17 Cold Email Follow-Up Templates That Get Replies

To maximize your results and ROI from your cold email campaigns, you need to send a series of follow-up emails.

If you’re in the process of crafting your follow-ups, this guide is for you. We’ll show you actionable follow-up templates you can use in your campaigns to increase your reply rates and close more business.

Let’s jump in.

Why You Should Be Creating Follow-Up Sequences

As a sales rep, it’s easy to feel like you’re being too pushy. Or that your product is so fantastic it’ll sell itself if you just give recipients a few days to respond.

Fact is, your prospects are busy. They have a ton of stuff on their plate, so responding to your email likely isn’t their top priority — even if they can see the value of your product. Giving them a nudge in the form of a follow-up email encourages them to respond. And it also demonstrates that you’re serious about doing business with them.

This isn’t just a matter of opinion; we’ve got the data to back it up. At QuickMail, we analyzed 65 million journeys and emails sent through our platform, and we found that 55% of replies come from follow-up emails.

So if you’re not building follow-up sequences, you’re massively limiting your potential for starting conversations that’ll hopefully lead to sales.

How Do You Write a Follow-Up Email?

In this guide, we’re going to skip past the follow-up best practices and tips. If you’re just getting started with your follow-ups, we’d recommend reading our in-depth guide: How to Write a Follow-Up Email With Templates & Examples.

To sum up the benefits, here’s what you need to do in every follow-up message:

• Be helpful and find ways to show value to your prospects

• Ease sales objections by showing your past results and wins

• Use a simple call-to-action and make it easy for prospects to say “yes” and start a conversation

• Send your follow-up in the same thread as your initial email, keeping the same follow-up email subject line

With those key ingredients, you’ll have most of your follow-up needs covered.

How Many Steps To Include in Follow-Up Email Sequences

Given that the majority of cold email responses come from follow-ups, sending any number of follow-up emails is better than sending none.

But our research revealed that the highest reply rates come after three follow-up emails.

So you should include at least four steps in your email sequences: one initial outreach email plus three (or more) follow-ups.

Ideal Timings for Follow-Up Sequences

Every industry, business, and prospect is different, so it pays to A/B test your cold outreach cadence to find out what works best for you.

But as a general rule, we recommend leaving a gap of 3-5 business days between each email in your sequence (assuming your prospect doesn’t respond within this timeframe). That way, you’ll look eager without seeming too pushy.

QuickMail’s cold email software makes it simple to add automated gaps between each email in your sequence. Just insert a “wait step” and set the length of delay between emails in minutes, hours, or days.

17 Follow-Up Email Examples and Templates

Any effective cold email sequence will include follow-up emails.

Each should add value. Avoid using the overdone “bumping this up in your inbox” approach, and instead, use your email to highlight an additional case study, add social proof, or ask your prospect a quick question.

Provided each email offers genuine value, there’s no harm in sending 2-5 follow-ups. Or even more, depending on the sequence

But what should those follow-ups look like?

In this section, we’ll show you real examples of effective follow-up emails that you can tweak and start using in your cold outreach. Make sure to customize each email template for your campaigns to ensure you stand out in your prospect’s inbox and never get caught in a spam filter.

1. Follow-up After a Meeting

You’ve just had a meeting with a potential client — a key step toward closing the deal. Your goal now is to keep up the momentum to ensure this opportunity doesn’t go cold.

Fortunately, you’ve got a ready-made opening to follow-up with your prospect: sharing the notes, action points, and key takeaways from your meeting. Here’s a template email you can use:

Subject: Notes and actions from meeting on {{day-1}}

Hi {{prospect.first_name}},

Thanks for your time on {{day-1}}, it was great learning more about your plans at {{company.name}}.

I’ve attached the meeting notes and here are the actions we agreed on:

• Me: [Action point #1]

• You: [Action point #2]

• Etc

Look forward to our next steps, let me know if you have any questions.

Best,

{{inbox.name}}

This email isn’t about securing the sale right now. Rather, it moves the sales process forward while demonstrating your organizational skills and your commitment to this opportunity.

2. Follow-up After Getting No Response

The purpose of most sales follow-up emails is to move the conversation forward with unresponsive prospects. If you’re going to achieve this, you need to give the recipient a compelling reason to open, read, and reply to your email.

