Are cold email follow ups useful?

Assume you did the following right:

• good targeting

• good offer

• good sales pitch

• good email deliverability

Then, if people don't reply to your cold emails, it's not because they are not interested but because they're busy.

You don't trust me? Let me show you the best proof of it with Ryan Breslow, former CEO of Bolt, a multi-billion dollar company.

In a tweet, he described than even him, a billionaire had to follow-up 15 times to finally get a response from another CEO.

This example is a bit extreme but it's to show you how important follow-ups are in sales prospecting and social selling.

Keys to write a performing follow-up email

Follow-up emails, especially in cold emailing need to follow some rules.

Key 1: Be casual

If you're too formal with your follow-ups, it will sound like a template/robot and that's the last thing you want.

Don't use fancy signatures.

Don't use fancy words, keep it simple.

Key 2: Stay Short

Keeping things short is the most important feature of a successful cold email campaign: from step 1 to the following steps.

Key 3: Give more value in every new follow-up

Follow-up emails exist to 'bump the above'. You don't need to create a whole new email but just to provide a new information to the table that will help the reader going though your first email again.

Key 4. What would work on yourself?

Everyone is different, but when it comes to receiving cold emails, we're not that unique. If something will get your attention or annoy you, it will probably be the same for other recipients. Put yourself in your prospects shoes.

The cold email follow up templates I use

Template 1: the breakdown email

TemplateLast email - I won't bother you with 7 emails like people do these days!

Is the above email relevant to you {{first_name}}?

--

[[Your First Name]]

Notes on this follow-up template: the last email technique is used a lot, some pros will say it doesn't work anymore, I disagree. You simply need to make it in your own way. Twist this example with your own words.

Template filledLast email - I won't bother you with 7 emails like people do these days!

Is the above email relevant to you Arnaud?

--

Marie

Template 2: the value follow-up

TemplateForgot to tell you that we also helped [[X]] to reach [[Y]], they operate in the same industry as yours.

Sent from my iPhone

Notes on this follow-up template: no hello, no goodbye, you're trying to add value to your first email with another case study

Template filledForgot to tell you that we also helped Breakcold to reach $127k MRR, they operate in the same industry as yours.

Sent from my iPhone

Template 3: the contrarian follow-up

Template{{first_name}}?

Notes on this follow-up template: a quick follow-up that some people will consider aggressive and other prospects will love, be prepared to receive both love & insults!

Template filledArnaud?

Template 4: the meme follow-up

TemplateGood morning {{first_name}},

Thoughts about the above?

-- [Lazy Signature]

Notes on this follow-up template: few words are needed in follow-ups, use silence to your advantage

Template filledGood morning Pablo,

Thoughts about the above?

-- Arnaud

Other questions about cold email follow-ups

I regrouped some other questions I found on Google.

How many follow up emails are too many?

It usually takes about 5 to 7 follow-ups to get replies. Anything above that will be counter-productive. From my personal experience though, I'd say that 3 follow-ups are enough.

The 5-7 follow-ups technique is more suited if you're not doing sales automation but rather sales engagement (meaning take the time to personalize each step).

How many follow up emails should I send?

Like we mentioned above, 3 steps would be the ideal number of cold email follow-ups.