You crafted the perfect email. It has a personalized opening, a tailored value proposition, and an actionable CTA. But, you still get no reply. The best course of action?—resend the email.
Don’t send the exact email. That’s spam. Instead, resend the email as a follow-up with the same sentiment as the original. So, how can you do that in a way that’s firm, yet polite?
Why You Should Always Resend an Email or Follow-up
There’s a lot that goes on in our daily lives. The people we email are just as busy or busier. You don’t want to speculate as to why they haven’t replied. Be proactive and resend your email.
Statistics suggest that resending your email improves reply rates by 22%. Another study found that sales reps don’t follow up on 70% of sales emails. It’s an avenue where you can stand out.
What’s important is how you resend an email. Being aggressive or demanding might get you a response but it’ll likely be negative. Be respectful and politely ask for a response.
How to Resend an Email Politely
Friendly reminders are essential to keep crucial email correspondence flowing. There’s an art to this. Striking a perfect balance of urgency, value, and courtesy. Here’s how to achieve just that:
Show Empathy
If you’re sending a cold email to a CEO, manager, or any type of decision-maker, chances are their schedules are loaded. To send an email politely, the first step is to show empathy.
Show that you understand how busy their workload or schedule can be. Mention how you hope they’re doing well and that you know that they probably have a lot on their plate.
Express that you know how busy things can be and that you don’t want to waste their time with subpar services. As long as you believe in your offer and the value it brings, you’re good to go.
Always Provide Value
Never send an email just to remind someone that they haven’t replied, especially if it’s a cold email. That’s just irritating, invasive, and a strong reason to send you to spam.
When you resend an email, ensure that it’s still as valuable or provides more value than the original. That could come in the form of a case study, DIY solutions, or free audits.
Think about your prospect's unconsidered needs you haven’t touched on in the original email, potential pain points, and what they deem important. But, ensure that the follow-up is concise.
Keep it Concise and Coherent
You already know how busy prospects can be so get straight to the point. State what you need, how they get value from your offering, and why it’s important to get a conversation going.
Follow-ups should have a direct connection to the first email. Emphasize key points made or gently nudge prospects to a favorable action (replying, clicking a link, or watching a video).
Read through your email and ensure that only relevant details are included. However, you can’t sacrifice the human element in your follow-up email just to be concise.
Be Human
Relying on scripts or generic automated follow-ups won’t move the needle. The best way to add a human element is by personalizing the email you’re trying to resend.
That doesn’t start and stop with {{first name}} variables. Personalization means diving deep and doing research on the prospects and understanding what they deem most valuable.
Think of the copy as how your prospects’ coworkers would speak to them. They need to feel like they’re about to send a reply to a real person. If you don’t know where to start, steal templates.
Steal Follow-up Templates and Use Spintax
There is a high chance that you’ve received a killer cold email or follow-up that caught your eye and made you reply. You can use that as a template or use it with spintax to spice things up.
Spintax means creating different variations of the same email. That way, the email you send is unique but still holds the same sentiment as the original.
Remember to match the tone of the templates to your needs. Ensure that the content reflects the original email you sent. Here’s how you can use spintax to steal great follow-up emails:
- Go to your inbox and copy the emails that catch your attention
- Head over to ChatGPT and tell it to create spintax for your examples
- Adjust the output to fit your needs
How Long Should You Wait Before Resending an Email?
Give your recipient at least 1-3 days before sending a follow-up. What you don’t want to do is resend your email within the day. That just makes you look pushy.
It’s also important to not wait too long before resending an email. Recipients lose interest, forget about your email, or lose context. If you wait a month until resending, it’s better to start over.
Remember to track of all follow-ups. Running outreach campaigns means handling multiple prospects and inboxes. You’ll need a tool for tracking and automating follow-up schedules.
Instantly.ai can set up personalized, automated follow-ups for you to nurture your audience without lifting a finger. With Instantly, no potential sale falls through the cracks.
What’s the Best Day & Time to Resend an Email?
Timing is crucial when sending emails. Imagine sending an email the moment recipients are checking their inbox. They might have really good email management practices.
So, when exactly is the right time to resend an email?
While there’s no universally accepted perfect time block, we can look at the statistics. Still, take this information with a grain of salt. Your prospects may have an entirely different schedule.
Studies suggested that Tuesday and Thursday are the best days to send an email. The best time to send follow-ups is between 10 AM and 11 AM in your recipients’ time zones.
Meanwhile, the worst time for sending emails is noon. It’s the lunch break. Nobody would want to check their emails during this time.
Find the best schedule by A/B testing follow-up schedules. Try different time blocks, days, and sending intervals. Instantly automates all of this for you and can auto-optimize A/B testing.
How Many Emails Can You Resend?
When is the right time to give up on a prospect? The thin line between persistent and annoying is one you don’t want to cross. That’s because of this thing called diminishing returns.
