several e-mails without success? After a few un­answered messages, you can ask yourself if it’s worth trying something new. Good subject lines for different situ­ations can be found in our model sales follow-up e-mails.

The following applies in terms of content: as short as possible, as detailed as necessary. You can assume that your contact doesn’t want to spend much time wading through e-mails. Long messages are a deterrent. But if you get to the point within a few sentences, your message will be like a breath of fresh air among the pile of un­so­li­cited e-mails.

Clear in­struc­tions make it easy for potential customers to reply to your message. You want people to answer you directly. If, on the other hand, the reader still needs to think long and hard about how best to write back, he or she will put off dealing with the e-mail and then forget about it al­to­geth­er. You can achieve rapid feedback with clear questions or in­struc­tions (without issuing commands).

In addition to the content, the time of sending is also decisive for the success or failure of your message. If the e-mails come too thick and fast, the messages can be seen as annoying; if spaced too far apart, any interest sparked will already have dis­ap­peared again. As a rule of thumb, wait three to four days between two e-mails. The gaps can grow from e-mail to e-mail. This will give the other person enough time to write a reply, if that is what he or she had in mind. The best time for sending depends on the recipient’s habits. It is difficult to make hard and fast rules here.

When sending sales follow-up e-mails, you can do a lot wrong, but also a lot right. Creative ideas and honest offers will set you apart from the crowd.

The sales de­part­ment relies on follow-up e-mails in various situ­ations. You should also design your e-mails according to how the contact process has pro­gressed up to this point.

You have met a potential customer who is in­ter­ested in your offer at a trade fair or in another context. You have received their contact details, and now it is up to you to turn the initially expressed interest into a sale.

In this e-mail, you already refer to an earlier meeting in the subject line. This increases the like­li­hood that the message will not im­me­di­ately end up in the bin. In the content, you briefly recall the ad­vant­ages of your offer in key points, but otherwise it is short and to the point. By asking a specific question at the end, you make it easier for the recipient to answer the question.

You were able to discuss the basic aspects of your product over the phone with a contact, but you have not yet received a final decision. Don’t wait for your in­ter­locutor to get in touch with you, but be proactive.

With an e-mail like this, you position yourself as an expert who wants to help the person you are writing to. You also give your contact something tangible. Now he can read what was discussed on the phone again in detail. By referring to a specific point in the in­form­a­tion material, you also signal that you are dealing with your contact person’s in­di­vidu­al situation.

You have already tried to reach your new contact on the phone, but only reached the answering machine. Of course, you left a message, but it is still a good idea to send an e-mail af­ter­wards.

Since you have left a message on the answering machine and you would like to have a telephone call anyway to talk things through properly, you can keep it brief here. You display ap­pre­ci­ation for the recipient and you don’t make any ac­cus­a­tions. At the end, you offer two options for how the contact should proceed further.

You’ve already sent an e-mail but have not received a reply. Many leave it at that, but that doesn’t have to be the end of it by any means. Write to your contact again, maybe this time you’ll catch him at a good moment.

You can assume that the first message didn’t convince your contact. Therefore it makes sense to name further ad­vant­ages of your offer. Make it clear that you have been thinking about the company and its chal­lenges. This is why you highlight a specific objective of the company in the subject line.

You have not received a reply even after several e-mails, but there’s no need to give up yet. Instead of con­tinu­ing to point out the ad­vant­ages of your offer, you can now adopt a more personal note.

In such an e-mail you show goodwill and give positive signals. There’s no need to state any sales arguments now. Instead, try to appeal to your contact person on a personal level.

It makes sense not to give up directly, but at some point enough is enough: After about five attempts, you can stop sending more sales follow-up e-mails to a non-re­spons­ive contact. In your last attempt, you change the strategy once again. Make it clear that you are only trying to make contact one more time. The recipient of the message could actually be suffering from the FOMO effect (fear of missing out): His concern about missing out on a good offer forever might still prompt him to make contact.

You make it clear to the recipient of the e-mail that you will not send any further messages to him in the future. At the same time, you give the person a simple way out: All your contact has to do is answer and he’s still in the race. Do not reproach your contact or try to persuade him actively. Instead, thank him for sup­port­ing your (supposed) tidying-up campaign.

If you don’t receive a reply to this e-mail either, it is really time to let sleeping dogs lie. If you try to get in touch with him again, you will only undermine your cred­ib­il­ity. It’s highly likely that the contact won’t be in touch anyway.