How to create an automated email follow up sequence for leads (with templates)

It’s often said that the sale is in the follow up!

Yet, it’s crazy how many people DON’T follow up with leads.

Or, they don’t follow up for long enough.

Following up with leads is one of the best ways to convert more leads into sales appointments and clients.

In this article, you’ll learn:

• How to create a follow up email sequence to get more sales
• How to automate an email follow up sequence
• What do you say in follow up emails to get more conversions
• What is the best email follow up automation software
• The best copy and paste email follow up templates

You can also watch the video version of this article here:

Are you generating good quality leads?

Before I talk about following up with leads, it’s important you are generating good quality leads in the first place.

This is all to do with your lead generation strategy.

A good lead gen strategy can make or break your campaign.

You could follow up with leads forever, but if the leads are not very good, they will never convert into sales.

Your lead generation follow up emails are only as effective as the leads you generate in the first place!

To see the lead gen strategy we recommend you use to get high quality leads then watch my free Masterclass training video here.

Have you watched the training?

If so, great!

Keep reading to learn how to best follow up with these leads…

The best follow up email sequence software

To follow up with your leads, you need to have some kind of email marketing software. There are literally thousands you can choose from and I don’t really care which software you use, as long as it’s good and does the job. 🙂

There’s Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, ConvertKit and many more.

For my own business (and most of my clients), we prefer to use Kartra because it’s an excellent email follow up automation tool that includes many other features such as:

• Video hosting
• Advanced analytics
• Landing page builder
• Online payment processing
• Split testing

And MUCH more all out of the box.

See also: Kartra vs ClickFunnels: Which is best for lead generation

If you’re a client, you can also get my done-for-you sales funnel which can be installed in your Kartra account at the click of a button. The done-for-you funnel includes landing pages, forms and follow up emails to make your life easier.

The best email follow up strategy

Now that you’re generating leads and you have your follow up email software ready to go, it’s time to create your follow up email strategy.

As soon as you generate a new lead it’s important to subscribe them to three automated email sequences:

• Short-term follow up email sequence
• Long-term evergreen follow up email sequence
• Client results follow up sequence

The goal of short term follow up emails are to send leads daily reminders about completing the next step in your sales process (which for most of my clients is to book a sales appointment with them). You can do this by answering some of their frequently asked questions which may be stopping them from going to that next step.

The goal of the long term follow up emails are to build trust over time by providing them with additional weekly content that answers questions they might have about the big problem you solve for them.

The goal of the client results follow up emails are to build trust by providing social proof through weekly client testimonial or case study emails. If you don’t have any client case studies or testimonials yet, don’t worry, you can skip this sequence until you do.

1. Short term follow up sequence

A short follow up email sequence is a daily email sequence is typically between 3-10 days long.

The goal of a short term follow up sequence is to convert leads into appointments and clients as fast as possible.

Here’s what you need to include in a short follow up sequence:

• Talk about the lead magnet they signed up to get
• Remind them the different ways the lead magnet can solve their problem
• Tackle the same problem from different angles
• Include social proof
• Have a sense of urgency

If you combine solving a big problem they have, with social proof that you can solve this problem and have some urgency for why they need to act NOW, you have the recipe for a successful short email sequence!

Why is it important to follow up with leads every day?

After generating a new lead, it’s important to follow up with these leads each day for the first 3-10 days.

This is so you can:

• Email the leads while they are still “hot”. This is typically the first 3-10 days that they became a lead.
• If you don’t follow up with leads quickly and make a BIG impression, they could forget who you are a week later
• If a lead forgets who you are, the next time they get your email they might think it’s spam and unsubscribe

After 3-10 days, if they don’t yet take action, they can continue to get your weekly follow up emails.

What do you say in your weekly follow up email?

Here are some email template guidelines to help you:

Email 1 – Welcome email (sent instantly)

Give them the free content or lead magnet you promoted to generate a lead in the first place.

It’s a good idea to have some bullet points on what they’ll learn from the lead magnet and a link to access it.

Follow up email template:

Subject line: (Video) [Title of lead magnet]

Hi [First Name],

As promised, here’s the video on how to [title of video lead magnet].

In the video, you’ll learn:

– Benefit 1
– Benefit 2
– Benefit 3

If you have any questions, feel free to reply back to this email.