Personalization is your best friend here. 

If you take the time to write a follow-up email that feels custom-made to the prospect’s individual needs, they’re far more likely to respond. Indeed, 47% of recipients decide to open emails and 69% choose to report emails as spam based solely on the subject line.

By their very nature, every personalized email looks different. But here’s a template that demonstrates how this could work: 

Subject: Question about [pain point]

Hi {{prospect.first_name}},

From our work with other companies in {{company.name}}’s industry, I know that [pain point] is a common challenge.

We’ve helped dozens of other businesses overcome that challenge and achieve [positive outcome].

Do you have time for a 15-minute chat to discuss how we could do the same for {{company.name}}?

Best,

{{inbox.name}}

Of course, manually personalizing every email in your sequence is far too time-consuming for most opportunities. For personalization at scale, you need a tool like QuickMail, which makes it quick and easy to personalize subject lines, names, icebreakers, CTAs, email signatures, and much more besides.

Learn more: Cold Email Personalization: The Complete Guide 

3. Follow-up After a Trigger Event

Wouldn’t it be good if you knew when an individual prospect was engaging with a previous email in your sequence?

Turns out you can thanks to email click tracking.

Click tracking tells you when someone has clicked a link in an email you’ve already sent. Because email service providers generate unique URL strings for every recipient, you can even find out exactly who clicked your link (and when).

As you can likely imagine, you can use click tracking to react to “trigger events”, like when a recipient opens an attachment or clicks through to a case study. That way, you can strike while the iron’s hot by following up straight away.

Here’s a template you can use for responding to trigger events:

Subject: Getting results like this for {{company.name}}?

Hi {{prospect.first_name}},

How did you find the case study about [topic] I shared in my last email?

I’d love to share more insights into how we achieved [case study result]. Maybe we could help {{company.name}} in the same way. 

Do you have time for a quick chat this week?

Best,

{{inbox.name}}

For best results, personalize your follow-up based on the specific trigger event. For instance, if they viewed your pricing page, you could reach out with a discount or custom quote.

4. Follow-up When You Need To Update a Previous Email

Nobody’s perfect. If you made a mistake or missed key details in a previous email, you’ll want to clarify the situation with a follow-up email.

In fact, if you’re feeling sneaky, you can use this tactic as a non-pushy excuse for following up. You could even make your product or offer seem even more attractive in the follow-up. Here’s how this might look in practice:

Subject: Clarifying email from {{=day-2}}

Hi {{prospect.first_name}},

Just realized I made an error in my previous email sent on {{=day-2}} so I’m reaching back out to clarify.

Our current pricing discount is only available on our Expert plan. But I spoke to my sales team manager and she’s happy to extend it to our Pro plan, which seems the best fit for {{company.name}}.

Let me know if you’re ready to move forward with this offer.

Best,

{{inbox.name}}

Not only does this tactic humanize your sales emails, but it also makes prospects feel like they’re getting an extra special deal. Smart stuff, huh?

5. Follow-up After Leaving a Voicemail

Sure, we all hate leaving voicemails. But, like in the previous example, they give you a natural reason for following up without making your prospect feel like they’re being harassed. Here’s how to follow-up after leaving a voicemail:

Subject: Sorry I missed you on {{day-1}}

Hi {{prospect.first_name}},

I called and left you a voicemail on {{day-1}} to explain [purpose of call].

As I said, I’ll try to reach you again on {{day+1}}, but let me know if there’s a better day or time to call back.

Best,

{{inbox.name}}

This follow-up email template strikes a professional tone and gives clear instructions, so the prospect knows what to expect next.

6. Follow-up After Receiving an Out-of-Office Notification

Similar to leaving a voicemail, receiving an out-of-office notification gives you a clear next step. You should follow-up on the date that they’re back to work and reiterate the key points from your previous email(s).

Here’s a template you can use:

Subject: Sorry I missed you on {{day-2}}

Hi {{prospect.first_name}},

I reached out to you on {{day-2}} to discuss [topic of conversation] but got your out-of-office response.

I also wanted to share this free tool, which can help {{company.name}} with [pain point].

I’m sure you’re busy after your time away, but do you have time in the next week to chat about [meeting topic]?

Best,

{{inbox.name}}

With a little luck and some smart timing, your email will be the first thing they see when they’re back at their desk.

