You’d been working on it for a while until you finally decided: you’re launching.
You’ve soaked up everything there is to know about selling that new product, service, or infoproduct you’ve created.
And you prepare it down to the last detail until it’s time to launch, whether through a mass email send, a webinar, or a combination of both.
It doesn’t really matter, because either way you send the offer to potential buyers and wait impatiently for their responses.
You wait.
And wait.
And wait.
And while you keep waiting, you start wondering what happened, the unease sets in, and you finally accept it: you’re not hitting your sales target.
Can you picture it?
Don’t worry, we’re here to turn things around.
Let’s talk about follow-up emails — messages you send to track an offer or proposal that hasn’t gotten any response.
But first, let’s look at why follow-ups matter, since at first glance nobody likes getting extra emails.
· Why send mass follow-up emails
Because one thing has to be clear: we can’t know — let alone control — every minute of our recipients’ lives.
No matter how well we’ve defined our buyer persona…
- the initial email might have ended up in the spam folder.
- or they might not have read that first email because they were on vacation with their partner.
- or maybe they didn’t have the budget to buy at first, but two weeks later they did because they landed a new client.
There can be a thousand possible reasons. But often, the only thing standing between us and a response to our offer is these two words: follow-up emails.
That’s why we’re going to look at four specific cases with their corresponding email templates.
Shall we get started?
· Follow-up emails for an infoproduct launch
Infoproducts are trending, there’s no doubt about that.
When it comes to launching them, the two most common approaches are the webinar method or Jeff Walker’s four-video method, also known as the Product Launch Formula, or PLF.
In both cases, a prior process leads up to a sales email that formally presents the offer for the infoproduct in question. This approach also works for premium or high-value services.
But anyway, let’s say we’ve already sent that first sales email, with its CTA at the end, and we’re waiting for a response… that never quite arrives.
What can you do in this case?
A launch implies a series of emails after presenting the offer that we won’t break down here, except for the last two in the sequence, since they’re the most follow-up of them all:
#1 Follow-up email template: the “why haven’t you bought?” one
This is a follow-up email sent at the end of the sequence, once you’ve already asked for a response several times and the recipient has neither bought nor unsubscribed.
As an email marketing template for this case, you can use the following:
Hi Name,
You’ve already received a lot of emails from me about [insert infoproduct] and I still haven’t heard back from you.
I’ve shown you the inside of [insert infoproduct], you’ve seen testimonials, I’ve answered the most common questions… and I still haven’t heard anything from you.
What’s the reason?
You already know I’m closing access tomorrow night, and I understand you might have plenty of reasons not to [action: join/buy]. I’m writing this email simply so you can tell me what it is, so I can improve [insert infoproduct] in the future.
Please reply to this email with the reason, it would be a huge favor.
Sign-off,
…
PS: And if this is the first email you’re reading (maybe the others got lost — I imagine you get a ton of emails every day), I just wanted to remind you that I’ve opened the doors to [insert infoproduct] and you can [action: join/buy] for just [price]. All you have to do is click here.
What do we achieve with this follow-up sales email?
- Remind the recipient that the deadline ends on such-and-such day at such-and-such time
- Remind them of our offer, in case they haven’t seen it
- Create one more impression, building our brand along the way
Yes, a simple follow-up email does more than it seems 😉
Let’s assume we’re selling an SEO course for entrepreneurs. The email template could be this:
Hi Mercedes,
You’ve already received a lot of emails from me about [SEOcourse] and I still haven’t heard back from you.
I’ve shown you the inside of [SEOcourse], you’ve seen testimonials, I’ve answered the most common questions… and I still haven’t heard anything from you.
What’s the reason?
You already know I’m closing access tomorrow night, and I understand you might have plenty of reasons not to [join]. I’m writing this email simply so you can tell me what it is, so I can improve [SEOcourse] in the future.
Please reply to this email with the reason, it would be a huge favor.
Best,
Andrea
PS: And if this is the first email you’re reading (maybe the others got lost — I imagine you get a ton of emails every day), I just wanted to remind you that I’ve opened the doors to [SEOcourse] and you can [join] for just [€297]. All you have to do is click here.