Thanks

– [Your name]

Tip: Keep all the emails simple. Don’t use fancy templates (these look like marketing emails and people ignore them!). Make it look like an email you’d send to a friend. You can sprinkle a few images here and there if needed, but that’s about it.

Email 2 – Talk about the problem / solution (1 day later)

The next email should talk about the problems the lead magnet will solve for them. Give them an overview of each problem and tell them to go to the lead magnet to fix this problem.

Follow up email template:

Subject line: Does this sound like you…?

Hi [First Name],

Let me know if you can relate…

Do you ever find yourself:

1. [Ask a question that talks about the problem they face and how they feel]

2. [Ask a question that that talks about the problem they face and what they’ve tried to fix it which hasn’t worked?

3. [Ask another question about the problem they have focusing on how it feels or how they’ve been unable to fix it]

If you’ve experience one or more of these problems you’re not alone.

That’s why I’ve created a video which shows you how to solve all of these problems once and for all.

Click here to watch the video [link to lead magnet]

If you like what you hear in the video and want me to do this for you, click here to schedule a call [link to the next step in your sales process, such as scheduling a call].

Thanks

– [Your Name]

Email 3 – Give social proof (2 days later)

The next email should give some social proof about other clients of yours who have fixed this problem.

Follow up email template:

Subject line: How [niche] got [result]

Hi [First Name],

Meet [Client Name]. [Client Name] was struggling with [problem].

They tried [list bullet points of different things the client tried but didn’t fix the problem]

It wasn’t until they [did what you say to do in your solution] they were able to FINALLY get [desired results your solution promises].

[Client Name] is just one of many clients [link to a page with other client case studies on your website] that we’ve been able to help [solve a specific problem].

Do you want the same results as [Client Name]?

If so, here’s what you need to do next:

Step 1: Watch this free video (which explains how it all works)

Step 2: Click here to schedule a call (if you want us to help you do it)

Thanks

– [Your Name]

Emails 4-10

Depending on the complexity of your solution, the rest of the emails can follow the guidelines above and explain how you solve the big problem your clients have.

Here are some ideas of what to include in your follow-up emails:

• More social proof (case studies, testimonials, video testimonials, etc)
• FAQs
• Answer common sales objections
• Different ways you solve the problem
• How your solution helps them emotionally
• How your solution helps them logically
• Sense of urgency (why is it better they act now rather than later?)

It’s always a good idea to split-test different emails to see which ones will convert best for your target audience.

I’m always testing new emails and if I find something new works better, I’ll replace what I previously had.

If you want to see the latest emails I’m using in my follow-up emails, feel free to sign up to my funnel by clicking here.

You’ll see a real-life example of what’s working best right NOW.

2. Long term follow up sequence

The long-term follow up emails needs to consist of weekly emails that provide value and free educational content to your leads and it should keep going forever.

What content do you say in your weekly follow up emails?

To get leads to convert into sales you need to be creating content on a regular basis. This content can be articles (such as blog posts) or videos (for YouTube lead generation).

Each time you create new content, it gives you a new opportunity to rank higher on Google and YouTube to get leads for free.

As a bonus, you can use the EXACT same content in your follow up emails to help you convert more leads into clients.

After they consume that content, send them back to your marketing funnel or the next step in your sales sequence.

Follow up email template:

Subject line: [title of your content]

Hi [First Name],

Many [niche] have [talk about the problem they experience].

In this [article or video], I explain how to solve this problem.

[Video or article thumbnail]

In the [article or video], you’ll learn:

– Benefit 1
– Benefit 2
– Benefit 3

Click here to [read or watch] it.

If you like what you hear on the [article or video], click here to schedule a call if you want us to help you do it.

On this call, we will [explain what happens on the call].

Talk soon

– [Your Name]

3. Weekly client testimonial follow up emails

The last type of email sequence you can use to convert leads into sales is a weekly email that shares ONE of your client case studies, written testimonials or video testimonials.

If your clients prefer to stay anonymous, you can still send these weekly emails by blocking out any sensitive information.

Follow up email template:

Hi [First Name],

[Client Name] was [explain problem they had].

After working with me [or using my solution, strategy or product name etc] they were able to [explain solution]

[include any media if needed such as screenshots or videos]

[First Name], would you like to get results like [Client Name]?

If so, click here to schedule a call.

On this call, we will [explain what happens on the call].

Speak soon.

