9 common follow-up email mistakes and tips to avoid them

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

A perfect follow-up email is all about balance. You want to convert without overdoing it. Be persistent, but not pushy. Provide enough context without overwhelming the recipient with details. And above all, keep your tone polite and not aggressive.

Whether you’re following up on a potential partnership, an overdue invoice, or reconnecting after a business meeting, there are common pitfalls to avoid to increase your chances of getting a response rather than facing silence. In this article, we’ve compiled the most common email follow-up mistakes and helpful tips to help you avoid them. Let’s get into them!

Common email follow-up mistakes and helpful tips to prevent them

To understand common email follow-up mistakes, put yourself in the recipient’s shoes. Imagine receiving a follow-up email after an event. What characteristics do you expect? What trigger phrases will get you to click? Start by answering these questions to understand how you can write your follow-up message better.

To make it easier for you, we have collected The most popular mistakes that follow-up writers make:

1. Use the term “follow-up” in the subject line.

Many people use the direct term “follow-up” in the subject field. While this is honest and conveys the meaning of the email, it adds no value and may cause the recipient to ignore it. Avoid starting your email in such a trivial way.

Tip: Instead of making the reader feel guilty for not responding sooner, write a clear subject line that aligns with the purpose of the email.

2. Delayed shipment.

Follow-up emails sent at the right time are the key to success. You have a small window to get a prospect interested in your product or service and then leverage that interest to continue the conversation. If you are late with the reminder, you risk losing the potential customer’s engagement. If you wait too long, the recipient may simply forget about you altogether.

Tip: Schedule your first follow-up email within 3-5 days of the initial message. Keep a reasonable interval after the first contact with the recipient so that they can easily remember the topic of your conversation.

3. No context.

Appreciate the prospect’s time. Don’t make them think too long about what you’re reminding them about in your message. If the recipient has to look back at your previous email to understand your offer or question, this is a critical mistake on your part.

Tip: Add the context of the original email in the follow-up. Be sure to refer back to your initial communication without forcing the reader to do further searching.

4. No value.

Starting with “just following up” with no value will not help you outperform your first email that did not achieve the desired action. Again, think carefully about the value of your offer. What will it bring to the prospect?

Tip: Provide real value to your readers. Get to the point – less “water”. Give them something useful and describe benefits or features they may not know about. Invite them to a demo or webinar and give them an incentive to engage with your message and a reason to respond.

5. Writing for long follow-up.

Your main message can get lost in the overly long part of your follow-up. Be direct and concise. By quickly reading and understanding your email, the recipient will respond faster and not get bored.

Tip: Write to the point, cut out all unnecessary information.

6. No call to action.

No conversation – no action. Your follow-up email should include a call to action that is relevant to your goal. Increase your chances of conversion by adding a clear offer or request to your follow-up email. By clearly stating what you want the recipient to do, you give them an easy path to engage further.

Tip: Make it as accessible and simple as possible so that the recipient does not hesitate to move on through the sales funnel after reading it. Streamline the decision-making process by using just one call-to-action button in the email body. Learn more about CTAs in email marketing in our comprehensive guide.

7. Neglect of delivery testing.

Knowing that your delivery rates are optimal gives your follow-up email a better chance of success. Detecting email delivery, domain, IP or content issues in time will allow you to make important changes so that more potential customers see your offer in their inboxes.

Tip: GlockApps helps you quickly test your email performance and get detailed analysis of all key factors. Try it today with 2 free tests and improve your results!

8. Excessive transmission.

It is widely believed that you should keep sending until you get a response. The approach to follow-up communication can vary significantly across different industries. For example, B2B sales cycles tend to be longer and typically benefit from more frequent touchpoints, while B2C sales may require a different strategy. However, you should understand that an excessive number of follow-up emails can disappoint potential partners and encourage them to complain about spam.

Tip: Spacing up your follow-up emails over time is crucial, as it gives the prospect the necessary pause to carefully consider your proposal. Each follow-up should deliver new value or insight, rather than repeating previous messages. It’s important to respect your prospect’s timeline and preferences, and adapt your follow-up strategy to match their needs for the best result.

9. No personalization.

It’s not the worst email follow-up mistake, but it significantly affects your success. First, it’s always nice to start with a warm, personal greeting, establishing a friendly tone.

Tip: Start with something like “Hi Grace” instead of jumping right into the details. This makes the conversation more engaging.

Second, customize your follow-up emails with dynamic content. Modern automation tools allow you to tailor your copy based on the activity of your prospects. This approach not only shows attention, but also provides value, making your follow-up more relevant and increasing the chances of conversion. Integrating dynamic content with your CRM or email automation tools will help you scale personalized outreach without additional manual effort.

Tip: Refer to customers’ recent activity, such as downloading a free PDF, attending a webinar, or visiting a product page. For example: “Hi Grace, I noticed you recently explored our subscription plans. If you have any questions about which plan works best for your team, let’s set up a quick conversation to chat through the best options. I’d love to guide you.”

Packaging

In this article, we discussed the main aspects that go through the mind of any competent email marketer creating a follow-up email. To avoid making common mistakes, your follow-up email should be short and to the point. Include the context of your previous communications in the body of the email, provide value, create a clear call to action, and be direct so the prospect doesn’t get lost in your sentences. Use personalized dynamic content to make your email feel relevant and avoid sounding generic. Don’t make a typical follow-up mistake of not checking for spam before sending. Catch the problem before it damages your strategy and reputation with GlockApps’ email testing solution.

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