Email has become one of the more officially recognised methods of communication and a powerful tool for any office space. But it becomes useless when the other side fails to respond to your previous email, prompting you to write follow-up emails to chase them. But how do you write a polite follow-up email so as not to damage working relationships?
In this article, we will go over a winning follow-up email template, perfecting your subject lines and paragraph phrasing to turn what would otherwise look like rude prodding into a gentle reminder.
Techniques For A Perfect Follow-Up Email
The following are some pointers that, used together, will construct the desired polite follow-up email templates.
1. Craft Your Subject Line
Your subject line is to an email what a heading is for a chapter in a novel. It sets what the entire body of the email is about, as well as informing them at first glance that they shouldn’t put off or skip reading it.
The formula for perfect email subject lines revolves around capturing attention and creating a sense of importance. An overused subject line is “follow-up email regarding XYZ”, and this is weak. It gives the impression of being a source of additional information rather than a call to action.
Instead, opt for a more detailed follow-up message that suggests a bottleneck may be occurring. Email subject line examples that perfectly capture this read along the lines of: “Action required: do you have an update for XYZ?” The term “action required” is very corporate and formal, and considering you’re writing a follow-up email in a business setting, it’s appropriate. It’s not a demand, nor an insinuation – just a simple declaration of fact.
2. Crafting The Body Of Your Message
The actual content of the email is where creativity comes in. First, you can start with a simple greeting (such as good morning), followed by their name. What comes after depends on how well you know the recipient. If the person you’re writing follow-up emails is someone who you have a strong business relationship with, it may be worth recalling something that will build rapport. For example – if you know they’ve been away on a business trip somewhere.
Follow-up email samples following this rule would look something like “Good Morning, Adam. Did you try the fresh fruits down in Barcelona?”. This blurs the lines between a business associate and a friend, preventing any notion of hostility or impatience from your personalised greeting.
Then you move on to what you need. Ask how they’re getting on with whatever the subject of the follow-up email is, and declare that it’s required by a certain date to keep everything sailing smoothly.
3. Timing Is Everything
Unless you require a response within a relatively close amount of time, it’s best to not write a follow-up email until at least 2 to 3 days after you send your previous email. This not only allows a reasonable amount of time for whatever action is needed to be done, but it also is enough time that it can still be resolved in the same week.
Furthermore, in the case that your follow-up email is ignored, having a period of one day in between can result in too many follow-ups being sent out. This can create a sense of communication breakdown and can be detrimental to working relationships.
4. Utilise Technology
In the age of smart tech, why not use automated reminder services? They can help schedule follow-ups, so you don’t have to. This is particularly useful in situations where your initial message was sent to a business associate you don’t particularly know, or plan to work with for long.
Gmail in particular has several great tools/add-ons that will allow you to use follow-ups, read receipts, automated replies and more. It will also remind you of emails that you have sent out that you do not have a response for.
5. Be Concise
We live in an age where watching a whole movie is a test of patience. With the pacing of the modern era, your emails have to be as concise as possible. Ensure you cut out any part of your follow-up email that isn’t needed, such as personal anecdotes or wonky wording. Free tools such as Grammarly can help a lot with this.
It is also a good idea to ensure that you get to the heart of the email immediately. After your initial greeting, tailor your email to the email subject line as soon as possible.
For instructions or multiple elements needing to be explained in a body of text, utilise bullet points. This is a very economical way of pinpointing and explaining several subjects in a single body of text.
6. Understand The Other Side
Whilst the follow-up process can be frustrating for the person who has to do it, understand that unless this is an obvious case of laziness or lack of dedication – we don’t know why there’s been no action or response.
Polite follow-up emails will understand this, ensuring no insinuation of judgement or aggression reaches the other side. A follow-up email should be exactly that – free from bias.
Infuse a little empathy into your messages. Starting with a sentence like, “I hope you’re doing well” could lighten up the mood and show that you’ve got a heart, not just an agenda.
7. Think About How You Wrap Things Up
Signing off an email doesn’t have to be like a chapter in a book – there’s no climax to build up to. But there are more effective ways to end an email than an abrupt “best wishes”. For example, a simple nicety such as “look forward to hearing from you soon” can create a sense of camaraderie, and defuse any offence in your follow-up email.
Conclusion
Managing emails has a sense of detachment to it considering responses are not in real time, but they have as much of an impact as spoken words. Whilst a quick call can convey a lot through tone like it’s second nature, speaking via email requires crafting. It’s crucial to strike a balance – being courteous, persistent and adding a touch of humanity. So next time you hesitate before hitting that ‘Send’ button keep these tips in mind and take the plunge.
FAQ: How to deal with a follow-up email rejection?
Your follow-up email has a request attached to it, and a rejection of that request can cause something of a roadblock in business operations. So how do we deal with this?
Regardless of their tone, ensure your response email subject line and the body of the text is polite. Detach yourself from disappointment, and respond directly to the rejection from a pragmatic point of view.
The only exception to this is if your follow-up email is done as a result of an unwelcome marketing endeavour. In these cases, you should consider ending the conversation. Adhering to data protection laws, like GDPR in play, is important. GDPR mandates obtaining consent before sending marketing emails so repeatedly reaching out without permission could lead to trouble.
FAQ: Understanding Recipient Preferences
Not everyone likes email. Some people prefer phone calls, video chats, or even good old face-to-face conversations.
Pay attention to cues in your interaction with the other person. If they always seem more responsive or engaged in a particular setting, that could be your best route for effective communication.
It’s like cooking a meal for a friend: you wouldn’t make a cheese-laden lasagne for someone who’s lactose intolerant, right? So why stick to email if your recipient favours another communication mode?
FAQ: Should you track email responses?
You can track email responses in multiple email platforms, or pseudo-email message platforms. But is this a good idea?
The use of read receipts and email tracking services can provide insights into how the other person interacts with your emails. Do they see that the email exists? Did they open your email? Have they clicked on any links?
The answer to whether or not you should use these features in the follow-up process is, in our opinion, no. While this information can help understand engagement, it only does so on a very basic level. If knowing that the person has seen the email is all you need to know, for example, then the use of this feature is fine. Using it to determine whether or not they’re going to act on your requests is another matter, though.
FAQ: How to write a polite follow-up email to international cultures?
The world is a place, home to many cultures and communication styles. When dealing with an audience adopting a one-size-fits-all approach simply won’t suffice.
For example – a survey named “The State of Email Effectiveness” by the Harvard Business Review 2015 found that 61% of American Professionals appreciate brevity in emails. This is seen as a sign of respect. That being said, a polite follow-up email in Japan would almost certainly be indirect, with more of an emphasis on maintaining polite harmony. Advice given here by Real Business would be seen as rude in this culture.
