Follow-up sequences that earn replies

Give every touch one job

A weak sequence is the same message sent five times with "just checking in" on top. A strong one gives each touch a distinct job, so a reader who skimmed the first note meets something new in the second and third.

Write the jobs before you write any copy. The first touch states one reason for writing and asks one question. The bump adds a single sentence and keeps the thread. The middle touches add either a fresh angle or a specific detail. The last note closes the loop in a friendly way and leaves the door open.

• Touch 1: the reason for writing and one question that is easy to answer.
• Touch 2: a short bump on the same thread that adds one detail.
• Touch 3: a new angle, such as a specific example or a different pain point.
• Touch 4: a different, smaller ask, such as a resource or a pointer to the right person.
• Touch 5: a closing note that states you will stop writing.

A day-by-day schedule and what it returned

The table below is a worked example for a fictional company, Northgate Freight Software, writing to 400 dispatch managers. Gaps lengthen as the sequence goes on, from three days to four and then five. Reply counts are invented for this example and show how to read your own numbers, not what you should expect.

Reply rate per step is replies divided by delivered first touches, using the same 400 for every row so the rows add up. Cumulative rate is the running total. In this example 22 replies arrived in all, and 59.1% of them came after the first touch, which is the case for sending follow-ups at all.

Spacing, length and stopping rules

Spacing is a judgement, not a law. Waiting a day or two between the first two touches keeps the thread fresh. Longer gaps later give the reader room to change priorities. Pick a schedule, write it down and change one thing at a time so you can see what moved.

Keep follow-ups shorter than the opener. A reader who ignored 90 words will not warm to 140. Stop a person the moment they reply, ask to be removed or bounce. A sequence that keeps writing to someone who said no costs you the sender reputation the next prospect depends on.

ColdMeetings lets you write a sequence of up to six steps with waits between them and A/B variants for any step, and it refuses to save a message that lacks an unsubscribe link or a sender address.

Measure each step with one formula

For every step, divide replies by delivered emails for that step. Do not divide by emails sent, because a bounced message never reached anyone and would hide how the copy performed. Bounces are their own measure: bounced divided by sent.

In the example, step one returned 2.3% and step five 0.3%. Falling returns per step are normal. The question is whether the last step still earns more than it costs in reputation. If the last touch produces almost nothing and draws unsubscribes, shorten the sequence.

Count replies of every kind first, then separate the ones that want a meeting. A step that drew mostly "not me" answers did its job if it sent you to the right person.

Sender rules your sequence must respect

Mailbox providers publish requirements that apply to how often and how you write. Google states that marketing and subscribed messages from bulk senders, those sending more than 5,000 messages a day, must support one-click unsubscribe, and it asks senders to keep their spam rate in Postmaster Tools below 0.30%, with a target under 0.10%. Yahoo asks bulk senders to honor unsubscribes within two days and keep spam rates below 0.3%.

One-click unsubscribe is a header signal defined in RFC 8058, so a mail program can send a single request on the reader's behalf. A longer sequence gives more chances for a complaint, which is another reason to give each touch a clear job and a clean exit.