Cold email follow-up
Definition
A cold email follow-up is a second or third email sent as a reply to the first one when there's been no response, adding something the first email didn't say rather than repeating the ask.
A cold email follow-up is a second or third email sent as a reply to the first one when there's been no response, adding something the first email didn't say rather than repeating the ask.
Most replies to cold email come from the follow-up, not the first email, and most follow-ups are terrible. "Just bumping this to the top of your inbox" says the sender has nothing to add and knows it.
A follow-up that works is a reply in the same thread, so the reader sees the first email underneath it, and it says one new thing. A detail from a similar company. A checklist. A question that's easier to answer than the first one. The last follow-up asks whether to close the file, which turns out to be the easiest question of all to answer.
An example
First email, about a contract manufacturer's product launch, offers a quote on the enclosure. No reply. Follow-up, five days later, as a reply: "One thing worth flagging on the bracket from the filing images: the two tapped bosses near the edge usually give molders trouble at volume, and they're cheap to move. We'd note that in the DFM. Happy to quote with or without the change." That's a follow-up an engineer forwards to sourcing.
How many
Two, after the first email. Three emails in all, over about twelve business days. After that the company goes back into monitoring and gets a fresh sequence the next time something happens there.
Related terms
Cold email sequence · Cold email · Positive reply · Cold email formula
If you want this run for you, see our cold email agency, or cold email for contract manufacturers.
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