Guide to Writing a follow up Email

When it comes to communicating with your audience, there is no denying that email campaigns are one of the most effective methods. If somebody has subscribed to your email list, then the chances are that they are interested in what your business has to offer them. Now that you have grabbed their interest, the hard work needs to begin. You need to maintain it and build loyal relationships. One of the best ways to do this with a follow up email. follow up emails add a personal touch and they are direct, which makes them effective. However, you need to make sure that your follow up email piques the viewer's interest and does not end up in the trash. With that being said, we have put together a guide that reveals everything you need to know about how to send a follow up email.

Why you should send follow up emails

Before we go into the specifics regarding how to craft the perfect follow up email, is first important to establish why you should send follow up emails. A follow up email does exactly what it says on the tin. It is utilized as an additional outreach once you have already made initial contact. For example, follow up emails are ideal when it comes to networking opportunities, sending a follow up email after interview, and encouraging repeat purchases. When crafted effectively, they provide you with a great platform for reopening lines of communication and distinguishing yourself from the competition. After all, for most companies out there today, repeat business is their most important type.

There are a number of different reasons why follow up emails are so beneficial when done correctly. Firstly, they provide you with a second opportunity to convince subscribers to engage with you and, therefore, they work well in terms of improving your conversion rate. Not only this but a lot of people today view email campaigns as nothing more than sales attempts. However, if you send a follow up email you create a personal connection and you go out of your way to reconnect with the customer without the focus on encouraging them to purchase something from you. This can go a long way to building a loyal connection and showing your business is one that truly cares about the people that it serves.

Some basic rules for follow up emails

The concept of a follow up email is pretty straightforward, whether it is a follow up email after interview or one to increase conversions. However, if your emails are going to be a success, there are some ground rules that you need to follow each time.

Get the timing right

The first thing you need to do when it comes to mastering how to write a follow up email after interview or a subscriber sign up is to make sure you follow up at the correct time. If you follow up too quickly, you may come across as pushy. However, if you wait for a period of time that is too long after the first contact, then you are at risk of the person simply forgetting about your business. This is why timing is critical. You will jeopardize your chances of improving engagement levels if you do not get the timing right. So, when is the right time to send a follow up email? As a rule of thumb, most experts will recommend that you wait roughly 7 days before you send a follow up email. This is the perfect time for a follow up email after interview. The only exception to this rule of thumb is if you are getting in touch with someone who has only just signed up to your list. If that is the case, then you should follow up as soon as you can. Of course, all businesses are different and so a good way to figure out the ideal follow up window for your consumer base is to carry out a simple split test. You should break up your subscribers into a number of different groups and then you can examine their responses by sending them the exact same follow up email but doing so at different times. Your baseline can be one week and then you can work your way down as required until you find the correct length of time.

Get the tone right

Not only do you need to get the timing right when it comes to follow up emails, but you also need to make sure that the tone is correct. If you don't use the right tone then you can render your email campaign useless. In fact, not only will it become ineffective, but it can actually damage your brand reputation if your tone is a negative one. One thing you do not want to do is come across as too pushy. If you do this, you will simply reinforce the fact that you're pushing to sell something. On the other hand, you may lose the interest of your subscriber before you even get the opportunity to make your case if you come across as too apologetic. Rather than coming across as apologetic, if you sound authoritative, you can heighten your chances of being taken seriously. After all, no matter the nature of your business, if you don't come across as knowledgeable, the person reading the email is going to wonder why they should be paying any attention to what you have to say in the first place. Keeping things friendly is always a good place to start. Of course, there is not a single tone that is going to satisfy every single person that you're emailing and a lot of it does depend on the nature of your business. If you are selling healthcare products, for example, you cannot afford to come across as too jovial and funny. However, if your business does not sell serious products, then you may have some license to inject some more personality.

