5 Email Templates and Tips to Strengthen Your Follow-up Game

5 Email Templates and Tips to Strengthen Your Follow-up Game



Finding leads but not customers? This post is going to cover the following points on what you can do to turn this around:
  • Why should you send follow-up emails?
  • Mistakes to avoid while sending follow-up emails
                     - Without value
                      - Too long
                    - No call-to-action
  • Follow-up email scenario templates and tips
                  - Scenario: 1 Following up with a prospect who signed up for a product/ newsletter
                  - Scenario: 2 Following up to convert a prospect from freemium to premium
                  - Scenario: 3  Following up with a prospect who didn't respond to the previous email
                  - Scenario: 4  Following up with referrals
                  - Scenario: 5  Last follow-up email (breakup email)

Why should you send follow-up emails?

98% of the marketers never send follow-up emails after their initial email conversation. Follow-up mailers are sequential emails in response to your prospects action, say arranging a meeting, closing a sale, or for getting more information for converting a lead to customer.  A study conducted by Iko systems states that following up with your audience creates 1.5 times of increased response rate over the initial email. 

Mistakes to avoid while sending follow-up emails

Follow-up emails don't make a difference if 
      - it doesn't add any value
      - it is not to the point
      - it has no call to action (CTA)
 
Now let's analyze each metric briefly and see how it impacts your open rate.


Serves no value

Would you respond to an email that directs you to a product signup without first being of any value? No! And this applies to your audience as well. Ensure your initial conversation isn't pushy and talks plain value. In the follow-up email, suggest additional relevant information to provoke and intrigue your audience. 


Too long 
​

 More often than not, customers get dumped with too much information which sounds pushy  or makes it clear that  you are here to sell. After sending a welcome email, it's best to look at what the user needs, understand this and work towards it. For example, a new user might need a helpful webinar/tutorial to get started rather than repeated calls on other services, when they  haven't implemented the ones they have already! Don't repeat what you do and what your core values are in the follow-up email. If you want to reiterate, link to the previous email you sent. Short, concise, and to the point emails will increase your overall response rate. 






Lacking call-to-action


The points discussed above will be ineffective if there is no call-to-action. The action you want them to perform decides the ROI of the follow-up emails. Say, suggesting they attend a webinar, sign up for a newsletter, or upgrade their service, it all boils down to the proper call-to-action present in the email. Directing them to your desired action serves the purpose of your follow-up email.  


Follow-up email scenario templates and tips

We will see some of the frequent scenarios where a marketer needs to send a contextually relevant follow-up email along with some quick tips to help them send more personalised follow-up emails:

Scenario: 1 Following up with a prospect who signed up for a product/newsletter


 


Tips: 
  • Adding stats (charts, graphs, or basically any visually pleasing variant of that easily conveys numbers)to your email content is one of the smart ways to capture your audience's attention. 
  • When a prospect signs-up for the product, instead of explaining the pro-features, give them enough time and resources to explore the product. 

Scernario 2: Following up to convert a prospect from freemium to premium

 


Tips: 
  • Always make sure your the CTA is visible and eye-catching. Here, the upgrade to premium button is prominent with a bold color that stands out. 

Scenario: 3 Following up with a lead who didn't respond to the previous email



Tips:
  • For following up with user for the second time, don't copy-paste the same content that you initially sent. 
  • Be direct and convey what you want from your audience. 
  • Also, take enough time before sending the second email. Don't bombard your prospects with emails expecting immediate responses. Patience and persistence are the keys. 

Scenario: 4 Following up with referrals



Tips: 
  • While drafting the referral mail, ensure that you mention the referral name (the person who referred the contact). It lends credibility to your email and helps the prospect consider your solution. 
  • Also, drop a few titbits of what you do briefly, to provide value. 
  • As mentioned earlier, the CTA should be visible in order for easy navigation. 

