How to Remind Someone Politely to Reply to Your Email?

One of the things I constantly hear at SmartReach is, “Email is a fantastic tool, but it can miss the back-and-forth of a conversation. Inside sales teams have a disadvantage that we need to help them overcome”. While we have tools to aid reminder follow-up it’s important to understand how to politely remind someone.

Your sales outreach is a substitute for your personal interaction with the Prospect. When you pitch your product in person, via video or a phone call, you should gauge their feedback from visual or audio cues and should then be able to estimate whether effort should be spent pursuing things further”.

Not so via email. This is a one-way communication channel. You send an email and then scratch your head as to why prospects are not replying. 

Your email response rate determines the success of your cold email outreach campaign. Without responses, your cold email campaign is only noise.

So, what is the industry benchmark?

As per a survey by Backlinko, ~23.9% of all cold emails are opened, and merely 8.5% get responses. 

So before we dive into how to remind someone to reply to your email politely, let’s discuss key reasons why prospects don’t reply.

Btw, if you run cold email outreach then SmartReach.io (multichannel outreach cum cold email software) has launched its new pricing plans with unlimited sending email accounts.

Yes, no more paying for email seats. Connect and send from as many email accounts as you need. 

The new plans are more budget-friendly and usage-based, where you pay as per prospects you contact per month or for channel automation or integration features that you need. 

For only $24 per month, SmartReach.io offers free email verification, free email warmup, inbox rotation, inbox placement, ESP matching, AI content generator, shared inbox and much more. Name it and the feature is available

Sorry for digressing. Let’s come back to our topic.

In this guide, we shall also cover topics like (you could directly jump to them if needed)

• Tips for politely reminding prospects
• Apt length of your follow-up email
• Right time to send a reminder email
• Grammatical correctness & Formatting
• Politeness/ Non-demanding

Why do we have to remind someone to reply?

It’s no rocket science, and I would not want to sugarcoat reasons. 

So, it could simply mean that they saw your email and found your product too expensive, or you sent it to the wrong person; hence, it didn’t interest the prospect (like you cold emailed a CMO for an audit and accounting software or the prospect is not the decision maker).

It could also mean that the prospect does not need your product now.

Another reason could be that the prospect did not get or open your email. They missed it.

It could be due to your emails going to the spam or promotional folder, buried under other emails; they could be busy, out of town, etc. 

The reasons could be endless, but that is no reason for reps to give up. 90% of salespeople give up after four sales calls, which is too few.

This article talks about SDRs giving up too quickly and the importance of Sales Persistence.

To increase email responses, you need to increase your sales touchpoints (this includes polite reminders or follow-ups). If it is done properly then your email replies will increase, leading to more meetings booked.

How many touchpoints does it take to convert prospects to customers?

Firstly, should you feel frustrated that no one replies to your email?

Search the internet for how many touchpoints it takes to convert a Prospect to a Customer. There are varying answers – but the minimum you will see is 7.  

Chapter 12 of Jeb Blount’s book Fanatical Prospecting discusses the law of familiarity. 

It can take between 20 to 50 touches to engage a prospect with little to no familiarity with you or your company. This is a combination of marketing and sales touchpoints

So let’s now put this down as a statement: 

Not receiving a reply to an email is the Norm, not the Exception.

Also, note the number of touchpoints needed for really cold prospects is high. Let’s start with your unsubscribe link. You are including one in your email, aren’t you? Not offering them the optionality will likely trigger them to mark you as spam. 

If your Prospect has not clicked on your unsubscribe link, they are vaguely interested in your content. He will reply to your email if it provides them value, and is a problem on their mind. 

Let’s say your first email was along the lines:

Hi Joe, Is having a steady pipeline of sales-qualified leads a problem? Are you looking for automation in your Sales Pipeline? I found your profile on LinkedIn and noticed you head sales development at {{company_name}} I would happily get on a 15-minute call to understand your problem more deeply and explain ways a sales engagement platform like SmartReach can help. Schedule one on my calendar here. P.S.- I would like to offer your team a 3 months subscription to ProspectDaddy, a LinkedIn email finder tool to find business email addresses and other relevant details of decision-makers based on your ICP and Persona. Regards Lance SmartReach.io

You must politely amplify your message in your next reminder or followup email to provide more value.

Joe hasn’t hit our unsubscribe button, and we continue to build familiarity and show value in our messaging. Importantly, send the reminder follow-up email in the same thread as the initial email; this will help Joe get context.

Hi Joe, I thought I’d follow up with a case study on how a customer from the {{prospect_industry}} space boosted Sales Velocity. Their meetings booked increased by 16%.  I would be happy to get on a call and show you how SmartReach can increase your team’s productivity.  Regards Lance

Above, we have an initial email and the first polite reminder email follow-up. To this, you will need to add at least 7 follow-ups. Try and stick to 2-Gives 1-Ask and other cold email best practices

The 2-Gives 1-Ask rule is a cold email writing strategy that suggests you give two valuable pieces of content or information before asking for something in return. It could be anything: link to a blog post, free consultation, free tool, or even just a well-researched intro to your company and what you do.

