9 Common Follow-Up Email Mistakes and Tips to Avoid Them

Estimated reading time: 7 minutes

A perfect follow-up email is about balance. You want to convert without overdoing it. Be persistent but not intrusive. 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 frequent follow-up email mistakes and useful tips to help you stay away from them. Let’s get into them!

Common Follow-Up Email Mistakes and Useful Tips to Prevent Them

To understand common follow-up email mistakes, put yourself in the recipient’s shoes. Imagine receiving a follow-up email after some event. What qualities would you expect? What trigger phrases would prompt you to click? Start by answering these questions to realize how to write your follow-up message better.

To make it easier for you, we have gathered the most popular mistakes that follow-up authors make:

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

Many people use the direct term “follow-up” in the subject line. Although this is honest and states the meaning of the email, it does not add any extra value and may lead 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 sending.

Follow-up emails sent at the right time are 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’re late with your reminder, you risk losing the potential customer’s engagement. If you wait too long, your recipient may simply forget about you altogether.

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

3. No context.

Value your prospect’s time. Don’t make them think for a long time about what exactly you are reminding them of 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 your follow-up. Be sure to refer back to your first communication without forcing the reader to do additional searching.

4. No value.

Starting with “just following up” without any value will not help you outperform your first email that failed to get the desired action. Once again, think carefully about the value of your offer. What will it give the prospect?

Tip: Provide true value to your readers. Get straight 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 a webinar, giving them an incentive to engage with your message and a reason to respond.

5. Writing too long follow-up.

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

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

6. No call to action.

No call – no action. Your follow-up email should include a call to action 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’d like your recipient to do, you provide them with a straightforward path to engage further.

Tip: Make it as accessible and simple as possible so the recipient won’t hesitate to move on through your sales funnel once read. Streamline their decision-making process using just one call to action button in your email body. Learn more about CTAs in email marketing in our comprehensive guide.

7. Neglecting the deliverability testing.

Knowing that your deliverability rates are optimal gives your follow-up email a higher chance for success. Spotting email deliverability, domain, IP, or content issues in time will allow you to make important changes so that more prospects see your offer in their inboxes.

Tip: GlockApps will help you quickly test your email performance and get detailed analytics on all key factors. Try it today with 2 free tests and improve your results!

8. Excessive sending.

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

Tip: Spacing out your follow-up emails over time is crucial, as it gives the prospect the necessary break to thoughtfully consider your proposal. Each follow-up should deliver fresh value or insights, rather than reiterating previous messages. It’s essential to respect the prospect’s timeline and preferences, adapting your follow-up strategy to align with their needs for the best result.

9. No personalization.

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

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

Secondly, personalize 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 attentiveness but also adds value, making your follow-up more relevant and increasing the chances of conversion. When you integrate dynamic content with your CRM or email automation tools, it will help you scale personalized outreach without extra manual effort.

Tip: Reference 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 brief call to chat through the best options. I’d be happy to guide you.”

Wrapping Up

In this article, we discussed the main aspects that go through the mind of every competent email marketer crafting a follow-up email. To avoid making common mistakes, your follow-up email should be brief and to the point. Include the context of your previous communication in the body of the email, provide value, create a clear call to action, and be direct so that 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 by not checking for spam before sending. Catch the problem before it harms your strategy and reputation with GlockApps’ email testing solution.

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