How to Send a Cold Email Follow-Up That Gets Results (With Templates)

Sending a cold email follow-up is critical to getting a response from your campaigns.

Sure, you may have written the best cold email in the world, but according to ZoomInfo, 50% of sales happen after the 5th follow-up.

So, whether you’re sending a cold email for a job, for networking, or selling your newest product, the likelihood is that if you’re not sending a cold email follow-up, you’re leaving a ton of opportunities on the table.

In this article, I’ll walk you through how to write a cold email follow-up, when to send them, and how many to send so you don’t come across as annoying.

Let’s jump in.

Why Send Cold Email Follow-Ups?

According to ZoomInfo, 50% of sales happen after the 5th follow-up, but 44% of salespeople give up after just one.

Now, if you think about it, that’s a lot of money left on the table. But on the flip side, it means you have an awesome opportunity.

And look, I get it.

You might think, Won’t I come across as annoying or desperate?

Because that’s how I often feel too, but the thing is…

When you follow up well, it helps your recipient. Here’s why:

• Maybe they missed your original email.
• Maybe your email fell out of view.
• Maybe it was received at the wrong time.
• Or they require more information, which you can provide in a follow-up.

So, don’t let your inner voice tell you a reality that might not be true. Following up could kickstart a win-win relationship.

…As long as you’re not spamming them with lazy follow-ups like “Do you not like me?” or “Hey, just following up on this email.” If you do it tactfully and politely (as we’ll cover in a minute), you’ll see the benefits and get more from your cold email follow-up campaigns.

Plus, by showing up in their inbox a few times, you tap into the “mere-exposure effect,” which suggests that repeated exposure increases familiarity and improves response chances. This shows that follow-ups aren’t just about persistence—they’re about building trust.

How to Write a Cold Email Follow-Up After No Response

Alright, now it’s time to get down to business.

You might be tempted to go simple with something like, “Hey, just following up on this email,” which is short and to the point. But it’s important to remember that the reason someone may not have replied to your email could be because:

• You made your ask too big in the initial email.
• They still have hesitations about responding.

This is why it’s best practice to:

• Make your follow-up easy to respond to — Instead of making them think, ask yourself: could they instantly come up with an answer and respond in seconds?
• Keep it consistent with your last message — A lot of people think they need to come up with a new reason to follow up and send something unrelated to their previous message. Don’t make that mistake.
• Add value and handle hesitations — Rather than just treating a follow-up as a “Hey, I’m still here,” be proactive. If your prospect is hesitant about your solution, follow up with some social proof.
• Keep it personable — In cold emailing, it’s important to speak to a fellow human, not a robot. Keep it chatty, like you’re talking to a friend, and then bring it down to a more professional tone if necessary.
• Keep it short — A follow-up should be like a simple text message to a friend you’re waiting to hear back from.

Here’s an example that puts these tips into action. It’s easy to respond to, consistent, and adds value by sharing a case study while pointing out another reason why the product might be right for them:

How Long Should You Wait to Follow Up?

According to Forbes, 50% of people respond to emails within the same hour of receiving them. If someone is planning on replying, there’s a 90% chance you’ll get a response within 48 hours.

So with that in mind, 3 working days is a good time to wait. However, this could extend to a week depending on your specific situation. Don’t overthink it—just send the cold email follow-up. You can always test and tweak the timing later.

How Many Follow-Ups Should You Send?

Remember that stat from earlier? 50% of sales happen after the 5th follow-up. So, as a rule of thumb, 5–7 follow-ups is a good range to aim for.

How Long Should You Leave Between Follow-Ups?

How far you space them out depends on your situation and who you’re emailing. A good rule of thumb is to wait 3, 5, or 7 days, increasing the gap with each follow-up.

At a previous food business I was part of, we’d send cold emails to ask stores if they’d stock our product. We had a 3-part cold email follow-up sequence, spaced out as follows:

1. Send the first email.
2. If no reply in 3 days, send the first follow-up email.
3. If no reply 5 days after the first follow-up, send the second follow-up email.

By the time the last email in the sequence was sent, 55% of the prospects had replied.

How to Send Your Cold Email Follow-Ups

There are a couple of ways to send follow-ups:

1. Manually circle back and do it yourself.
2. Use a tool like Mailmeteor, which lets you send automated follow-ups based on whether your recipient has replied to your previous email.

While the second method is fantastic if you’re trying to scale your cold outreach, you might think, What if I’m only sending a few cold emails here and there but I’m tired of remembering who to follow up with?

That’s exactly why we created the Mailmeteor Gmail extension.

It lets you send emails with scheduled follow-ups based on whether your recipient responded to your previous email. This way, instead of dropping someone into a mass email sequence, you can strike a balance and schedule a personalized cold email follow-up sequence without worrying about keeping track of replies.

Here’s how it works:

1. Install the Gmail extension — It’s Free
2. Write your first email.
3. On the drop-down arrow next to the Gmail send button click ‘send with a follow-up.’
4. And it’s here you can write a follow-up sequence to send out based on if your recipient replied over a defined period.

3 Cold Email Follow-Up Templates

Example 1 – You Didn’t Get a Reply, and the Proposed Date is Fast Approaching

Breakdown: This works if you’ve sent a meeting request and haven’t heard back. Mention another date you have in mind, and sneak in a bit of extra value with customer validation.

Example 2 – You Want to Add Extra Backing as to Why You Can Help Them

Breakdown: Here, we’re acknowledging the prospect’s time constraints, sticking with the call-to-action, and adding extra value.

Example 3 – You Didn’t Suggest a Call in the First Email and Want to Offer an Alternative Contact Method

Breakdown: A quick check-in, brief and simple, linking the CTA from the first email to say “yes” to samples.

Wrapping Up (and a Note on Cold Email Templates)

By now, you should feel well-equipped to follow up with your prospects. I hope you can see that following up doesn’t have to feel icky, as long as you make your email easy to respond to, keep it human, and come from a place of genuinely caring about the person you believe you could help.

If you’re looking for more cold email examples for inspiration, feel free to check out our list of proven cold email templates.

However, I’d encourage you not to rely solely on templates. Instead, write your own follow-ups based on the principles discussed here to stand a better chance of standing out in the inbox.

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