To maximize your results and ROI from your cold email campaigns, you need to be sending a series of follow up emails.
Our data from over 1.7 million emails sent using QuickMail found that 55% of replies come from a follow up. That’s right — following up will more than double your reply rate.
If you’re in the process of crafting your follow ups, this guide is for you. We’ll show you actionable follow up templates you can use in your campaigns to increase your reply rates and close more business.
Let’s jump in.
How Do You Write a Follow Up Email?
In this guide, we’re going to skip past the follow up best practices and tips. If you’re just getting started with your follow ups, you can read our best practice guide here.
To sum up the benefits, here’s what you need to do in every follow up email:
Be helpful and find ways to show value to your prospects
Ease sales objections by showing your past results and wins
Use a simple call-to-action and make it easy for prospects to say “yes” and start a conversation
With those three ingredients, you’ll have most of your follow up needs covered.
But, it always helps to see some real examples.
In the next section, we’ll show you real examples of follow up email templates that you can tweak and start using in your cold outreach.
Make sure to customize each email template for your campaigns to ensure you stand out in your prospect’s inbox and never get caught in a spam filter.
10 Follow Up Email Templates
1. Polite Follow Up Email to a Potential Client
Any effective cold email sequence will include follow up emails. Follow ups aren’t pushy or rude. Instead, they’re a way to politely remind your prospect that there’s an interesting email waiting for them. As long as your email offers value, there’s no harm in sending 2-6 follow ups.
Each follow up should add value. Avoid using the overdone “bumping this up in your inbox” approach, and instead, use your email to highlight an additional case study, add social proof, or ask your prospect a question.
Send your follow up in the same email thread as your first email, keeping the same subject line.
Here’s a template you can use:
Subject: Question about {{company.name}}
Hi {{prospect.first_name}}
I thought you’d be interested in seeing this case study of how we helped a software company just like {{company.name}} redesign their key landing pages and increase their conversion rate by 20%.
Do you have time for a quick chat to see if we can help {{company.name}} in a similar way?
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
The template is simple but intriguing. For example, when you bring up real and specific results, it's hard for your potential clients to ignore them. As well as that, keeping your call-to-action (CTA) simple and direct makes it easy for your prospect to reply.
2. Warm Follow Up Email After Meeting at a Conference or Online
Whether you’ve just attended an in-person networking event or regularly engage with people in your industry on LinkedIn or Twitter, sending a warm follow up email is a good way to further build your relationship with prospects and potential collaborators.
The first step is to have a clear reason for following up. The first step is to have a clear reason for following up. For example, if you had a brief conversation on LinkedIn about an industry trend, you can use that as an icebreaker to start a further conversation or schedule a call.
The main thing with this follow up template is that you don’t directly attempt to sell. If you do that, you’ll look inauthentic and show that you care more about a sale than a relationship.
Subject: Met at [first meeting location]
Hi {{prospect.first_name}}
Great chatting to you at {{prospect.custom.Meeting_Location}} about {{prospect.custom.Conversation_Topic}}!
Wanted to check in to see how things are going with {{company.name}}? It would be great to learn more about how you’re approaching [challenge]. Happy to share our playbook too.
Want to set up a quick call this week or next to chat?
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
Depending on the context or your first meeting, this template will change. If you only had a 5-minute conversation and exchanged emails, you might want to use a softer CTA and focus on starting a conversation over email.
But, if you spoke for 20 minutes and are confident they’ll be happy to have a call, you can approach it with a stronger CTA. As long as you leave a good first impression and show you’re not following up just to sell to them, most people will be happy to schedule a meeting.
3. Re-Engaging an Unresponsive Client
It happens to every business — you’re emailing with an existing client, and then, nothing. It happens when your clients have a packed schedule and other priorities.
It’s on you to re-engage them and make sure they want to keep working with you. You need to show them that you empathize with how busy they are and ensure they know you want to move forwards.
Here’s a template you can use to re-engage with your clients.
Subject: Still want to keep working together?
Hi {{prospect.first_name}},
I know things are busy on your end. Hopefully, that’s a result of our work together on your lead generation in Q1!
Are you still planning to continue your lead generation campaigns over the next quarter? If so, we’ll start planning your campaigns. If not, we’ll pause your campaigns and when you’re ready to start again, you can let us know.
What would you prefer?
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
Your client will appreciate that you’re willing to remind them and offer them two ways forward: continue working together, or pausing their retainer.
The goal here isn’t to push your client to keep paying you. It’s to show your client you have their best interests in mind.
