How to write effective follow-up messages

Follow-up emails are a source of valuable information. If you plan them carefully, you can expect high engagement rates (opens and clicks). This article aims to help you strategize your follow-up actions and increase the value of your email marketing.

What is a follow-up email?

This is sent after any significant milestone in the customer journey in order to gather more information.

You can send them, for example, to those who download your content and ask them if they found it valuable.

Also to people who are in the middle of a free trial of your service, to ask them for feedback on their experience.

Another follow-up message may be after an event, to get in touch.

You can schedule your follow-up emails as autoresponders to create personalized programs that perfectly match the needs and interests of your subscribers.

How to write a follow-up message

1. Start by defining your call to action (CTA).

Always think about your main objective first. What exactly do you need to know? What do you want the recipient to do?

This will determine your CTA and the remaining content that leads to it.

Don't have a clear objective? Maybe it's not such a great idea to send the email after all.

2. Pay attention to your subject line

Make it stand out. However short or long it is, it should be specific. Make sure the most important information is at the top in case it gets cut off in the inbox.

Use the preheader to complement it and add the information that you cannot (or do not want to) include in the subject line.

Include specific information about the central theme of the message, this makes it much easier for the reader to decide whether to open it or not.

Example:

example of a follow-up e-mail.

Also, using clichés like "FYI" is probably a bit old-fashioned, so much so that they may be invisible to them.

A good idea in a follow-up message might be to include the recipient's name to make it more personable. However, test it to see if it works for your audience: people have different preferences when it comes to email personalization.

3. But, by all means, be personal

Make the email sound like a real human being: people don't really want to talk to brands; they want to talk to people. And just because a follow-up email is automated doesn't mean it has to sound robotic. After all, there's always a person in charge of writing the copy and setting up the automation rules. So make yourself seen.

This means using natural language. As if you were actually having a conversation with the person you are sending the email to.

A big trend these days is to send plain text (or fake plain text) emails that look and feel like messages from someone you know, often with a real person's name attached to the sender's address.

A great example is the emails sent by Moo, or their "robot". This post-order follow-up email asking for feedback shows exactly what we mean. Everyone knows it's an automated email, but even so, it doesn't really read like one. And what's even better, you know there's someone on the other end of the line who will read what you have to say.

4. It does not have to be brief, but it must be interesting.

In certain cases, such as sales follow-up emails, you may want to send a longer message. The plain text version even encourages longer copy. But whether this is a good idea will depend on several factors such as:

• the type of email you are sending
• who is your audience
• At what stage of awareness are they at? Do they need a story first to direct them to where you expect them to go, or are they ready to click that button and all you need are a few clear sentences to encourage them?

Tailor the content of the email to the needs of the recipient, and whatever the length, don't forget your objective. Make it clear all the way through.

Forget about long paragraphs (even if they are very interesting, you run the risk of losing a lot of attention) and very long sentences.

Don't be afraid to try something different, there really is no one size fits all. Try different types of text to see what works for your customers.

When should you send follow-up emails?

It is recommended to follow a simple principle: send a follow-up email whenever there is an information need that justifies sending one. Obviously, you should always consider the preferences of your target audience and use common sense.

These information needs vary from one company to another and depend on whether it operates in a B2B or B2C environment. Here are some examples:

Welcome Email

Conversion Follow-Up Email