Want More Customers? Send Email Follow-ups

Let’s get straight to the point.

What is the key success in freelance writing?

Follows.

Most freelancers probably have a contact list and send out a few cold emails a week.

But honestly, it’s not enough.

This approach misses an important step: sending email follow-ups.

Just sending an email won’t get you much headway. Most people are not ready to buy right away. It’s the follow-up emails where you start to make real progress.

Continue reading or watch the video to learn more:

The reality of cold emailing

Doing the right promotion means sending personalized cold emails consistently, with the goal of building personal relationships and acquiring new clients.

However, there is one common mistake that even the most diligent freelancers make: neglecting to follow up.

Most people send an email, hear nothing, and give up. But most responses come from follow-ups, not from the first email.

Check out this chart:

Here’s what the data shows:

• 70% of cold emails are never followed up on
• 48% of people never even try to follow up
• Only 2% of responses are on first contact
• 55% of responses come from the next email, not the first
• 80% of deals require 5 or more follow-ups

If you just send one email and move on, you’re leaving customers on the table.

Why persecution works

When you reach out via cold email, chances are your prospect needs a freelance writer Fine at that exact moment with your skill set.

A potential client may not be ready to hire a freelance writer right now. It could be a completely different story in 3, 6 or 9 months.

The goal of the first email is not to get a customer right away. It’s about staying relevant and focused, which can last for months or even years when the need arises.

Schedule your follow-ups

Do not follow up the next day. Please allow 2-5 days between the first and second emails. It feels pushy too soon, it’s been too long and they’ve forgotten about you.

After that, set a time cadence. These are guidelines; find what works best for you. After the initial follow-up:

1. Send the next follow-up a week later.
2. Then, wait two weeks until the next one.
3. Follow with a month break.
4. Extend quarterly.

This schedule ensures that you check in regularly, but not so often that it becomes annoying. It also helps to give enough time for things to change. You want to balance focusing on the moment they need your services and respecting them.

It’s not annoying to offer help; is to send spam. If they tell you to stop emailing them, remove their emails from your watch list.

I have some clients that I send quarterly follow ups to this series with a calendar and give you a good talking point. For example, either before the holiday season, by the end of the year, or by mid-January, saying I can help them with any last minute requests, wishing them a Happy New Year and seeing what’s to come. Then I will send another in the spring, one in the summer, and one in the fall.

Personalization is everything

I won’t lie to you. I get a lot of nasty emails.

They are not personalized. Maybe they are written by AI and then you get unpersonalized follow ups every day and it drives me crazy. Those people give people who do it right a bad rap. Everyone hates getting cold emails and these people are causing it.

If I get an email where I can see that someone has taken the time to learn about me and my site, I’m more likely to respond.

That doesn’t mean you have to spend hours customizing. Just customize the first sentence. Honestly, that’s all you need.

So many people send bad, generic emails that even a small effort helps you rise to the top.

And close it with my secret weapon.

This approach is non-intrusive and keeps the door open for future communication.

Staying on the radar without being overwhelmed

In most cases, when you follow up, you are actually doing the other party a favor.

If I’m at a point where I don’t need what they’re offering, I’ll ignore it. I get too many emails to answer each one.

But if that person follows regularly, there’s a good chance I’ll be interested somewhere. I’m more likely to connect with the person in my inbox by sending me thoughtful emails than by going out and finding what I need.

Different Ways to Track Follow-ups

There are several ways to go about this, and there is no right or wrong answer. Here’s what works for you.

Some people prefer to just use a manual chart and follow it that way. This works well.

But I think there are tools that work better.

Stripe for Gmail is a solid option. It essentially turns your Gmail inbox into a CRM, and it’s free to use. You can track when you send emails, see if they’ve been opened, and add notes to remind you when to follow up later. If you set a cadence, you can get reminders when it’s time to send the next email.

AI tools like Claude or ChatGPT it can help if you hate spreadsheets. I inform Claude about the date, what kind of promotion I’m doing, and who I’m contacting. Tracks everything for me. Then I can go back and ask for weekly or monthly updates to see my progress, like how many cold emails I need to send to dry calls and then clients.

It’s like having a marketing assistant who never forgets anything.

Whatever system you use, the key is to have one. Once you have a way to track your promotion, it’s very easy to send follow-ups and actually stick with it.

Don’t Stop Email Tracking!

The whole point of this post was just to follow up.

You’ve done all the hard work building your portfolio and writing samples. You’ve got a lead, you’ve done your personal research and spent time crafting a thoughtful email.

Don’t let all that effort go to waste. Spend a few extra minutes creating a schedule to write follow-ups and send more.

This will give you the best shot at getting on that person’s radar and hopefully landing the gig.