How To Write A Cold Email Follow Up + Example Sequence

The key to a good follow-up email is to not sound like a salesperson.

If you say the wrong words or phrases, then you won’t receive responses.

In this article, I share a real follow-up sequence that received a 30% positive response rate.

I cover the following:

• How to write a follow-up email
• Follow-up email sequence example
• Why you should never say “following up” in your follow-up emails
• The “break up” email (optional)

How to write a follow-up email

The most important thing when writing a follow-up email is to not sound like a salesperson.

If you use phrases like “following up” or “checking in”, then your prospects will delete your emails.

I recommend that you write a follow-up email that looks similar to the following:

"Hey {first_name},

I just had time to get back to you.

I reached out about a week ago to see if you wanted to be part of our beta group.

I saw you using Smartlead's warm up, so thought you'd be interested.

Do you want to use Emailchaser for 6 months without any obligations in exchange for giving me feedback on our product?

If so, let me know, and I can help onboard you.

Best,
George"

Follow-up email sequence example

Below is a real cold email sequence I used that received a 30% positive response rate. Simply edit it to be relevant to your particular situation.

Note: You shouldn't send more than two follow-up emails. Sending more than two follow-up emails will significantly increase the likelihood of your recipients marking your emails as spam, thus negatively impacting your deliverability. I often only use one follow-up email (not two). Additionally, I keep the subject line the same in all follow-up emails so that they are sent in the same thread; if you change the subject line in your follow-up emails, then it’s not possible to keep the entire follow-up sequence in the original thread.

Email 1: Original Email
This is the first cold email that you send to a prospect (this is not a follow-up email). You can learn the framework that I used to write this email in my article How To Write A Cold Email.

Subject: Smartlead warm up

"Hi {first_name},

I built a tool that is similar to Smartlead, but instead of using spintax, we use GPT-4o to slightly rewrite each email so that no two leads receive the exact same email copy.

I was wondering if you'd like to be part of our beta group?

You will be able to use Emailchaser for 6-months, and all I want in return is for you to give feedback.

Let me know if you want to try Emailchaser without any obligations.

Best,
George

P.s. I saw that you are using Smartlead's warm up which is why I reached out."

Email 2: First Follow Up
This is your first follow-up email. Send this four business days after “Email 1”.

Subject: Smartlead warm up

"Hey {first_name},

I just had time to get back to you.

I reached out about a week ago to see if you wanted to be part of our beta group.

I saw you using Smartlead's warm up, so thought you'd be interested.

Do you want to use Emailchaser for 6 months without any obligations in exchange for giving me feedback on our product?

If so, let me know, and I can help onboard you.

Best,
George"

Email 3: The Break Up Email (I usually don’t use this)
This is your second and final follow-up email. Send this four to seven business days after “Email 2”.

Subject: Smartlead warm up

“{first_name},

In reviewing some outstanding business today, I’ll be taking SpaceX out of my current follow ups at this time.

Where I initially thought that our product would help your sales team with their outbound campaigns, I’ve reached out to you on several occasions without response. Having not received any replies to date, I assume that we’ve either fallen off your radar or perhaps the interest has diminished to the degree that my follow up is no longer warranted.

I appreciate the opportunity to work with you and wish you the best with your ongoing sales efforts. I’d be happy to speak with you when you are ready to try out a new cold email sending tool.

Best,
George”

Why you should never say “following up” in your follow-up emails

When you send a follow-up email to a prospect, if they think that you are trying to sell them something, they will delete your email.

You need to sound natural and not like a salesperson.

If you use phrases like “following up”, “checking in” or “bumping this up in your inbox”, then your recipients will delete your emails.

The below video explains why you should never use these phrases in your follow-up emails:

The “break up” email (optional)

If you have already sent a follow-up email, and the prospect still hasn’t responded, then you should send a third & final “break up” email.

To be clear, I don’t always use a break up email in my sequences, but they can work well in certain situations.

A break up email is a final email that you send to a prospect that says that you’ve been trying to get in touch with them, and that you assume they are too busy to get back at this point, so you’re going to take them off your list, and if they ever want to get in touch, you'd be happy to continue the conversation.

The below video (22:26 to 23:30) explains the importance of a break up email:

Below is a break up email that I used in a cold email campaign that received a 30% positive response rate:

Subject: Smartlead warm up

“{first_name},

In reviewing some outstanding business today, I’ll be taking SpaceX out of my current follow ups at this time.

Where I initially thought that our product would help your sales team with their outbound campaigns, I’ve reached out to you on several occasions without response. Having not received any replies to date, I assume that we’ve either fallen off your radar or perhaps the interest has diminished to the degree that my follow up is no longer warranted.

I appreciate the opportunity to work with you and wish you the best with your ongoing sales efforts. I’d be happy to speak with you when you are ready to try out a new cold email sending tool.

Best,
George”

Frequently asked questions

Final thoughts

The key to a great follow-up email is to not sound like a salesperson.

If your prospect thinks that you are trying to sell them something, then they will be less likely to respond.

Never use phrases like “following up” or “checking in” in your follow-up emails.

I recommend that you use the follow-up sequence mentioned above, as this will increase your response rate.

I also recommend that you send your cold email campaigns with Emailchaser because it allows you to easily schedule automatic follow-up emails.

If you are interested in learning more about follow-up emails, then check out my other articles How Many Follow-Up Emails Should You Send? and How Long Should You Wait Before Sending A Follow-Up Email?