7. Follow-up After a Discovery Call

A lot of information changes hands during a discovery call. You might have learned about your prospect’s pain points, business goals, decision timeline, budget, and more. And you likely agreed to a bunch of actions off the back of your discussion.

To keep this opportunity on track, follow-up within 24 hours to thank your prospect, remind them about your talking points, and let them know how you plan to move things forward. Your email should look something like this:

Subject: Next steps after call on {{day}}

Hi {{prospect.first_name}},

Thanks for your time on {{day}}.

It was super helpful to learn how {{company.name}} has been dealing with [pain point], and how [your company] can help.

As discussed, I’ll send a quote and projected timelines on {{day+3}}.

Until then, let me know if you have any additional questions.

Best,

{{inbox.name}}

Unlike most of the follow-up templates we’ve shared, the primary purpose of this email isn’t to generate an immediate response. Instead, it’s about setting expectations and reassuring the prospect that you’re working hard behind the scenes to meet their needs.

8. Polite Follow-up-Email to a Potential Customer

Follow-ups should never be pushy or rude. Instead, they should politely remind your prospect that there’s an interesting email waiting for them. Here’s a template you can use:

Subject: Question about {{company.name}}

Hi {{prospect.first_name}},

I thought you’d be interested in seeing this case study of how we helped a software company just like {{company.name}} redesign their key landing pages and increase their conversion rate by 20%. 

Do you have time for a quick chat to see if we can help {{company.name}} in a similar way?

Best,

{{inbox.name}}

The template is simple but intriguing. For example, when you bring up real and specific results, it's hard for your potential clients to ignore them. As well as that, keeping your call-to-action (CTA) simple and direct makes it easy for your prospect to reply. 

9. Warm Follow-Up Email After Meeting at a Conference or Online

Whether you’ve just attended an in-person networking event or regularly engage with people in your industry on LinkedIn or Twitter, sending a warm follow-up email is a good way to further build your relationships with prospects and potential collaborators.

The first step is to have a clear reason for following up. The first step is to have a clear reason for following up. For example, if you had a brief active conversation on LinkedIn about an industry trend, you can use that as an icebreaker to start a further conversation or schedule a call.

The main thing with this follow-up template is that you don’t directly attempt to sell. If you do that, you’ll look inauthentic and show that you care more about a sale than a relationship.

Subject: Met at [initial meeting location]

Hi {{prospect.first_name}},

Nice meeting you at {{prospect.custom.Meeting_Location}} and chatting about {{prospect.custom.Conversation_Topic}}! 

Wanted to check in to see how things are going with {{company.name}}? It would be great to learn more about how you’re approaching [challenge]. Happy to share our playbook too.

Want to set up a quick call this week or next to chat?

Best,

{{inbox.name}}

Depending on the context or your first meeting, this template will change. If you only had a 5-minute conversation and swapped email addresses, you might want to use a softer CTA and focus on starting an email exchange.

But, if you spoke for 20 minutes and are confident they’ll be happy to have a call, you can approach it with a stronger CTA. As long as you leave a good first impression and show you’re not following up just to sell to them, most people will be happy to schedule a meeting.

10. Follow-up To Re-Engage an Unresponsive Client

It happens to every business — you’re emailing with an existing client, and then, nothing. It happens when your clients have a packed schedule and other priorities.

It’s on you to re-engage them and make sure they want to keep working with you. You need to show them that you empathize with how busy they are and ensure they know you want to move forward.

Here’s a template you can use to re-engage with your clients.

Subject: Still want to keep working together?

Hi {{prospect.first_name}},

I know things are busy on your end. Hopefully, that’s a result of our work together on your lead generation in Q1!

Are you still planning to continue your lead generation campaigns over the next quarter? If so, we’ll start planning your campaigns. If not, we’ll pause your campaigns and when you’re ready to start again, you can let us know.

What would you prefer?

Best,

{{inbox.name}}

Your client will appreciate that you’re willing to give them a gentle reminder and offer them two ways forward: continue working together, or pause their retainer.

The goal here isn’t to push your client to keep paying you. It’s to show your client you have their best interests in mind.

11. Follow-up After a Product Demo

Following up after a product demo (or consultation call if you run an agency offering services) is vital to closing a new customer.

