Best Way to Follow up on Email: Marketing for Small Businesses

In most cases, for B2Bs, the number of email click thrus compared to the number of sends is relatively small--generally 3-5%, 8-10% for a very strong email. The best way to follow up--the way that will bring the most results is not a drip campaign (sending out another automated email and maybe another after that). No matter how hard you try to personalize it, it will always be quite obvious that it is not.

There are better ways to follow up on click thrus that will bring better results--i.e. a direct purchase on your website or a contact form completion or an email response or a phone call. As with most things, getting better results requires more time and effort--but surprisingly little more.

So here are two better ways to follow up that I know from personal experience deliver excellent results (justifying the additional time and effort).

LinkedIn: send a LinkedIn Connection Request to every viable click thru. It's a great way to get a conversation going and, there is the additional advantage that LinkedIn will continue to follow up for a reasonable amount of time until the prospective connection responds. It takes a lot less time to do this than you would think and you have distinguished yourself from every other competitor that sends out an automated email to click thrus.
Your Personal Email: send a personal email to each click thru from your business account. There is some value in just doing that, but if you include something valuable with the email, like a white paper or links to relevant resources, even better. If you've read something recently that you found insightful--your prospects would probably find it insightful too. Note the link and include it in the follow up email.

An even more powerful way to follow up on email click thrus is to do both: first create a LinkedIn Connection request; wait a couple days and send the email. Even those click thrus that don't respond to your personal follow up attempts, will appreciate the fact that you went the extra mile. They won't think of you in the same way as they think of your competitors.

For a no cost discussion of your situation and how we can leverage metrics-based marketing to grow your business call 630-363-8081 or email jeanna@smartprcommunications.com. Find out more about Marketing Services for Technology Companies.