The more you do something, the less effective it becomes. After the 3rd or 4th follow-up, reply rates can only increase by a tiny, almost insignificant amount. In short, it’s not worth it.
Keep the number of resends to 2 or 3. Remember, email isn’t the only form of communication. Improve chances of getting a reply with omnichannel follow-ups in your sales cadence.
Sales Cadence: How Often Should You Resend an Email?
The journey from lead to customer requires multiple touchpoints. And a holistic sales process doesn’t just include email. You need an omnichannel sales cadence. Here’s an example:
Day 1: Cold email in the morning, call in the afternoon
Day 3: Follow-up email in the morning, leave a voicemail in the afternoon
Day 5: Follow-up email in the morning, LinkedIn message in the afternoon
The optimal sales cadence for cold outreach includes the first cold email and two follow-ups (2 to 3-day intervals). In the third follow-up, give the prospects an easy option for opting out.
Polite Ways to Resend an Email: 5 Templates You Can Steal
If you want to resend important emails but don’t know how to kick things off, here are 5 templates to get started. Find what works for you, make adjustments, and try them out yourself.
Friendly & Casual Follow-Up
The best types of cold emails are ones that read like it was sent by a coworker you like. That means if you want to resend an email politely, you can try it with a positive and casual tone. But remember, you still need to keep a sense of importance or urgency.
Subject line: Next steps for {{benefit}}
Hey, {{first name}},
I wanted to follow up on the email I sent on {{date}}. I know how things can get hectic as a {{job position}} and I wanted to make sure my email didn’t get lost in all the chaos. In case it did, here’s a quick summary of the next steps for {{company}} to get {{benefit}}.
{{summary}}
I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you need any additional info, I’d be happy to send it asap. Hoping to hear from you soon!
Thanks in advance,
{{your name}}
The Complete Resend
If you feel like you’ve crafted the perfect email for a specific recipient and didn’t get a reply, you can try sending the original email again and preface that in the opening line. Here is an example to try out in your next follow-up.
Subject line: {{first name}}, love to hear your thoughts on {{proposal}}
Hey, {{first name}},
I’m resending the email below in case you didn’t catch it. I think this is a great opportunity to get {{benefit}} for {{recipient’s company}}. Thank you for your time. I’m hoping for your reply.
{{original email}}
Quick Summary Email Resend
Imagine receiving an email that asks if you’ve read the previous one they sent. That means you’d have to sift through your inbox to find the specific email. It’s such an inconvenience.
The better alternative is to resend a summarized version of your original email. If a prospect is already reading your follow-up, it’s better to have everything laid down in front of them.
Subject line: Thoughts on {{benefit}} for {{company}}?
Hey, {{first name}},
I wanted to follow up on the email I sent on {{date}} about {{offering}}. I’m sure you’re busy so here’s a quick recap of what we’re trying to achieve:
Important detail 1
Important detail 2
Important detail 3
Important detail 4
Important detail 5
If you need additional information, don’t hesitate to contact me at any time. I’d be happy to answer any questions you might have.
Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Best regards,
{{your name}}
Resending an Urgent Email Politely
Sometimes follow-up emails must have a sense of urgency. This is crucial for time-sensitive updates or things that need immediate attention. But just because it’s urgent doesn’t mean you should compromise on email etiquette.
Subject line: Quick check-in for {{proposal}}
Hey, {{first name}},
I hope you’re doing well. I’m just checking in about the status of {{proposal}} and whether you had the chance to look into it. I sent over the proposal on {{date}} and copies of all the documents you requested.
I've included all the necessary info in this email. Our team would love for you to review the proposal. Please let me know if you are interested in taking forward our collaboration. We're in the process of selecting suppliers at the moment, and I need your reply by {{date}}.
Best regards,
{{your name}}
Persistent, But Polite
You can’t knock people down for trying. But there’s a fine line between persistent and annoying. The secret is to keep things concise and straight to the point.
Hey, {{first name}},
I’m not ready to call it quits just yet. I truly believe that we could do big things together and I only need a few minutes of your time to show you exactly how. Here’s the link to my calendar to schedule a time that suits you best. {{calendar link}}
Thank you in advance,
{{your name}}
Key Takeaways
Resending an email or sending a follow-up is essential to keeping correspondence flowing in the right direction. You don’t want potential new business to slip through the cracks because you didn’t follow up. Successful follow-ups require persistence and the following best practices:
- Show empathy to recipients, respect their time, and acknowledge their busy schedules
- Always provide value even if you’re just sending a quick follow-up or reminder
- Follow-up emails should be coherent and follow the same logic as the original
- Be human and avoid generic automated follow-ups or templates
Tracking all follow-ups or resending emails to prospects who haven’t replied can be a hassle if done manually.
Instantly can automate everything from email copy that reads like it's from your favorite coworker to optimized sending schedules. Try it out today.