At the end of every demo call, make it a habit to let your prospective client know that you’re going to send them a follow-up email recapping what you said and sending them relevant additional details, like a proposal, quote, a case study, or a friendly reminder of key features and benefits. 

Here’s a quick follow-up email template you can use after your next demo or consultation call. Make sure to switch out anything that doesn’t make sense for your business. For example, if you don't send clients a proposal but instead ask them to sign up for a free trial, use that as your proposed next step.

Subject: Follow-up - {{prospect.first_name}} & [your company name]

Hi {{prospect.first_name}},

It was great to learn about {{company.name}} and your upcoming plans on our call. It looks like there’s big potential for you to scale your acquisition with Facebook Ads, and we’d love to help you with that.

As promised, I’ve attached a quotation for a 3-month engagement with a breakdown of the cost structure and total price. 

Let me know if you have any questions once you’ve reviewed it. As soon as you’re happy to move forward, I’ll send you our contract, and we can kick things off.

Best,

{{inbox.name}}

12. Follow-up After Sending a Quote

In a perfect world, you’ll send your quote to a lead, they’ll sign it, send it back, and you’ll start working together. In reality, it doesn’t work that way.

After sending your quote, your lead will review it with their team. In most cases, they’ll have questions for you before signing.

After a day or two, send your lead a follow-up asking if you can help them. You’ll help move the process forward faster and help remove any sales objections that your lead may have.

Here’s a follow-up template you can use after sending a quote.

Subject: Any questions on the quote sent on {{=day-2}}?

Hi {{prospect.first_name}},

Have you had a chance to review the quote for your upcoming design project at {{company.name}}? It covers everything from updating your logo to refreshing your cold email templates.

Do you have any questions on it that I can help answer?

Best,

{{inbox.name}}

This template is straightforward. That’s because, at this point, all you need to do is remind your lead that you’re there to help answer their questions and ease their objections.

If the quote is for a big contract, you may need to follow-up several times as your lead will be having internal discussions about it. If it’s for a smaller quote, one or two follow-ups will usually be enough to move the conversation forward.

13. Follow-up After Being Told to Follow-up

Not all prospects are ready to buy from you. Some won’t even be aware of their problem, and others will be at varying stages in their decision-making process.

It’s common to hear from your prospects something like: “We’re not ready to take on any new vendors right now, but can you follow-up in three months?”

That’s a good thing: your prospect is inviting you to send them another email so you need to remember to follow-up.

Here’s a template you can use to re-engage with a warm sales lead:

Subject: Checking in after our last conversation

Hi {{prospect.first_name}},

Hope you’re keeping well and everything at {{company.name}} is going smoothly. 

When we last talked you told me that you were in the process of making a key hire, and to reach back out in Q4.

As we’re nearing the start of the quarter, I wanted to check in and see if you’d had any thoughts on working with us on [pain point you’re solving] at {{company.name}}.

Do you have time for a 15-minute call this week or next?

Best,

{{inbox.name}}

This template works for two reasons. The first key reason is that it shows you’re organized. After all, not everyone will reach back out.

As well as that, you’re referring to your past conversation to help them remember who you are, and it uses a low-commitment call-to-action: 15-minutes is a short ask for helping solve a big problem.

Make sure to refer back to your past email because busy decision-makers probably won’t remember you if you only had one email conversation in the past.

14. The Free Audit Follow-Up Email

If you didn’t get a reply to your initial message, it’s time to try a new angle in your follow-ups.

One effective way to engage with prospects — particularly if you run an agency offering a service — is to offer a free audit acting as a teaser for what you can help them with.

For example, if you run an SEO agency, offer to run a report to see how they stack up against competitors. If you offer conversion rate optimization services, offer to teardown their landing page and suggest improvements.

If you offer enough real value it will be hard for anyone to say no.

Subject: 3 ideas for {{company.name}}’s landing page

Hi {{prospect.first_name}},

I was just reviewing your website and wanted to send over a couple of ideas that I think could help improve your conversion rates (we’ve tested these with some of our clients and in some cases have seen conversion rates double).

• {{prospect.custom.Idea_1}}

• {{prospect.custom.Idea_2}}

• {{prospect.custom.Idea_3}}

Think any of these are worth trying at {{company.name}}?