4. Follow Up Email After a Product Demo
Following up after a product demo (or consultation call if you run an agency offering services) is vital to closing a new customer.
At the end of every demo call, make it a habit to let your prospective client know that you’re going to send them a follow up email recapping what you said and sending them any relevant information, like a proposal, quote, or a case study.
Here’s a quick follow up email template you can use after your next demo or consultation call. Make sure to switch out anything that doesn’t make sense for your business. For example, if you don't send clients a proposal but instead ask them to sign up for a free trial, use that as your proposed next step.
Subject: Follow up - {{prospect.first_name}} & [your company name]
Hi {{prospect.first_name}}
It was great to learn about {{company.name}} and your upcoming plans on our call. It looks like there’s big potential for you to scale your acquisition with Facebook Ads, and we’d love to help you with that.
As promised, I’ve attached a quotation for a 3-month engagement with a breakdown of the cost structure and total price.
Let me know if you have any questions once you’ve reviewed it. As soon as you’re happy to move forwards, I’ll send you our contract, and we can kick things off.
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
5. Follow Up Email After Sending a Quotation
In a perfect world, you’ll send your quote to a lead, they’ll sign it, send it back, and you’ll start working together. In reality, it doesn’t work that way.
After sending your quote, your lead will review it with their team. In most cases, they’ll have questions for you before signing.
After a day or two, send your lead a follow up asking if you can help them. You’ll help move the process forwards faster and help remove any sales objections that your lead may have.
Here’s a follow up template you can use after sending a quote.
Subject: Any questions on the quote sent on {{=day-2}}?
Hi {{prospect.first_name}}
Have you had a chance to review the quote for your upcoming design project at {{company.name}}? It covers everything from updating your logo to refreshing your email templates.
Do you have any questions on it that I can help answer?
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
This template is straightforward. That’s because, at this point, all you need to do is remind your lead that you’re there to help answer their questions and ease their objections.
If the quote is for a big contract, you may need to follow up several times as your lead will be having internal discussions about it. If it’s for a smaller quote, one or two follow ups will usually be enough to move the conversation forward.
6. Following Up After Being Told to Follow Up
Not all prospects are ready to buy from you. Some won’t even be aware of their problem, and others will be at varying stages in their decision-making process.
It’s common to hear from your prospects something like: “We’re not ready to take on any new vendors right now, but can you follow up in 3 months?”
That’s a good thing: your prospect is inviting you to send them another email so you need to remember to follow up.
Here’s a template you can use to re-engage with a warm sales lead:
Subject: Checking in after our last conversation
Hi {{prospect.first_name}},
Hope you’re keeping well and everything at {{company.name}} is going smoothly.
When we last talked you told me that you were in the process of making a key hire, and to reach back out in Q4.
As we’re nearing the start of the quarter, I wanted to check in and see if you’d had any thoughts on working with us on [pain point you’re solving] at {{company.name}}.
Do you have time for a 15-minute call this week or next?
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
This template works for two reasons. The first key reason is that it shows you’re organized. After all, not everyone will reach back out.
As well as that, you’re referring to your past conversation to help them remember who you are, and it uses a low commitment call-to-action: 15-minutes is a short ask for helping solve a big problem.
Make sure to refer back to your past email because busy decision-makers probably won’t remember you if you only had one email conversation in the past.
7. The Free Audit Follow Up Email
If you didn’t get a reply to your initial cold email, it’s time to try a new angle in your follow ups.
One effective way to engage with prospects — particularly if you run an agency offering a service — is to offer a free audit acting as a teaser for what you can help them with.
For example, if you run an SEO agency, offer to run a report seeing how they stack up against competitors. If you offer conversion rate optimization services, offer to teardown their landing page and suggest improvements.
If you offer enough real value it will be hard for anyone to say no.
Subject: 3 ideas for {{company.name}}’s landing page
Hi {{prospect.first_name}}
I was just reviewing your website and wanted to send over a couple of ideas that I think could help improve your conversion rates (we’ve tested these with some of our clients and in some cases have seen conversion rates double).
{{prospect.custom.Idea_1}}
{{prospect.custom.Idea_2}}
{{prospect.custom.Idea_3}}
Think any of these are worth trying at {{company.name}}?
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
This follow up works because it’s actionable. Because you’re sharing your expertise with your prospect for free, they’ll instantly trust your expertise (as long as the suggestions make sense).
It’s also effective because it’s clear that you couldn’t send this email to anyone else, and your prospect will trust that you’re not emailing the same template to 50 other people at the same time.
