How Long Should You Wait Before Sending A Follow-Up Email?

In general, you should wait at least four business days before sending your first follow-up email.

If you send a follow-up email too soon, then you will annoy your prospect, and they will be less likely to respond.

However, certain variables can affect how long you should wait.

In this article, I will cover the following:

• How soon should you send a follow-up email after no response?
• How long to wait between each follow-up email?
• Variables that affect how long you should wait before sending a follow-up email
• Final thoughts

How soon should you send a follow-up email after no response?

You should wait at least four business days before sending your first follow-up email.

Most people are busy, and need time to get back to you. If you send a follow-up email too quickly, then it could annoy your prospect.

Giving your prospects some time to get back to you will pay off.

I recommend that you send your cold emails with Emailchaser, as Emailchaser allows you to schedule automatic follow-ups.

Emailchaser automatically stops sending follow-up emails to leads that have already responded.

How long to wait between each follow-up email?

I recommend that you wait 4 to 7 days between each follow-up email.

You might be messaging a lead at a bad time, so giving them sufficient time to get back to you is important.

Another tactic that works well is to send the first couple of emails a week apart, and then send your final follow-up email 1 to 2 months later.

You might have a great offer, but if it isn’t the right time for the lead, then they aren’t going to respond. Sending the final follow-up email 1 to 2 months in the future increases your chances of messaging the lead at the right time.

Variables that affect how long you should wait before sending a follow-up email

If you are emailing a high level executive, such as a CEO or COO, then it’s best to space out your follow-up emails by a couple of weeks.

High level executives are very busy, and your email is probably at the bottom of their priority list.

You need to give these types of people sufficient time to get back to you, otherwise you risk annoying them, and thus losing them as a client.

If you are emailing someone that is less senior, then you can space out your follow-up emails by 4 to 7 days.

Frequently asked questions

Final thoughts

I recommend that you wait at least 4 business days before sending your first follow-up email.

If you haven’t received a response, then it could be that your leads are very busy, and simply need more time before getting back to you.

I recommend that you check out my other article How Many Follow-Up Emails Should You Send?

If you want to learn how to write the perfect follow-up email, then check out my article How To Write A Follow-Up Email (+13 Templates & Examples).