Best,

{{inbox.name}}

This follow-up works because it’s actionable. Because you’re sharing your expertise with your prospects for free, they’ll instantly trust your expertise (as long as the suggestions make sense).

It’s also effective because it’s clear that you couldn’t send this email to anyone else, and your prospect will trust that you’re not emailing the same template to 50 other people at the same time.

15. Follow-up With More Social Proof

The first time a prospect hears from you, you’re a stranger. When you follow-up, they’ll start to recognize your name. But, that doesn’t mean they fully trust you yet.

To help increase your prospect’s trust in you and boost your response rate, use your follow-ups to add social proof. If you can, name-drop some well-known clients or significant results you’ve had —the more specific, the better.

The subject line can be the same as your previous emails, or you could test a new one.

Subject: Getting results like this for {{company.name}}?

Hi {{prospect.first_name}},

Know you’re busy — we recently helped [well-known client] hit their outbound sales targets in Q3 by over 200% with cold email and LinkedIn outreach.

Want me to send you the case study?

Best,

{{inbox.name}}

follow-ups like this can feel a little brief, but your prospects are results-driven and this is exactly the type of email most will want to see before committing time and money to your services.

The social proof will help your recipient trust you more, and actionable case studies are perfect for showing off your expertise.

16. Follow-up To Find the Right Contact Info

When selling to large companies there are often multiple decision-makers involved in a sales process. To make sure you’re reaching out to the correct person, use one of your follow-ups to ask for a referral.

Often, the reason for no reply is that the current recipient doesn’t think they’re the right person — but unless you specifically ask, there’s no reason for them to give you the right person's contact details.

Here’s a template you can use:

Subject: Are you the right person to talk to at {{company.name}}?

Hi {{prospect.first_name}},

I’m {{inbox.friendly_name}} with [your company]. We help sales leaders build systems to train up SDRs more effectively.

Are you the right person at {{company.name}} to talk to about this? If not, would you be able to put me in touch with the right person to discuss this with?

Best,

{{inbox.name}}

If your prospect is the right person, you’ve asked them a question that makes it easy to respond back. If not, you’ve politely asked to be referred to the right decision-maker.

Typically, it’s best to have one question per email, but in this case, two works as the questions follow on from each other.

It’s a simple but powerful way to make sure you’re not wasting your time or your recipient’s time.

17. Final Follow-Up: The Break-Up Email

This template is the final step in your follow-up sequence. You’ll send it to prospects if they haven’t replied to any of your previous emails.

But, just because it’s the last email, it doesn’t mean you can get away with a low-effort template.

Here’s a strong way to end your follow-up sequence:

Hi {{prospect.first_name}},

I’m guessing this isn’t a priority for {{company.name}} right now.

I won’t send you any more emails, but if your plans change in the future and you have any questions about [service you can help with], let me know if we can help.

Best,

{{inbox.name}}

This template works because you’re acknowledging your prospect isn’t interested right now but understands things can change. You’re politely leaving the door open for them to get back to you if they have questions, and you're letting them know you won’t email them again, which they’ll appreciate.

It’s always best to end your follow-up sequence after a chain of no responses to ensure your deliverability doesn’t get affected.

5 Common Follow-Up Email Mistakes To Avoid

Ready to customize our follow-up email templates and add them to your next sequence? Before you start, check out these common follow-up mistakes that’ll torpedo your open and reply rates:

1. Not Adding Value in Follow-Ups

In an ideal world, achieving sky-high response rates would be as simple as writing: “I’m just following up about my last message.”

Unfortunately, as any cold outreach pro will confirm, this lazy approach just doesn’t work. Why? Because it doesn’t add value.

Your prospect doesn’t care that they haven’t replied to your email — they’ve got other things on their mind. If you don’t offer them something genuinely useful, insightful, and interesting, don’t expect a response.

Fortunately, adding value isn’t as difficult as it might sound. There are lots of ways to do it, including:

• Sharing social proof

• Sending your latest blog post

• Offering a tool or solution to overcome a common challenge

Learn more: 18 Tips for Writing a Follow-Up Email After No Response 

2. Not Warming Up Your Email Account

Without wishing to state the obvious, you stand a much better chance of generating replies if your emails avoid the spam or promotions folders.