8. Adding More Social Proof to Boost Confidence
The first time a prospect hears from you, you’re a stranger. When you follow up, they’ll start to recognize your name. But, that doesn’t mean they fully trust you yet.
To help increase your prospect’s trust in you and boost your response rate, use your follow ups to add social proof. If you can, name-drop some well-known clients or significant results you’ve had —the more specific, the better.
The subject line can be the same as your previous emails, or you could test a new one.
Subject: Getting results like this for {{company.name}}?
Hi {{prospect.first_name}}
Know you’re busy — we recently helped [well-known client] hit their outbound sales targets in Q3 by over 200% with cold email and LinkedIn outreach.
Want me to send you the case study?
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
Follow ups like this can feel a little brief, but your prospects are results-driven and this is exactly the type of information most will want to see before committing time and money to your services.
The social proof will help your recipient trust you more, and actionable case studies are perfect for showing off your expertise.
9. Following Up to Find the Right Person at a Company
When selling to large companies there are often multiple decision-makers involved in a sales process. To make sure you’re reaching out to the correct person, use one of your follow ups to ask for a referral.
Often, the reason for no reply is that the current recipient doesn’t think they’re the right person — but unless you specifically ask, there’s no reason for them to refer you to the right person at their organization.
Here’s a template you can use:
Subject: Are you the right person to talk to at {{company.name}}?
Hi {{prospect.first_name}},
I’m {{inbox.friendly_name}} with [your company]. We help sales leaders build systems to train up SDRs more effectively.
Are you the right person at {{company.name}} to talk to about this? If not, would you be able to put me in touch with the right person to discuss this with?
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
If your prospect is the right person, you’ve asked them a question that makes it easy to respond back. If not, you’ve politely asked to be referred to the right decision-maker.
Typically, it’s best to have one question per email, but in this case, two works as the questions follow on from each other.
It’s a simple but powerful way to make sure you’re not wasting your time or your recipient’s time.
10. The Break-Up Email (The Final Follow Up)
This template is the final step in your follow up sequence. You’ll send it to prospects if they haven’t replied to any of your previous emails.
But, just because it’s the last email, it doesn’t mean you can get away with a low-effort template.
Here’s a strong way to end your follow up sequence:
Hi {{prospect.first_name}},
I’m guessing this isn’t a priority for {{company.name}} right now.
I won’t send you any more emails, but if your plans change in the future and you have any questions about [service you can help with], let me know if we can help.
Best,
{{inbox.name}}
This template works because you’re acknowledging your prospect isn’t interested right now but understand things can change. You’re politely leaving the door open for them to get back to you if they have questions, and you're letting them know you won’t email them again, which they’ll appreciate.
It’s always best to end your follow up sequence after a chain of no responses to ensure your deliverability doesn’t get affected.
Automating Your Follow Up Email Sequence with QuickMail
Sending sales follow ups will drastically improve your cold email response rate. The best way to handle your follow ups is to write and schedule them all as you’re planning your outreach campaign. That way you’ll be able to see how your follow ups work together and ensure you’re not repeating yourself unnecessarily.
To schedule them to be sent automatically, you’ll need a cold email tool like QuickMail.
In your campaign, all you need to do is add a new email step whenever you want to follow up.
First, set the delay you want between your emails. Generally, 2-3 days is enough between your first few follow ups.
Then, add another campaign step, choosing “Email” as the content type.
If you check the “Include previous email” button on the right-hand side, this will ensure your follow up is sent as part of the same email thread.
When your follow up is ready, create the new step, and then finish adding all of the follow up emails you need to include.
Finally, when your email sequence is ready, it’s time to add your prospects to the campaign.
Your emails will be sent on the schedule you’ve set, and all you need to do is monitor your inbox and make sure you get back to every prospect that replies.
You can monitor your results from your dashboard and track how many opens, clicks, replies, and unsubscribes your emails are getting. You can also track this on a per-email basis to see which follow ups are the most effective.
Then, you can optimize and tweak your campaigns to ensure you’re always improving them.
Start your free trial of QuickMail today to start automating your cold outreach and have more conversations with your prospects.
Wrapping Up
A well-timed follow up is going to more than double your reply rate.
You can use these sales follow up templates to inspire your next email outreach and high-quality follow ups that show your prospects you’re there to start a conversation with them and aren’t just there to pitch them.
Make sure to edit each template to fit your business and industry, then, schedule your outreach campaigns to be sent on autopilot using QuickMail.
