6 Effective Sales Email Follow-Up Techniques

Email is one of the most convenient and efficient ways to communicate today, but using it as a means to sell your product or service is another story. Emails may be quick and inexpensive, but they’re also easy to dismiss, forget, and flat-out ignore. It certainly makes the day-to-day life of a salesperson more challenging. This is why following up is so important — in fact, it might be more important than that first email. Some estimates claim first emails get an 18% response rate, fourth emails have a 13% response rate, and sixth emails have a 27% response rate. If you reached out to a lead and didn’t hear back, here are six sales email tips for following up with them.

6 Tips for Following Up on Your Sales Email

#1 Follow Up After 2 or 3 Days

People don’t enjoy feeling like a salesperson is breathing down their neck. If it’s been 24 hours and you haven’t gotten a response, don’t panic and fire off another message quite yet.That being said, you also don’t want to wait too long, either. If a few days go by and you haven’t gotten a response, it’s safe to say the lead either forgot about you or has chosen not to respond. If you wait longer than a few days to follow up, you run the risk of the lead having forgotten about you or lost interest entirely.You need to reach out again while you’re still on their mind. Sticking to the right response time is a must.

#2 Make It Easy for Them to Respond

People are busy and impatient. Keep your email succinct so you’ll get to the point faster and ultimately ask for less of their time and attention.You should also close with a strong call-to-action that makes it easy and straightforward for your leads to respond. Instead of something open-ended like, “Do you have time this week to talk more?” try something like, “Can I call you Tuesday afternoon for a five-minute chat?” It’s concrete, actionable, and it requires a one-word response from them.Take it one step further and insert a button in your email. Some research suggests using a CTA button instead of a link increases click-throughs by 28%.

#3 Offer Something New

Don’t simply repeat what you already said in the first email. It’s redundant, and it didn’t get them to respond in the first place. Instead, offer up new information or even some kind of incentive.For example, is there a bonus or discount you could possibly offer your lead? Is there a limited-time offer you could propose, to increase the urgency or scarcity of your product or service?If your lead knows there’s truly a benefit to working with you, they’ll respond. This is your opportunity to add value to your relationship with them.

#4 Respond to Their Actions

If you’re tracking your emails and know when they are opened (and especially if the links inside of them are clicked), then you’ve got very valuable information to work with.If an email was never opened, your car sales follow-up email should be a gentle reminder to the recipient to spend a moment checking you out. It’ll also push your message to the top of their inbox.If you know they already opened the email/clicked on the links inside, this tells you they’ve familiarized themselves with your service but decided not to take action. Your next step is to ask them why.Think of something along the lines of, “Hi ____________, I noticed you checked out our ____________ but I haven’t heard back, so I wanted to send a quick follow-up to see if I can answer any of your questions or provide further information.”

#5 Dare to Be Different

Your leads probably receive dozens of emails a week from people just like you, meaning you’ll want to do something to stand out. Think of adding in a GIF or relevant image into your sales email. Do you have a piece of personal information about your lead, like their favorite food or sports team? Use it to establish a more personal connection.Find a way to show your lead that you’re thinking of them and no one else and that they're more than a potential deal. Personalizing your email is key. Use their name, refer to their specific situation, and speak to them in a professional but warm and friendly way. Take care not to blast the same exact email off to 50 leads at a time. They'll see right through you, and your response rate will nosedive.

#6 Automate Your Email Marketing

When done correctly, automating your email marketing can streamline your sales process and increase your close rate. For automotive sales leads, Quotible integrates directly with most automotive CRMs to craft custom quotes instantly. The result is more relevant information for the customer, quicker response time for the salesperson, and a better car buying experience all around.When you see a way to streamline part of the process without sacrificing quality, do it.To learn more about simplifying your car sales process, contact Quotible to schedule a demo of our automotive lead response tool today!