#2 Follow-up email template: the last-chance one
This is the last one in the sequence. The final one. After this one, there’s no other, unless you want to do a downsell (you know, selling a lesser product at a lower price), which isn’t the case here.
Access to the infoproduct you’re selling has been open for a few days now. You’ve already told them everything, you’ve deployed all your powers of persuasion across several emails… but you still haven’t gotten a response.
Let’s see how this follow-up email marketing template for infoproduct launches works — the last-chance one.
Last call!
Name, I’ve spent days telling you about [insert infoproduct] and there’s not much more I can tell you now.
We’ve covered everything. EVERYTHING. I haven’t left anything out, and tonight at [access closing time]… I’m closing access.
I’ve launched [insert infoproduct] before, and I know a lot of people wait until the very end to [action: join/buy]. You’re not the only one.
I just ask that if you’re planning to [action: join/buy], do it as soon as possible, because last-minute problems always seem to come up. I get emails asking me to let people in after the deadline, and if I allowed that, my word wouldn’t count for much.
Are you sure it’s a yes? Click here and start to [benefit of joining/buying].
Are you sure it’s a no? Tell me why, and I’ll see you next time I launch.
Still not sure? Ask me whatever you want, but do it fast, because today at [access closing time] I’m closing (and I mean it).
Sign-off,
…
What do we achieve with this follow-up sales email?
Once again:
- Play with FOMO, or fear of missing out — a marketing strategy that works wonders wherever it’s applied.
- Appeal to urgency — which goes hand in hand with FOMO — to boost conversions.
- Create another impression, strengthening brand recall for both us and our infoproduct.
- Remind them of our offer once again in case they haven’t seen it, although it would be unusual for this to be the first time they’re seeing it after so many previous emails.
What do you think?
These two emails are classics of any self-respecting launch.
Let’s see how this second email marketing template would look, following the SEO course example.
Toni, I’ve spent days telling you about [SEOcourse] and there’s not much more I can tell you now.
We’ve covered everything. EVERYTHING. I haven’t left anything out, and tonight at [11:59 PM]… I’m closing access.
I’ve launched [SEOcourse] before, and I know a lot of people wait until the very end to [join]. You’re not the only one.
I just ask that if you’re planning to [join], do it as soon as possible, because last-minute problems always seem to come up. I get emails asking me to let people in after the deadline, and if I allowed that, my word wouldn’t count for much.
Are you sure it’s a yes? Click here and start to [get quality traffic with proven SEO techniques].
Are you sure it’s a no? Tell me why, and I’ll see you next time I launch.
Still not sure? Ask me whatever you want, but do it fast, because today at [11:59 PM] I’m closing (and I mean it).
Best,
Andrea
· Other follow-up emails
Follow-up emails are very versatile.
We’ve already seen they’re part of the basic toolkit for launching an infoproduct. But they can also be the perfect complement to drive more sales with your next promotional campaign.
Let’s look at other cases where you might need to use them, email templates included:
#3 Follow-up email template: the ecommerce offer one
In this case, let’s say we’ve launched a X% discount on the next purchase in our online store, valid until such-and-such date, aimed at encouraging purchases on our site.
Hundreds or thousands of recipients have opened the email (we’ve seen it in our mass email platform’s stats) but haven’t decided to buy.
As we said, this could be due to a few reasons:
- They haven’t had time and forgot about the promotion
- The email landed in their spam folder
- The expense wasn’t convenient for them at the time of the original communication
Follow-up email to the rescue!
Remember the goal? We were trying to achieve several things at once:
- Increase the chances they’ll read us
- Remind them of the great deal
- Play with FOMO and urgency
- Create another impression
Taking all this into account, here’s how this follow-up template would look:
Hi Name, how are you?
A few days ago we sent you a [X%] discount to use in our store with no minimum purchase… and we see you haven’t used it.
We wanted to make sure you’d seen the offer, so we’re following up to remind you that until [offer end date] you can enjoy a [X%] discount on every product in our store.
We’ll say it again: no minimum spend.
And we’ll say it once more: only until [offer end date].
The code you need to use is [code].
Head to the store now and enjoy your exclusive discount.
Sign-off,
…
Simple and to the point; as you can see, this template would achieve the goals we set out.
