So you’re doing your best to optimize your prospecting efforts, either through cold emailing or mailing the people on your email list…only to hear crickets. Gathering leads early on can be difficult.
But having to follow up and elicit a response from them? That’s another ball game altogether.
The digital world is so fast that people will barely spend a second or two to look at what you have to offer. As a result, anybody you email will mostly look at your email subject line to see if they need to open it immediately.
If they do not open it immediately, they might tell themselves that they will check it out later, and your email will be left unread and forgotten.
If you want to minimize the chances of this happening, this article is for you. In this article, we will show you how to write a subject for follow up emails and give you 25 awesome subject lines to use immediately.
How To Write An Awesome Subject Line For A Follow-Up Email
Before we get into the tips on how to write a follow-up email subject line, you need to know what qualities constitute an irresistible subject line in the first place. Typically, a follow up email subject line:
- Triggers curiosity: Gain their attention and make them want to find out more.
- Offers value: Ultimately, your readers will only open the email if it benefits them. So, be sure to mention what they can gain by opening your email.
Here are a few tips that you ought to use when writing a subject line for follow up emails:
Keep It Short & Sweet
People’s collective attention span is exponentially less today than it used to be, which means that they will spend a mere second or two to read your email. One sentence (or two maximum) should be enough to grab their attention and compel them to read the rest of the email.
Keep The Tone Of Your Email & Subject Line Consistent
Adopt a friendly yet professional tone while writing follow up emails. It is vital to also write your subject line in the same tone as the rest of your email.
Clearly Mention How They Will Benefit
If you are not clear about how you can help them, they will not bother opening your email. Also, it’s not enough to send them an email with a random piece of content that you think might help. You need to find out what your prospects need. Figure out their pain points and plan your emails and subject lines accordingly.
Personalize
Personalizing your content is critical if you want to up your open rates and get your prospects to pay attention to you in general. They will only want to find out more if your subject lines resonate with them and their situation. Research is an integral part of personalizing your email and subject line, so take a good look at their social media profiles and find out what they are looking for.
Test Your Subject Lines
Once you’ve implemented the first four tips, come up with a bunch of email subject lines and test them to see which ones have the best open rates.
What NOT To Do While Writing Email Subject Lines
While implementing the best practices to write follow up email subject lines, you also ought to know what mistakes you should avoid. Here are a few common mistakes you’re better off avoiding:
Sending Misleading Subject Lines
Doing this can lead you to lose many potential clients. Almost nothing is more annoying than opening an email assuming it is tailored to your situation, only to find out the email has nothing to do with the subject line.
Not Personalizing Your Subject Lines
Your prospects want to feel like you care about them. If you mass email everyone with the exact same template and words, they will not resonate with your content and likely avoid your forthcoming emails.
Lack Of Research
If you haven’t put in the time and work to figure out your prospects’ pain points, you will struggle to come up with emails and subject lines that provide value to your prospects. In other words, they will instinctively think your email isn’t tailored for them and will mostly not open it.
25 Subject Lines That Prospect Can’t Ignore
Now that we have the basics in place, let us look at 25 irresistible follow up email subject lines that you can use to boost your email open rates today.
Next Steps
If you’re done talking to a prospect online or in-person, make sure you extend your communication. By adding next steps, your prospect has a reason to open your email because they’re probably curious to know what those steps are. This subject line can also work if you had a good lead that fizzled out somewhere along the way.
A subject email like this gives you a reason to follow up with the prospect. Also, it’s short and to the point.
2. Let’s take another look
When a prospect shows you interest and wants you to follow up later, shoot them a casual line like this that tells them that you have something new to offer.
3. What would change your mind?
So, they’ve probably made up their minds about not wanting to buy what you had to offer. Directly asking them if they can be persuaded is a refreshing approach because most salespeople simply aren’t direct. Again, this email subject line is short and straightforward.
4. We missed you again!
This is a cool subject line you can send if you’ve followed up multiple times with no success.
5. Where should we begin?
Here, you genuinely want to find out how you can help your prospect. This follow up email subject line works well with an email that helps you cut to the chase and find out their most significant pain points.
6. Don’t open this email!
You know just as well as we do that your prospect will open this email out of curiosity. Reverse psychology never goes out of style.
7. Great talking to you (insert name)!
As you can tell, this is a general follow up after your first correspondence with the prospect. A casual yet professional subject for your follow up email can get the job done.
8. Here’s the info I promised
This or any other subject line that promises value to your prospect is a big YES. If you’ve spoken to the prospect and zeroed in on their problems, they’re definitely looking for solutions. Use this subject line to give them the value they want.
9. Referred to you by (insert name of mutual friend)
By mentioning that you were referred to by a mutual friend, you’ve just turned a cold email into a warm one, thereby increasing the chances of getting your prospect to open the email.
10. You don’t want to miss this!
Ah, the classic combination of FOMO and urgency. One of the most effective ways to get someone to pay attention is by inducing a bit of FOMO and urgency to get them to think they’re missing out on something valuable.
11. I’d love your feedback on that meeting
If you just had a meeting, using this line is an easy way to follow up and begin a conversation.
Alternative Follow Up Email Subject Lines
Here are some more follow up email subject lines in the vein of the previous ones that you can use to mix it up:
- I wanted to show you something else!
- Can I change your mind?
- Here’s what I’ve been thinking about since we last spoke
- First steps to improve (insert problem)
- Last time I’ll email you
- Met you at (insert event or place)
- Hey (prospect’s name), remember me?
- Here’s what I will do for you
- Swipe right?
- Quick question
- Wanted to see if you’re still interested
- I thought about what you said
- Should I stay or should I go?
- Can you help me with (insert task)?
Conclusion
If writing a subject for follow up emails was difficult for you, these examples should make it easy. These subject lines for follow up emails can help you convert fresh leads and to rekindle conversations with old leads that may have fizzled out. While all of these subject lines work, it is vital to understand what qualities make a subject line work.
To recap:
- Ensure you have a reason to follow up
- Have something to offer the prospect that they can resonate with
- Keep your subject lines short and concise
- Personalize your emails and subject lines to each prospect
Implement these tips while coming up with subject lines and you should see those email open rates go up in no time. And hey, if they don’t yet, feel free to use the lines in this article to get the results you want.