Follow-ups that get replies (and know when to stop)
A lot of replies come from follow-ups, not the first email. Here’s a simple cadence, what to say in each touch and when to call it.
People miss emails. They read them on a phone between meetings, mean to answer later and never do. That’s why a lot of replies come from follow-ups, not from the first email.
But “just bumping this up” four times isn’t a follow-up strategy. Here’s one that respects the person on the other end.
A simple cadence
Four touches over about two weeks is plenty for most offers.
| Touch | When | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| First email | Day 1 | The specific reason you’re writing, and one clear ask |
| Follow-up 1 | Day 3 | A short nudge that adds one new thing |
| Follow-up 2 | Day 7 | A different angle: a result, a resource, a question |
| The last one | Day 14 | A polite close that makes it easy to say no |
Send them in the same thread, during business hours in the prospect’s time zone, and space them out so they don’t land like an alarm.
Every follow-up adds something new
A follow-up that only repeats the first email is a reminder that you were ignored. Give them a new reason to answer instead.
Follow-up 1: One more thought: most teams we talk to after opening a new market say the slow part is finding the right partners, not closing them. Is that true for you in Lisbon?
Follow-up 2: Put together a short list of the partner types that worked for teams entering Portugal. Want me to send it over?
Make the last email easy to answer
The last touch is often the one that gets a reply, because it takes the pressure off.
The last one: I haven’t heard back, so I’ll assume the timing’s off and stop here. If partners in Lisbon become a priority, just reply to this email and I’ll pick it up.
Then actually stop.
Know when to quit
Most of what makes follow-ups annoying is sending them after you should have stopped:
- Stop the moment they reply. Even “not now” is an answer, and the sequence shouldn’t keep going after it.
- Stop for their coworkers too. If someone at the company answers, you probably don’t want the rest of their team getting your follow-up an hour later.
- Pause on out-of-office. An auto-reply isn’t a reply. Wait until they’re back.
- Respect unsubscribes everywhere, not just in the campaign where they clicked.
Norbelys handles all four for you: sequences stop on a real reply, you can pause the rest of the company in one click, auto-replies get flagged instead of counted and unsubscribes stick across every campaign.