Thanks

– [Your Name]

You’ll find that client results follow up emails are the best converting follow up emails. Why? Because you show social proof that you’ve helped other people solve the same problem your leads have.

Email sequences vs Email Broadcasts: Which is best?

All email marketing platforms allow you to send emails through an email sequence or with an email broadcast.

An email sequence allows you to create automated emails that start from the beginning for each new lead.

This is incredibly helpful!

It means you could create one-years worth of follow up emails (as an example) and every new lead will get one years worth of emails without you needing to do anything else. Everything runs on autopilot.

The downside to email sequences is that if you are sharing time sensitive content in your email sequence, it could get outdated and you might forget to update the email.

That’s why for time sensitive content I recommend sending the email through an email broadcast.

For non time sensitive content, add it to your ongoing automated email follow up sequence.

What to avoid in your follow up emails

Constantly chasing people by saying the same thing over and over again in an effort to get them to book an appointment is the wrong way to follow up with leads.

Avoid sending a follow up email that says things like:

• Hey [NAME], just wanted to touch base and see if you had time for a 15 minute call?
• Hi [Name], I saw you said you were interested in [your services], but you haven’t scheduled a call yet. How does tomorrow afternoon work for you?
• [Name], thanks for [consuming my free content]. When is a good time to speak?

These kinds of follow-up emails do not build up any trust with your leads or provide them with any value.

These follow up emails are a sure way to get leads to unsubscribe from your email list.

Think about it: If they didn’t book a call with you when they first became a lead, then why would they do so now?

They still don’t know or trust you.

One or two emails reminding them to schedule a call with you here and there are fine… But if that’s the ONLY thing you’re saying on your follow up emails, then you won’t get many people taking action.

And even if you DO get some taking action, the quality of that sales call probably won’t be that great.

Follow up email marketing stats

From your follow up emails, it’s important to take a look at the stats and KPI’s to see how well your email marketing campaign is converting.

Here are are few statistics to aim for:

Email open rate: 20% is average

Email click-through rate: 1-2% is average

Email response rate: If getting direct replies to your emails is your goal, you should expect a 1-2% email response rate.

How can you improve your email stats?

It’s a good idea to split test your email subject lines or email content to see what gets better results.

Most follow up email automation tools will have this feature built in. Some AI lead generation tools will also automatically split-test to see which version gets better results.

For example, in Kartra, you can split test various emails and they will automatically tell you which email works best.

What is a good email conversion rate?

On average from every 100 leads you get, at least four (4%) will convert into sales appointments and 1 or 2 of those sales appointments (25-50%) will convert into clients within a 3 month period.

In other words, from every 100 leads, you should be getting a 1 or 2 clients (giving you a 1-2% conversion rate) within a 3 month period.

This is assuming you’re sending them weekly follow up emails with helpful educational content.

After 3 months, as leads continue to get more follow up emails, you’ll start to see more leads converting into clients.

How long does it take for leads to convert into clients?

It can take leads anywhere from a few weeks, to a few months and sometimes even a few years to convert into clients.

How long it takes leads to convert into clients depends on where the lead is in their buyer journey and how you generated these leads in the first place.

For example, if you generate leads using Google or YouTube, you will get leads convert much quicker because they are ‘high-intent leads’. In other words, they are leads who are actively searching for a solution.

If you generate leads on LinkedIn, you may or may not be targeting people who are actively looking for a solution right now. Therefore the leads can take longer to convert compared to other lead gen channels.

Either way though, with an effective follow up sequence, your leads are much more likely to convert quickly at some point in the near future.

Best practices for ANY follow up email

If you want to convert more leads into sales with your follow up emails, just follow a few simple best practices:

• Provide value in each email
• Focus on one main point in each email
• Keep emails simple and avoid fancy email newsletter templates
• Answer questions your potential clients are asking
• Share client results, case studies and testimonials
• Have a call to action in your emails going to the next step in your sales process

At this point, you might be wondering:

• How do you grow your email list?
• What are the best free ways to generate leads?
• How do you generate leads on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google and/or YouTube?
• What is the fastest way to convert leads into clients?

And so on…

Each time you answer their questions you build up trust.

The more trust you build up, the easier it will to get leads to move to the next step in your sales process.

Building up trust with them over a long period of time through content helps them remember who you are, what you do and how you can help them.

If you’d like a copy of the sequences and the whole funnel that I’ve created to generate and follow up with leads, be sure to watch my free Masterclass training here.