Scenario: 5 Last follow-up email (breakup email)



Tips: 
  • When you want to end the follow-up email with a prospect, sending a break-up email can increase the chances of conversion due to loss aversion.
  • Loss aversion influences the receiver and creates an urgency to act upon the email as this will be their final chance.
  • Also, give them the option to express their standpoint.
Pro tip: You can also go about using a personalised break-up subject line which can increase the possibilities of opening the email. They are:
  • Goodbye from XYZ
  • Should I stay or should I go now? 
  • Thank you from XYZ
  • It is time to part
  • We are going to miss you.

Email marketing is one of the best channels to generate a highest ROI. Sending follow-up emails is the first step in lead nurturing that makes an overall difference in your email marketing strategy. Personalized and relevant follow-up emails take you a step ahead in providing credibility and, evokes the user's interest in responding. Creating a compelling follow-up email is hard, but all it takes is the first step -  keep fine-tuning it for better reach, every time. Do check out our previous post on 3 simple strategies to create an effective email marketing campaign. Drop us your thoughts in the comments on how  you follow-up with your clients, and what worked best for you.


    • Sticky Posts

    • 10 simple e-commerce marketing tips to boost sales

      Congratulations! You've finally set up that e-commerce store you've been thinking about for a long time. Hopefully it wasn't too difficult. Even if it was, the effort will be totally worth it when you start seeing some orders come through. Now that the store is live, let's take a look at some marketing tips you can apply for sales growth. 1. Avoid cart abandonment If you've ever shopped online, you might have added a product to the cart but then decided not to purchase it. This is known as cart abandonment.

    • Marketing in a post COVID-19 world!

      Consumers across countries are increasingly spending more time on a wide variety of digital activities, right from online grocery shopping, to video conferencing, to tele-medicine. There is a good chance that you performed one or more of the following activities during this lockdown, thanks to COVID 19: Cooked a meal Made a TikTok Video Signed up for a remote learning session Consulted a doctor online (or ordered medicines online) Shopped for groceries online A study by Hunter, a food and beverage

    • Inbound Marketing 101: The Foundational Blocks of Inbound Marketing Strategy

      According to a behaviour survey, 68% of the buyers use sources such as blogs to evaluate the product even before considering it. Before buying a product, we do a lot of research to learn more about the product through communities, blogs, social media,

    • How Zylker doubled their webinar registrations!

      Webinars are good educational resources to gather qualified leads for your product. But what if your visitors are dropping off from your webinar landing page without signing up? What more could you do to convert visitors into registrants? This is the

    • The ideology behind why features tell, but benefits sell

      Do you think there's any truth to this? Do features only tell, and benefits sell?  Well, let's see why we should focus on benefits rather than features as the great marketing wizards, David Ogilvy and Steve Jobs proved to be the best examples leveraging

      • Recent Topics

      • Question Regarding Deleted Reports in Zoho Desk Analytics

        Dear Zoho Desk Support Team, I hope this message finds you well. We have a question regarding the Analytics module in Zoho Desk, specifically related to deleted reports/dashboards. We would like to understand the following: Is there a recycle bin, recovery

      • Add an option to start zobot when user clicks the Chat with Us button

        I would like to have an option to start the zobot when user clicks on "Chat with us" button when chat widget is maximized that way visitors could see first the homepage and decide which channel they would like to use to connect, or to see the quicke help

      • Zoho Books - Feature Request - Provide "Show PDF View" toggle on Invoice records

        I have noticed it is possible to activate or deactivate the PDF preview on some records but not all. This would be very helpful on Invoices when a custom template is being used and the PDF preview does not represent the output file. Not available on:

      • Incorrect Handling of XLSX data

        Trying to import an XLSX schedule of bills into Zoho Books I ran across the problem of date formatting. To replicate: Build a CSV file with bill dates in whatever format you like and import it - this should work if you match the "dd/MM/yyy" etc. format

      • Disable Smart Filters By Default

        The smart filters "feature" is causing confusion for Zoho Mail users. New emails should be delivered to the inbox unless they have specifically opted to redirect them somewhere else. People don't understand that new emails might be waiting in a random

      • Adding Columns to Reports

        Hi, Is it possible to choose fields to be added as columns in the reports? Thank you.

