When it comes to the business of sales, follow-up is the key to your success. Prospects are all busy people, and they do not always have the time to think about your product, so it is your job to be consistent in reminding them about it. That said, there is a fine line between charmingly persistent and downright annoying, so you have to be careful about how many emails you send to the lead, or you risk never converting them into sales.

In theory, the more follow up emails you send in a sequence, the higher the reply rate of the campaign. However, experts say flooding your prospect’s inbox with emails is not a solution. Anything that goes after your fifth follow-up email will translate into near-zero conversion. Besides, crafting and personalizing each follow-up takes time, which is a valuable resource and one that is not to be wasted on sending out more emails than necessary or helpful.

So, how much is too much, and – on that same note – how little is not enough? Reply.io sales experts specializing in cold marketing recommend that you make it your rule not to stop after sending just two follow-up emails but finally put the matter to rest after the prospect has failed to answer any of your six emails. Sending out eight or more emails is overdoing it; what’s more, it might get you a sticky title of a spammer. 

Now that you know how many follow-up emails it is proper to send, let us look at some other tips that can help you reach out to your prospects more efficiently:

• Focus on frequency rather than quantity. Let your prospects have at least two to three days to consider your offer and respond before bombarding them with another email.
• Keep them short and engaging. Make sure your follow-ups are shorter than your first email. Keep them down to 3-4 sentences.
• Be creative with your CTAs. It is a poor tone to urge your customer to buy in every single letter. Instead, try a different call-to-action idea every time: offer them a demo, invite to schedule another phone call, tell them about a limited-time bonus program they can be part of, etc.

Most importantly, remember that email marketing is a business that thrives on technology, so do not be hesitant to introduce some of that into your daily routine. Automate your follow-up emailing process with Reply.io to save yourself time on scheduling and sending those letters manually.

Sheri gill