How to Follow Up on an Email When You Get No Reply
How long to wait, what to write the first, second and last time, and the phrases that make a follow-up easy to ignore.
Most emails go unanswered by accident
When someone does not reply, it is rarely a decision. Your email arrived during a meeting, got pushed down by twenty others, and was never seen again. A follow-up is not nagging. Often it is the first time they actually read it.
How long to wait
| Kind of email | Wait before following up |
|---|---|
| A colleague, something needed this week | 1 to 2 working days |
| A client or partner you already work with | 2 to 3 working days |
| A quote or proposal | 3 to 5 working days |
| A cold email to someone new | 4 to 7 working days |
| A job application | 1 to 2 weeks |
If there is a real deadline, follow up early enough for them to meet it. Waiting politely until the day before helps nobody.
How to write a follow-up that gets a reply
Reply in the same thread. The original email is right there and they do not need to go looking.
Put the ask in the first line. Assume they did not read the first email. Repeat what you need in one sentence.
Add something new if you can. A date, a number, a smaller ask, a reason it matters now. "Just following up" with nothing else gives them no new reason to answer.
Make it easy. Ask a yes or no question. Offer two times instead of asking when they are free. Say what happens if they do nothing.
Keep it short. A follow-up longer than the original email is a bad sign.
Phrases to drop
- "Just checking in" (on what?)
- "Bumping this to the top of your inbox"
- "Per my last email"
- "I know you're busy, but..."
- "Did you get a chance to look at this?" (with nothing else)
- "Sorry to bother you again"
None of these are rude, but none of them give the reader a reason to reply now.
Templates
First follow-up
Second follow-up, with something new
Making the ask smaller
After a meeting or call
On an unpaid invoice
The last one
This email gets more replies than you would expect. People answer when they think the door is about to close.
How many times should you follow up?
For work you are owed (an approval, a payment, an answer you need to do your job), keep going, and move to a call or a chat message after the second email.
For anything cold, three emails in total is plenty: the original and two follow-ups. Then send the last one above and stop.
Before you hit send
Follow-ups are short and quick to write, which is why they go out with mistakes: the reminder that mentions an attachment and doesn't have one, or the one sent to the whole thread instead of one person. Presend checks every email and message when you click send and catches these before they go out.
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