      • How do I automatically assign the project owner for all tasks in Zoho Projects?

        I have been researching for days on how to automatically assign all the tasks to the project owner on creation of the project in Zoho Projects. I have been having to go in and manually change all the task owner from 'unassigned' to the owner of the project

      • CRM Kiosk - Action for GetRecords

        I have a Kiosk screen with GetRecords and want to use the selected records in a custom function. My particular case is to set a lookup value on the selected records. Generally speaking though, I want to work with the selected records in a function. I

      • Extract Archived Projects using Zoho Projects API

        In my organization we archive the projects when they are already completed, charged, invoiced, so that only those that are still pending process remain active. I need to access all projects (active and archived) from an external system, but the API v3

      • Email for customer to provide payment information

        Is there a way for customers when you set up a subscription to get an email that prompts them to put in their billing information to start their subscription? Also, can you show the subscription in their portal?

      • Unable to display field label from a hidden Single Line Textbox in Description

        Hi folks, I'm unable to display my hidden field, e.g. ${zf:SingleLine4} , in my description. I'm pre-filling this hidden Single Line Text box via "Field Alias - Pre-fill URL" settings. I noticed that my decimal form fields work, e.g. ${zf:Decimal}, and

      • Lookup fields

        Is there any way to add Lookup fields to Zoho FSM -- I do not see the option but I see default lookup fields in different modules

      • Zoho Analytics - Bill Table

        Hi I am new to Zoho and mainly work in Books. Recently learned of Zoho Analytics and am exploring it to create reports that would be useful for me. For example, I want to create a bills cash forecast by week for cash flow planning. When I start to create

      • Creating a tax - amount table in Analytics

        Hi everyone, I would like to create a report in Zoho Anayltics that creates the tax and amounts in a table. I have been able to create a report that shows me all the tax accounts, but I can't get it combined with the amounts of the accounts. Is there

      • Is it possible to do custom domains on test accounts that use saml setups?

        In Zoho Billing, Is it possible to do custom domains on test accounts that use saml setups for the customer portal?

      • I’m facing an issue while trying to upload a PDF file to a custom file upload field within the Leads module via the Zoho CRM API.

        Hi Zoho Team, I’m facing an issue while trying to upload a PDF file to a custom file upload field within the Leads module via the Zoho CRM API. I am able to manually upload a PDF into this field through the UI. I am also able to upload files as attachments

      • No chat option

        Chat option is not available in Android app.

      • How to add custom templates in zoho sheets mobile

        How can I add custom templates in Zoho spreadsheet mobile?

      • Order Items

        Hi .. We have to implement orders with line but each line should have a separate record and not as a subform, does anyone have experience with that kind of solution what is the best practice for that kind of thing Thanks

      • Trello: Invalid Client - Client ID passed does not exist

        Hello, I am trying to authorize the Zoho CRM power-up in Trello but always land on the following page: I tried adding a trello client to the Zoho API console but this generated a different client ID to the one in the link of the page in the above picture.

      • Zoho Sprints - Q2 updates for 2025

        Hello everyone! We’re excited to share the latest updates from Zoho Sprints for Q2 2025! This quarter, we rolled out a few highly-requested features designed to enhance collaboration and time management across your projects. Here's a look back at the

      • CRM Email Insights Not Working - Status not Changing

        I used to be able to see if a customer opened/read an email in CRM, but I no longer get those status changes inside their record. I have everything enabled and I am sending the email from CRM. The experience center has the status' enabled as well. Any

      • The use of Ticket statuses

        When your support team mark a ticket "Closed" before I had a time to check what your team has done on the ticket - I have to consider this as you consider the ticket closed even if I dont consider it closed. Which automatically produce a negative sentiment.