We won’t fill in this template — you just need to replace the variable fields with numbers, dates and codes, and it’s ready to go.
#4 Follow-up email template: the exclusive opportunity one
In this case, imagine you’ve created an exclusive service or program that you want to test with a limited number of people. You turn to your list and pop the question.
It’s a very common process in digital businesses: before launching a service, product or infoproduct, it gets tested with a small number of customers or users. In exchange for being the first, they get to try it out on really favorable terms.
What they get is commonly called a “beta”: a service beta, a course beta, a product beta… like a web design course beta, or an audit service beta, for example.
So, you send the question to everyone on your list, and some reply with their yeses and noes, but others stay silent.
Since you don’t know whether they’re interested or not, you decide to try again with a textbook follow-up.
Here’s an idea. This email marketing template will work perfectly for the beta of anything you want to validate exclusively:
Hi Name, how’s it going?
[X] days ago I wrote to you about the beta I’m putting together, which I wanted to offer you exclusively.
In case you didn’t read the email, here’s the deal:
I’m thrilled to announce I’m launching a pilot program to test [new service], a new [specify area] service I want to release to the general public in the coming months.
To validate it, I’d like to test it with [X] trusted people who already know who I am and how I work, and I thought you could be one of them.
Just a reminder of the favorable terms:
● The cost is [reduced price], while the cost for the general public will be [regular price].
● You’ll get to enjoy [new service] and in exchange, beyond that small investment, all I’ll ask is that you give me feedback and tell me what you think.
I’m only going to select [number of participants] people. So, what do you say? Would you be up for it, Name?
It’s important you let me know as soon as possible, because I’m sure there are people who could use [new service] and I need to validate it.
I want to give priority to my list, since that’s what your trust in me is for 🙂 But if you’re not interested, please let me know so I can stop bothering you.
Sign-off,
…
What do you think? As we mentioned, this email template works for a course, a product, a service…
Anything that needs prior validation before being launched to the public.
With this follow-up email:
- We increase the chances they’ll read us, in case the previous one, like in the other templates, landed in the spam folder.
- We remind them, in case they haven’t seen it, that we’re giving them exclusive access to something not yet open to the public (sparking their interest).
- We remind them that they’re special to us and that we’re giving them priority.
- We play with FOMO (fear of missing out on a discounted service) and urgency (others need it too, and we won’t wait forever).
- We show that they’re doing us a favor too (helping us validate the idea), not the other way around, pushing the sales angle into the background.
- As always, we create another impression.
Taking as an example an SEO service focused on fine-tuning a website’s optimization, the email template would look like this:
Hi Chus, how’s it going?
Five days ago I wrote to you about the beta I’m putting together, which I wanted to offer you exclusively.
In case you didn’t read the email, here’s the deal:
I’m thrilled to announce I’m launching a pilot program to test [2-Day Tune-Up], a new [SEO] service I want to release to the general public in the coming months.
To validate it, I’d like to test it with [10] trusted people who already know who I am and how I work, and I thought you could be one of them.
Just a reminder of the favorable terms:
● The cost is [€69], while the cost for the general public will be [€299].
● You’ll get to enjoy [2-Day Tune-Up] and in exchange, beyond that small investment, all I’ll ask is that you give me feedback and tell me what you think.
I’m only going to select [10] people. So, what do you say? Would you be up for it, Chus?
It’s important you let me know as soon as possible, because I’m sure there are people who could use [2-Day Tune-Up] and I need to validate it.
I want to give priority to my list, since that’s what your trust in me is for 🙂 But if you’re not interested, please let me know so I can stop bothering you.
Best regards,
Manu
· Final tips for your mass follow-up emails
Sometimes the fear of being annoying makes us lose sales. But in reality, there are plenty of reasons why our first email might not have landed the way we hoped.
These are things beyond our control, so follow-up emails help make sure we’re read and reinforce the original message.
The email marketing templates we’ve given you cover common cases for mass follow-up sends; to use them, just copy, paste and fill in your details.
But before you send the email to your entire list, be careful. Review the message carefully to make it flawless and 100% tailored to your case — you know a small mistake sent to an entire database can have terrible consequences.
See you in the next installment, talking about email marketing!
For these emails to work, lean on good copywriting techniques that reinforce your message.
