Follow up email: this is a strategy used to reinforce the memory of an important contact and thus stimulate the connection with the prospect, lead or customer.

A negotiation process is usually slow. The purchase is hardly ever made from the first contact: the lead is insecure, compares competitors or is not convinced of the real need for the product or service.

That’s why when someone does a follow up, they’re actually doing a follow-up, which is capable of activating the lead’s memory, maintaining and maturing the relationship and assessing whether they’re ready to continue with the negotiation process.

These emails are also intended to maintain contact with new customers, through post-event communications or after sales, to ensure customer satisfaction, solicit feedback and ultimately build customer loyalty.

They can also be used to re-engage a customer who didn’t respond to the first email, among other situations where there is a need to strengthen a link that has just been created.

Next, check out the concept of follow up email and the benefits of this practice for your marketing communication.

Follow up email and the relationship with prospects

Follow-up emails capture prospects’ attention and can convert their interest into action. Here are some examples of communication used in emails sent to this audience:

• Thanking people for their interest: sending an email thanking people for their interest is an initial gesture that already creates a positive first impression.
• Post-meeting thank you: an email sent after a meeting, thanking people for their time and documenting the main points agreed.
• Invitation to engage: inviting the prospect to participate in a webinar or sign up for a newsletter encourages a deeper and more personalized interaction.
• Due Date / Overdue: alerting you to a due date or one that has already passed.
• No reply: seeking a position after one or more unanswered messages.

How do you get the first contact from prospects?

Content marketing is a strategy widely used by Inbound to create relationships with those who don’t yet know the brand.

To do this, materials such as ebooks, webinars, surveys and other rich materials are created, which attract the attention of the public who are interested in the topics. To access these materials, visitors complete short registration forms, including their email addresses.

However, it’s very common for people to make typing mistakes in their emails or to deliberately use temporary emails (those that expire in just a few hours).

In this way, marketers who are going to use the lists generated by the forms can’t communicate with the people who signed up, because the list will be full of invalid emails (hard bounces).

SafetyMails’ real-time verification API integrates with landing pages, websites, forms and any other data collection service, preventing bad emails from entering lists.

When it identifies emails with typos, temporary emails and other types of invalid emails, the API suggests that the person register a valid email in order to continue accessing the material.

Send your follow up email from a corporate sender

A follow up email, just like any other professional message, needs to come from a corporate email, the main feature of which is an exclusive domain.

Starting with the credibility they convey, professional emails are necessary for the public to recognize the sender, who in turn will have the company’s standardized signature.

Imagine a sales follow-up sent from a [[email protected]], or [[email protected]]. That wouldn’t be very professional, would it?

Follow up email and interactions with the lead

Follow-up emails to leads are intended to keep them engaged. The technique applied to this audience is similar to drip campaigns.

Follow-up emails are used to remind leads about moments in a negotiation or a deal, reinforcing their interest in the product or service.

Each follow-up email should encourage the lead to take steps towards closing a deal with the brand/company.

Follow up email and customer interactions

Maintaining the relationship before, during and after the sale is essential for establishing authority, guaranteeing satisfaction and building customer loyalty. For this reason, even a thank you email after the purchase is a simple but effective gesture.

Another form of follow up email communication for this audience is to offer ongoing support, providing user manuals, tutorials or access to a support team. This helps to improve the customer experience.

In this sense, another interesting approach is to ask for feedback on the product or service purchased, as this is valuable for continuous improvements and also for building the brand’s reputation.

How to structure a follow up email

A well-structured follow up should be clear, concise, personalized and offer value to the recipient.

First of all, the subject line should be engaging enough to encourage the email to be opened. And personalizing it with the recipient’s name and a topic of interest can increase open rates.

You can also use emojis to make your message stand out in the inbox.

On the inside of the email, establish a cordial tone and demonstrate that the email is relevant to the recipient.

Keep your introduction brief. Remind the recipient about the interaction they had with your brand/company.

The body of the email should be concise, clear and focused on the objective of the follow up. For example, you could thank the recipient for the opportunity to talk to you and provide them with any additional resources they may be interested in.

Don’t forget to personalize as much as possible. Remember that personalization isn’t just about calling the lead/customer by their name.

Using specific behavioural information about the audience is already a type of personalization, which makes the email more relevant to the recipient.

Ask a clear question that requires an answer to indicate the desired next step. For example, if the follow up is about scheduling a new technical meeting: “Can we schedule this meeting for next Wednesday at 2pm?”.

End the email by thanking them and reaffirming your availability for future interactions.

Important

• Proofread the email: do a general check to avoid rendering problems and even blockages at the recipients’ ISPs.
• Timeliness of sending (date/time): send the follow up email on days and at times that are convenient for the recipient.

Conclusion

Follow-up emails are a powerful tool in marketing communication strategies. Not only does it help to reactivate and maintain relationships with prospects and clients, but it also makes a fundamental contribution to building a solid and reliable brand.

By ensuring that messages are sent from a corporate domain, the company not only reinforces its credibility but also improves the effectiveness of communication. Remember that.

In short, a well-structured and timely follow up can be the difference that leads a negotiation to closure or a customer to loyalty.

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