Why Your Follow-Up Emails Aren’t Being Read

This is a concern shared by businesses of all sizes and types, so know that you’re not alone in wondering why your follow up emails don

Far more people use email to communicate than any other online medium, and most business today still gets done over email, not through tweets or phone calls.

Today, I’m going to show you the elements of an excellent follow-up email, and how to email busy people the right way in order to make things happen.

Knowing how to write outreach emails might seem like a “no-brainer” or maybe even an unnecessary skill to have, but I can assure you the opposite, on both accounts.

You can’t rely on random encounters to get in touch with people who can help you flourish; while it may happen once in a while, the rest of the time it’s up to you. And following up with an email to a potential new client can be the difference between your company and your competitor gaining that new business.

Due to the fact that tweeting is so impersonal and a cold phone call is so annoying, email is the ideal platform for following up with a prospect. Yet for busy people, even their inbox is something that is viewed as a “task,” meaning that they want to get in and out as quickly as possible.

In a recent study by Ipsos, 85% of internet users use email, vs. only 62% who use social networking

The world revolves around me. Me, me, me. My favorite person: Me.
I don’t want email from you. I don’t want junk mail from you. I want me-mail.

— Seth Godin

Before we get into how to get busy people to actually read your emails, we need to tackle phase one: You must understand how to avoid the trash bin.

When deciding whether to read or delete an email, our brains go through this common evaluation process:
A. Who is emailing me (and is this spam)?
B. What do they want?
C. How long will this take?

Getting a “pass” on all 3 of these can be tougher than it looks, especially for busy people. Luckily, there is 3-step technique to avoid the trash bin.

We’ll be getting into a bunch of named techniques in this post, so why not start now ;).

I call it the 3-B plan, and I always double-check my emails to make sure they follow the guidelines below, and I’ve been able to get some fantastic response rates.

1. Brevity

If there is one thing that busy people value above all else, it’s brevity.

If you were receiving upwards of 50-100 emails per day, or had so many obligations that you were only left with a short amount of time to check email, it’d be easy to see why.

In order to get your messages read ASAP, it’s best to make sure your follow-up email follows this ASAP rule: As short as possible.

I wouldn’t put a set limit on email length, because it’s a case by case basis. The important thing to remember is to always edit your emails at least once to trim unnecessary information, people don’t need your enthralling life story over email, they just need “Who, what, why” so they can get back to business.

2. Blunt

Being blunt doesn’t mean not being persuasive, it simply means getting to the point without trying to be clever. Stories & jokes are essential for other forms of writing, but NOT for emails.

Emails are all business and you should treat them as such. Get to the incentive on why the other person should respond right away.

If possible, list a number in the title to signal commitment time (Ex: “3 quick questions”) and state exactly what the email is about in the subject line.

3. Basic

I sometimes am in disbelief that this one needs to be said, but it’s so true.

I’ve had emails where people send what looks like a newsletter – Emails with tons of images in them (so I have to click “display images” to even read it) and emails with a DOZEN attachments when it’s their first time emailing me… Keep it simple, sweetheart.

Stick to these three essentials in your follow-up emails, and you’ll notice that you will receive a higher response rate, and better conversion rates of new potential clients.

Topics: Email Marketing