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How to book more meetings with follow-ups

Heeeey lemlisters,
This is your weekly dose of the most actionnable tips on how to get more replies, book more meetings, and make more sales!
Here’s what you’ll find in today’s edition:
How to revolutionize your lead gen with a B2B lead database
How to use a B2B lead database to convert more leads
Get access to the waitlist to test new lemlist B2B lead database
lemlist team
LAST UPDATED
Feb 14
2024
READING TIME
7 min.

 Here's a cold email targeting dentists to help them promote the opening of new clinics 👇

Let’s see how Estefa Calvo, CEO of Naked Sales lead generation agency, would improve it so you can replicate her tips for more replies!

Here are email mistakes to avoid if you want to book more meetings:

#1 Not being honest

Avoid saying repetitive phrases such as "I stumbled across". It’s ok to show you were looking intentionally for your prospect to help them out.

#2 Being generic

Because there aren’t niche keywords related to the prospect’s industry, this email feels generic and like it was sent in bulk.

#3 Fluffy information

Don’t waste email spacing introducing yourself. Instead, you can link your important information in your cold email signature.

#4 Making assumptions

People don't like to feel judged, which can push them away from responding instead of booking a meeting with you.

#5 The email is too long

Prospects are skimming their inboxes. Sending long paragraphs makes it hard to understand why they should keep reading.

Here’s how Estefa would rewrite this cold email to open new sales opportunities for her clients:

What makes this cold email convertible?

#1 Pattern interrupt

The greeting in another language shows the sender's personality and catches prospects' attention.

#2 Researched fact

The intro proves that the person reaching out researched the prospect. This makes the rest of the email content seem more relevant.

#3 Highlighted pain point

Show you understand your prospects' struggles which helps you build trust around your solution.

#4 Social proof

Add numbers as social proof to build credibility and stand out from competitors.

#5 Interest-based CTA

Instead of asking for a call or meeting in the first email, aim to get a reply and confirm interest.

#6 Signature keywords

Based on your target, you can add slogans and signature keywords to make your email more relevant just by scanning it.

#7 The right email length

The sweet spot is to write 75-125 words in your cold emails. This range gets 5-15% higher reply rates than longer or shorter emails.

If you want to write cold emails that get replies, you can do it by following 7 ultimate techniques from our new copywriting guide 👇

P.S. You can watch the full cold email teardown to get even more tips on booking meetings here.

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 If your prospects didn’t immediately answer your first cold email, that doesn’t mean they are not interested. Maybe they’ve been busy, missed the email, or need more information before getting back to you. 👀

That’s why it’s important to follow up, which means sending additional 4-9 emails after not receiving a response to your initial cold email.

According to our analysis of millions of cold emails, your overall reply rates increase with every follow-up. But after 9 or more follow-ups, the benefits are negligible, and you could be marked as spam 👇

So, how to write cold email follow-ups that get replies faster?

→ Add value with every new email (i.e., don’t just say “checking in!”)

→ Avoid guilt-trippy phrases like “I’m busy too,” or “just wondering if you got my last email…”

→ Keep your messages short (around 120 words), while maintaining enough context for the prospect to understand why you’re emailing them

Here’s an example of a follow-up email that got an 86% open rate and a 71% reply rate:

This follow-up works because it references the previous step to make a quick transition, and it adds value.

If you want to use this template, do your research and replace the {{strongArgument}} custom tag with a sentence that will be different and personalized for every prospect.

Remember to focus on the prospect, not you, which means a lot of "you" and no "I" in your cold email copywriting.

Here’s another example that got 87% open rates and a 23% reply rate:

Here’s why it worked:

→ Seeing the first email fail to generate replies, the sender switched the subject line and decided to make this follow-up special

The custom image is there to grab the attention

→ A simple call-to-action makes it easy for the prospect to take action

P.S. To discover the most effective way to follow up with your prospects for the best results, check out this guide based on data 👇

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 Unsure whether using emojis in cold emails will spark interest and get replies, or get your campaigns sent to the trash?

We analyzed millions of cold emails to find the answer for you. Here's what the data says:

Emails with 1 or 2 emojis have a small drop in booking rates compared to emails without them, but not a significant amount.

Depending on the circumstances, you won’t necessarily ruin your chances of a reply with an emoji or two. As a rule of thumb: when adding emojis to cold emails, the fewer, the better.

Here’s an example of a user who added emojis to his cold email campaign, with an 82% open rate and a 53% reply rate 👇

In this case, the emojis worked, because they are

→ appropriate for the target audience
The target audience is content creators and influencers, who are used to seeing and using emojis in their work.

→ aligned with personal or company brand
The tone of the email is casual and friendly

→ thematically appropriate
The emojis have a thematic fit with the message: wine and cheese

If you’re curious about whether using emojis will boost your booking rates, find out by A/B testing your campaigns! In this guide, discover the simplest way to do it 👇

Take care,

G and the team

Guillaume Moubeche
$0 to $20M ARR in 5 years bootstrapped | I share tips on how to grow a profitable SaaS business | Founder & CEO @lempire (lemlist, lemwarm, lemcal, taplio, tweethunter)
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