How to start a follow up email, with sales examples

How do you start a follow up email?

The first line of a follow-up has one job: let a busy reader understand, without scrolling, what this is about and why it is worth answering now. Name the earlier topic, then move straight to what is new.

Each opener refers to something real and makes the next step obvious. "Just following up" and "bumping this to the top of your inbox" do neither: they describe your action instead of the reader's benefit.

How do you send a follow-up email step by step?

1. Check that a follow-up is still needed. Look for a reply in every inbox you use, including an out-of-office with a return date or a note from a colleague.
2. Reply in the existing thread. The reader sees your first message beneath the new one, so you do not need to repeat it.
3. Write one new sentence of value. A short example, a relevant number from your own work, a lighter version of the request or an answer to a likely objection.
4. Ask a smaller question. If a 30-minute call was too much, ask whether a two-line answer by email works.
5. Keep it shorter than the first email. Three to five sentences is usually enough.
6. Set the next gap. Leave more time before each later step, and stop after two or three follow-ups.

What is a good follow up email for sales?

A good sales follow-up is specific, short and easy to answer. These templates use Followkite placeholders; text after the vertical bar is the fallback when a field is empty. They are examples of structure, not results from real campaigns.

Template 1: first follow-up after a cold email

Hi {{first_name|there}},

One detail I left out: teams like {{company|yours}} usually start with a
single onboarding checklist before changing tools, so the first step
is small.

Would it help if I sent the checklist we use? A yes or no is fine.

[Name]

Template 2: after a meeting

Hi {{first_name|there}},

Thanks for your time today. As agreed:
1. I will send the revised quote by Thursday.
2. You will confirm who joins the pilot review.

If I missed anything from the call, reply here and I will add it.

[Name]

Template 3: after a proposal

Hi {{first_name|there}},

Before your review on Friday, is there any part of the proposal that
needs a clearer price, timeline or scope? I can answer by email or
in a 10-minute call, whichever is easier.

[Name]

How do you follow up when there is no response?

A follow up to no response should make replying easier, not apply pressure. Change the angle rather than repeating the pitch: offer a smaller step, ask whether you have the right person, or give the reader an explicit way to say no.

Template 4: second follow-up with a different angle

Hi {{first_name|there}},

Maybe onboarding is not the issue for {{company|your team}} right now.
Is reporting a bigger time cost? If so, I can share how other
agencies structure it. If neither applies, no reply is needed.

[Name]

Template 5: final, polite close

Hi {{first_name|there}},

I will not keep emailing about this. If it becomes a priority later,
this thread will reach me directly.

Thanks for reading,
[Name]

A clear last email is respectful and often gets an answer such as "not now, try again in Q3". Once someone says no or asks you to stop, add them to your do-not-contact list rather than starting another sequence.

Which follow-up habits should you avoid?

• Guilt or false urgency. "I guess you are not interested" or a deadline that does not exist.
• Fake replies. Adding Re: or Fwd: to a message that was never sent before misleads the reader and can breach the FTC's rule against deceptive subject lines.
• Sending after a reply. A scheduled follow-up that arrives after someone has already answered looks careless.
• Too many steps. Each extra email to people who did not ask for it increases the chance of spam complaints.
• Repeating the whole first email. The thread already contains it.

How does Followkite send sales follow-ups?

In a Followkite sequence, each step has a delay in days after the previous email. Leave a follow-up's subject empty and it is sent as a reply to your first email, with the subject "Re:" plus the original subject and the threading headers mail apps use, from the same inbox that started the conversation. Steps can have B and C variants to compare wording.

Before each step is sent, Followkite checks the contact again. A matched human reply, an unsubscribe or a bounce stops the remaining steps after your inbox syncs, and replies appear in the unified inbox. Out-of-office replies are recognised as automatic, not counted as human replies. Read more about stopping follow-ups when someone replies.