To help you hit more main inboxes, use an email warm-up service every time you create a new email address. Auto-warmers are automated outreach and email marketing tools that strengthen an email account’s sender reputation by replicating human-looking behavior (like sending and replying to messages).

This will improve your email deliverability, which means prospects are more likely to read and reply to your emails.

Learn more: 13 Best Email Warm-Up Tools — Pros, Cons, Pricing (2024)

3. Not Including a CTA

If a prospect takes the time to read your follow-up email in full, it should be obvious what you want them to do next — whether it’s booking a meeting, reading an industry report, or simply replying to your email.

Don’t make them guess; spell it out by writing a clear, simple call to action that keeps the conversation moving.

Learn more: 100+ Examples Of Cold Email Calls To Action

4. Not Adding Personalization

Remember: prospects are far more likely to open personalized emails. This, in turn, means personalization will also help you generate more clicks and replies.

Sure, personalizing emails takes a little more time and effort than sending generic mass emails to hundreds of prospects at once. But it’s absolutely worth the effort because you’ll see improved campaign performance from your outreach sequences.

Don’t stop at mentioning your prospect’s name and company. Make your personalization more meaningful. For instance, you might mention a topic they discussed in their latest LinkedIn post or congratulate them on a recent promotion.

Learn more: Creative Twists for Cold Email Personalization 

5. Not Including Context

Reading follow-up emails should never feel like homework for your prospects. Don’t make them read through the whole email chain to figure out what you’re talking about — sum it up in your follow-up message. Keep it as concise as possible; no more than a couple sentences or bullet points. Because lengthy messages rarely produce the desired results.

Similarly, if you’re following up on a previous conversation or meeting, make the prospect’s life easier by sending a reminder email explaining when you spoke and what you discussed.

The less work you make them do, the more likely they are to respond.

Learn more: What To Say In A Follow-Up Email: A Comprehensive Guide 

6. Not Sending Enough Follow-Ups

Following up is a numbers game.

Simply put, if your prospect didn’t get around to opening your original email, there’s a good chance they’ll do the same with your first follow-up. Give yourself the best chance of receiving a reply by adding multiple follow-ups to your sequence. 

As we’ve already mentioned, QuickMail research shows that the optimal cold email outreach sequence includes three follow-up messages.

But as long as you keep adding value, there’s nothing to stop you sending two or three times more follow-ups than that.

Learn more: 6-Step Sales Email Sequence Template To Get Replies  

Sending Automated Follow-Up Emails With QuickMail

Sending sales follow-ups will drastically improve your cold email response rate. The best way to handle your follow-ups is to write and schedule them all as you’re planning your outreach campaign. That way you’ll be able to see how your follow-ups work together and ensure you’re not repeating yourself unnecessarily.

To schedule them to be sent automatically, you’ll need a cold email tool like QuickMail.

In your campaign, all you need to do is add a new outgoing email step whenever you want to follow-up.

First, set the time interval you want to leave between your emails. Generally, 2 – 3 days is enough between your first few follow-ups.

Then, add another campaign step, choosing “Email” as the content type.

If you check the “Include previous email” button, this will ensure your follow-up is sent as part of the same email thread. 

(Pro tip: QuickMail doesn’t limit you to email follow-ups. You can also add LinkedIn, SMS, and cold call steps to your sequence to give yourself the best chance of being heard.)

When your follow-up is ready, create the new step, and then finish adding all of the follow-up emails you need to include.

Finally, when your email sequence is ready, it’s time to add your prospects to the campaign.

Your emails will be sent on the schedule you’ve set, and all you need to do is monitor your inbox and make sure you get back to every prospect that replies.

You can monitor your results from your dashboard and track how many opens, clicks, replies, and unsubscribes your emails are getting. You can also track this on a per-email basis to see which follow-upss are the most effective.

Then, you can optimize and tweak your campaigns to ensure you’re always improving them.

Start your free trial of QuickMail today to start automating your cold outreach and have more conversations with your prospects.

Wrapping Up

A well-timed follow-up is going to more than double your reply rate. 

You can use these sales follow-up templates to inspire your next email outreach and high-quality follow-upss that show your prospects you’re there to start a conversation with them and aren’t just there to pitch them.

Make sure to edit each template to fit your business and industry, then, schedule your outreach campaigns to be sent on autopilot using QuickMail.