      • "Replace" an existing version of CRM

        Hi all, I have a question, I saw an article about this once, but I now cannot find it. I am working with a client who has had their CRM in Zoho One built and extensively modified. But it is non-functional now, and rather than try and unpick the system,

      • Data Import From a private PostgreSQL RDS Instance

        Hello All, I feel like the problem I am experiencing has been seen before; however, I am having a difficult time finding any solutions. Hoping the community has some insights. I am trying to import data from a PostgreSQL RDS instance that is behind an

      • Assistance Required: Authentication Error When Sending Credit Application Form

        Hi, I'm encountering an error message that states: "Authentication unsuccessful – the user credentials were incorrect." This occurs when I attempt to send the credit application form to our customers. I've attached the form I’m trying to send for your

      • Missing Fields in Lead Conversion Mapping

        I’ve been using Zoho CRM since 2013 to manage leads and convert them into contacts and jobs. When I convert a lead to a customer, I create a new contact and a job. Previously, this process automatically transferred key information from the lead to the

      • Allow selection of select inactive users in User data fields

        Hello, We sometimes need to select a previous employee that has an inactive account in the User data field. For example, when doing database cleanup and indicating actions are done by a certain employee that weren't filled out when they were part of the

      • Connection to Zoho One

        My org has a Zoho One account, which includes Zoho Social. We are wanting to try linkthread. However, I want to make sure it is set up properly from an account perspective, as I have accidentally created Zoho accounts separate from Zoho One when I didn't

      • Ticket Automatically Created from Closed Chat

        Is there a way to prevent a ticket being create for every chat.... or at the very least have it automatically closed.

      • IMPORT INVOICES CSV

        Hi, Impossible to import invoices in Zoho books with a csv file. I have also tried with the template. My topic keeps getting closed but I did not get any answer Is there an issue with this fonctionnality ?

      • Related Lists in Email Templates

        Hi Zoho team, I would love to see a feature where related list information can easily be added to an email template (instead of mail merge). I have a client who books flights for their customers. They do this through a Flights module so all booked flights

      • Outlook plugin funktioniert nicht.

        DAs Outlook Plugin funktioniert nicht mehr. Ich werde aufgefordert, mich mit der App "OneAuth" anzumelden Intelligente Anmeldung per OneAuth funktioniert nicht zufreidenstellend. Nach erfolgreicher Anmeldungung mittels QR Code lande ich wieder beim QR

      • iOS App Version 3.0 - Customer list gone?

        Not sure when this changed, but I seem to have been updated to 3.0 for the phone app (on iOS). I'm pretty sure that I used to have a Customers button that allowed me, for example, to see what appointments a customer has. Has this disappeared or am I just

      • Zoho Signature, "For Demo Purpose Only Powered by Zoho Sign"

        How to disable this text on the documents for signature. "For Demo Purpose Only Powered by Zoho Sign"

      • Add Resource variable to notification email customisation for Event Type

        The notification email customisation feature for Event Type does not include a variable for the Resource field. Without this field, Zoho Bookings cannot be used by any business for resource-based services or event types e.g. room bookings, equipment bookings.

      • Can't find add role button, is iet st because I have the free subscription

        Trying to add my accountant in Zoho Books if I press the add accountant button, I get stuck as it says no such role exists, and won't let me continue, I can't find the add roles button, so I am stuck. Is it because I have the free subscription? Also can't

      • Calendar view all appointments in workspace

        In the Calendar page, add the ability to view all appointments in the Workspace. The Manage Calendars filter requires me to select at least one user or resource, and it only lets me select up to five of them. There's no filter option to view the entire

      • Tip #13: Identify where your bookings come from with Source Tracking

        Source tracking is the practice of identifying where your bookings originated. This is important, because online bookings come from a wide variety of sources like social media platforms, your website, email and ad campaigns, partner websites, organic

      • Unable to Add Notes

        I've had a user report that they are unable to add notes to account records. I attempted and found the same issue. There is no option to save the note.

      • Next Page