Give your subscribers a way out

One of the biggest mistakes that a lot of businesses make today when it comes to follow up emails is sending a barrage of them. While it is good to send the occasional follow up email now and again, you have to realize that you are going to get to a certain point whereby no amount of emails in the world is going to enable you to convert a certain subscriber. Rather than wasting your time on the subscriber and sending endless emails only to get ignored, you should focus your attention on another subscriber whereby you actually have a chance of making a conversion. The best thing to do in this instance is to make sure that all subscribers have the opportunity to leave your mailing list if they wish to do so. The vast majority of email marketing campaigns today feature a hyperlink on the email whereby the receiver can simply click to unsubscribe from the mailing list. You may think that this is not a good idea because you are encouraging people to leave your mailing list. However, if somebody does not want to receive emails from you, then this person is not going to convert and so you are not going to lose anything by removing them from your email list. If anything, this is a good way to refine your list to ensure that it is a high-quality one. After all, if you sent a follow up email after interview and the person didn’t get the job, are they really going to want to keep receiving mail from you?

How to create an engaging follow up email

Now that you know the basic rules regarding creating a follow up email, is a good idea to look at the different steps of how to write a follow up email...

Make sure you establish a clear goal

There is only one place to begin, and this is by establishing a clear objective when sending a follow up email. Why are you sending this email? Maybe you are simply welcoming a new member to your mailing list? Maybe you are trying to convert the customer? No matter what applies, it is vital to have a goal in mind before you craft the email. This is important because it enables you to track the success of your follow up email. Needless to say, the objective of your campaign will differ based on your business, however, we will provide you with a few examples of some of the most common goals for email campaigns below.

• You may want to promote your services when you have gained a new subscriber.
• You may want to send a follow up email because you have already sent out an email campaign for a new product or service and the conversions are not as high as you were anticipating. Therefore, you could send out another email so that all of your subscribers are aware of the different benefits associated with the said product or service.
• You may send a follow up email after interview to let someone know whether they got the job.
• You may also want to send a follow up email because the potential customer has abandoned their shopping cart with several items inside of it. Therefore, your email is designed for the purpose of trying to get that customer to finish their purchase. For example, a lot of businesses send customers a special offer when they have abandoned their shopping cart in order to try and tempt them back in.

These are just a few examples of the different sorts of goals that people have when they send a follow up email. By having a specific objective, for example, sending an interview follow up email to see if someone wants the job, this ensures that your email has the right direction and it makes it a lot easier for you to track the success of your campaign. For example, if you are sending out emails to all customers that have abandoned their shopping carts, simply tracking how many customers come back to complete their purchase will help you to figure out how successful your email campaign has been.

Make sure the subject line is compelling

After you have established a goal, you need to create a subject line that is compelling and will tempt people to open the email. There is no denying that a lot of emails today end up in the trash, and your subject line can be the difference between someone opening your email or simply disregarding it without a second look.

It is important to stay away from unimaginative and generic subject lines. When it comes to follow up emails, you should look to create a subject line that is a little bit more personal because the whole purpose of the email is to reinforce the relationship between you and your customer.

Provide context

An effective follow up email will also provide enough context so that the recipient is able to connect the dots regarding how the relationship started. If you do not provide context, you could end up with a number of your subscribers failing to recall how they became a part of your mailing list. By leading with the context in your email, you will be able to flow naturally into the rest of your message. Remember to keep this part of the email short and to the point. You don't need to waffle and recall every single step of the relationship you have built with this client. It could be as simple as writing something along the lines of "Thank you for subscribing to my mailing list. Since this is your first time hearing from me…"

Make your intentions clear

Now that context has been provided, you must state your reason for sending the email. Why are you writing to the subscriber in question? You will save everybody time by being upfront about your intentions. This enables the recipient to figure out straight away whether or not your content is something they are interested in. A lot of business owners make the mistake of mincing their words but there really is no need to, especially considering your subscribers should already have an idea of what the email is about due to your compelling subject line.

Compose a solid message

The final piece of the puzzle is to put together a solid message, i.e. write the body of the email. If you are sending a follow up email to a new subscriber, now is a good chance for you to expand on your message and give the subscriber some additional value. A good way to do this is to give the subscriber access to a guide that you have put together on a subject that they care about or to cement your business as an authority in the industry. If you are sending a follow up email to a customer that you have already connected with many times, it is likely that your intentions will have been enough to make your message clear. Therefore, your message will not need to be overly long in order to accomplish the purpose of it.

All in all, there is no denying that there is an art to sending off a follow up email. We hope that you have found this guide helpful.