{Email | Post #7}: Folloooooow up.

It is not you, it is me. People will not reply to your emails for a myriad of reasons: maybe your emails are not relevant, maybe the reader is too busy and did not have time to check, maybe your messages are landing in the spam folder. Your job is not to judge. It is to be smart enough to get the reader to react, whatever it takes.

Do you have what it takes? Successful emailing is about being the last one to jump ship. If you do not believe me, look at this:

• 80% of people say 'no' 4 times, before saying 'yes';
• 92% of people give up before email #4;
• 70% of email chains stop after one un-replied email.

If my math is correct, this means that less than 10% of people actually see any of their emailing efforts pay off. And the ones that do, do not necessarily get there because they are better. They get there by staying in the fight and not giving up.

Seven. I believe in setting expectations. If you want to get more responses than everyone else, you will likely need to plan for six follow up emails. That is a total of 7 emails to get you there.

Quantity is important but 7 good emails and 7 bad emails will not yield the same.

Here are some of my tips when it comes to writing great follow up emails.

🔘 Triggers. Most people start follow up emails with 'Wanted to follow up on my last email'. Never do this. Any follow up email should be the result of a trigger: congratulate someone for their last funding round, point out to something that has changed since your last email, follow up after a meeting.

3️⃣ 3R. Just like your first email, follow up emails should also respect the 3R Framework. Always tackle Relevance, Reward and Request, but make sure you are changing it and making it 'sound' fresh with every email.

📧 Subject line. Your follow up emails should not be separate emails. Instead, reply to the previous email, keeping all emails part of the same thread and subject line.

📊 Track & customize. A follow up email to someone who has not opened your previous email should not follow the same logic of an email that has been opened and read but not replied to. As much a possible track who has and has not opened, read and replied to your emails and customize those based on that.

🚦 Channels. Following up does not have to mean emailing. Diversify channels and content types. For example, complementing your email strategy with social media and phone follow ups may increase of chances of success. At the same time, including video in your messages can increase click through rates by as much as 300%.

A bit of drama. Turning your back and saying goodbye. Sometimes that is what it is needed to salvage the relationship. Same time, same place, next week.