{"id":1685,"date":"2020-05-01T11:45:08","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T16:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.kmbrian.com\/?p=1685"},"modified":"2020-12-04T00:22:17","modified_gmt":"2020-12-04T06:22:17","slug":"follow-email-subject-lines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/kmbrian.com\/blog\/follow-email-subject-lines\/","title":{"rendered":"16 Follow-Up Email Subject Lines to Steal for Your Next Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

The art of prospecting<\/a> lies in getting past the gatekeeper<\/a>. After all, without the opportunity to face your prospect and pitch them properly, even the best sales pitches are worthless.<\/p>\n

On sales prospecting<\/a> calls, that gatekeeper is typically a receptionist or assistant. However, when prospecting by email, the gatekeeper is often the prospect themselves. And like most of us, they\u2019re receiving an avalanche of email each day that can\u2019t possibly all be read and responded to.<\/p>\n

The result is that they end up scanning subject lines and skimming the first sentence or two to assess worthiness, interest, and urgency. Knowing that everyone is skimming and scanning leaves you no choice but to up your subject line writing game to stand out from the crowd.<\/p>\n

Mastering the art of the follow-up email subject line<\/a> and remaining persistent will pay dividends in the long run. In fact, follow-up emails achieve greater response rates than initial emails. One study<\/a> showed an 18% response rate to the first email sent, 13% to the fourth sent, and an impressive 27% to the sixth email sent.<\/p>\n

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Follow-Up Email Subject Line Best Practices<\/h2>\n

Every sales and marketing channel comes with its own set of challenges, so as you experiment with the 16 follow-up email subject lines below, keep the following subject line best practices<\/a> in mind:<\/p>\n

Sound Natural and Conversational\"\"<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Subject lines that are overly sales-driven or come on too strong are off-putting and are easily ignored or marked as spam. Having a friendly, conversational tone that shows you\u2019re human, on the other hand, will seem genuine and be more likely to elicit a response.<\/p>\n

Be Brief<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Because 56% of people<\/a> open their email on mobile, lengthy subject lines will get cut off. The sweet spot is six to ten words, but less than five works well also.<\/p>\n

Personalize by Adding the Subject\u2019s Name <\/strong><\/h3>\n

In some cases, this has been shown to boost open rates<\/a>. You can also experiment with adding the company name or mentioning a mutual connection or shared experience you found during your research.<\/p>\n

Optimize the Snippet<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The snippet is that short length of text to the right of the subject line that appears in recipients\u2019 inboxes and gives them a little preview of the email content. If you take a moment to get it right and make it feel personal, you boost your chance of getting your email opened. Neglect it, and your campaign suffers.<\/p>\n

Optimizing the snippet pairs well with keeping your subject line short, because if you make your subject line too long, it will overflow and completely replace your snippet.<\/p>\n

Your snippet can be anything from an intro that includes the recipient\u2019s name, a thought-provoking question, or even just the first line of a story. But a pro tip here is to ditch any unsubscribe links, whitelist requests, or housekeeping verbiage at the top of your email that might unintentionally show up in the snippet. Push that information to the bottom of your emails so that you can take full advantage of this area.<\/p>\n

Think Like a Scientist<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Experimenting with your subject lines is an absolute must. People won\u2019t always open the same subject lines, and little tweaks to your campaigns over time can increase open rates, responses, and conversions.<\/p>\n

Keep the sender, the snippet, and the email content all the same and send anywhere from 100 to 1,000 emails. Then, send a separate batch with another subject line. Keep track of opens, clicks, replies, and more using a tool like Mailshake<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, you\u2019ve got to run your own tests, read up on the latest email findings<\/a>, and check out the tests others are doing<\/a>. Getting past the noise of the inbox is no easy feat, which is why knowing how to write effective follow-up email subject lines is crucial. To help your follow-up emails rise to the top, here are 16 follow-up email subject lines you can use to push past all the noise in the inbox and start more conversations.<\/p>\n

Automate Your Follow-Up Sequence<\/h3>\n

If you’re reaching out to hundreds of prospects every week, it’s impossible to manually stay on top of following up with all of them.<\/p>\n

That’s why a sales engagement<\/a> tool like Mailshake<\/a> is essential to creating an effective, scalable follow-up email sequence<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With Mailshake, you can personalize your emails in bulk with powerful mail merge features<\/a>, schedule follow-up emails<\/a> that are paused or triggered based on whether a a recipient opens an email, clicks a link, or replies, and reply to leads straight from your Mailshake dashboard with Lead Catcher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can also set the amount of time between follow-ups (5 days between the first and second email, 7 days between the second and third, etc.), and the days and times you want them to send (for instance, between 8 am and 6 pm on weekdays).<\/p>\n