Along with the seven polite reminder email follow-ups, you should reach the same prospect via Linkedin, WhatsApp or other preferred communication channels. Try to increase the sales touchpoints as much as possible.

The golden rule is to remind politely and not be pushy.

Ensure that your reminder emails are pleasant to read, even if you follow up with your prospect for the tenth time.

The tonality, grammar, and etiquette used while writing reminder emails will go a long way. Even if your prospects decide not to take up your proposal, they may return later simply because of your attitude, approach (2-Gives 1-Ask rule), and writing style. 

Why is it essential to write a polite reminder email?

Polite reminder emails are touchpoints that can increase your response rate a few notches. They convey a professional tone that helps build lasting relationships and is necessary for any sales outreach cadence. So, let’s understand why we should send a polite reminder email.

• Building relations: Polite reminder emails help keep the conversation going with your prospects. It shows you value the business they can get your company and care about your relationship.
• Managing email overload: A polite reminder email cuts through the busy inbox and ensures your message gets noticed. It showcases your professionalism and speaks a lot about the brand you represent
• Maximise Opportunities: By sending a gentle reminder, you offer them another shot to reply, which could lead to new opportunities, teamwork, or sales you might have missed otherwise.

6 Tips for politely reminding prospects to improve response rates

As per the University of British Columbia, an average person checks his business email 5-15 times daily. And will decide within the first fifteen seconds whether they should reply.

So, short and personalized follow-up emails to ask prospects to reply are key to getting a response email. 

The points I have covered below will cover the best approaches on “how to remind someone politely” and ways to increase your email response rate. 

Tip #1: Send follow-up reminder emails from the same thread

Sending your follow-up email to your prospects as a ‘forward’ to your previous email is the golden rule of follow-up reminder emails. And should be followed for all sales outreach sequences. So, if your prospects haven’t read your previous email, they will have some context.

Similarly, when you follow up with hundreds of prospects daily by forwarding the same email thread, you can refer to the context of your last email to craft your follow-up message.

SmartReach’s content setting helps sales teams automatically add the previously sent email to the prospect at the bottom of the follow-up reminder email. This feature is useful when the previous email accidentally gets deleted or your subject line differs from the one you sent.

So, now you can send gentle reminder emails to help your prospects easily understand the context of your previous email.

Tip #2: Be clear on the tone

While crafting your reminder email, use a friendly and familiar tone. It is essential for you to create and maintain a long-lasting relationship with your prospects. Avoid burning bridges by following these few simple steps:

• Maintain familiarity, but not at the expense of sounding too informal. You want your prospects to feel like they can email you with any queries.
• Don’t be too intimidating – Avoid using big words and complex sentences in your follow-up reminder email. Use proper sentence structure to make the email easy to scan.
• Don’t be Wordy: Avoid making use of unnecessary words, instead try to describe your message within a few words.  
• Proper spacing in the email – Use proper paragraph spacing in the email. Remind your client to respond to the email at the end of the email. Make sure that your request to reply is fresh in their mind. 

Hi [{{first_name}}, I wanted to circle back regarding my previous email about {{product}}. Our platform is designed to help sales teams like yours increase efficiency and generate more leads. One of our clients reported a 30% increase in response rates within just two weeks of using our software. I’m confident {{Product}} can bring similar success to your team. Would you be open to a brief call this week to discuss how we can tailor our solution to your needs? Let me know a time that works for you. Thanks, [Your Name]

Tip #3: Personalised and simple emails help create familiarity

Your reminder email on “how to remind someone politely” should be short, crisp, and concise.

Your email should have a simple opening with an easy-to-read message pushing for a response.

Personalized greetings can grab readers’ attention and stop them from dismissing your email as junk. An Effective email management tool can help maintain a consistent and approachable tone across all communications, improving response rates

Personalization is key to increasing your reply rates.

Hunter claims that adding personalization to reminder emails can increase response rates by 142%.

Using the potential customer’s first name and mentioning the recipient’s interests or any other information can create a sense of familiarity in your prospect’s mind. Automating personalization at scale can take time and effort. 

Hey Jenny I hope my previous emails caught your interest. I understand you’re busy, but I genuinely believe {{Product}} can work wonders for {{prospects_Company}}. {{Product}} offers a 14-day free trial. This is a risk-free way to experience the benefits firsthand. Let me know if you’d like to take advantage of this offer or have any questions. I’m here to help! Regards Lance

If you are finding it hard to scale and automate sending personalized follow-up reminder emails to your leads or prospects, then SmartReach.io could solve your problem. 

SmartReach.io can personalize your emails with any prospect data you provide, such as name, company name, etc. You could also create custom columns and convert them to merge tags.

So, if you want to send a polite reminder email adding a line on a “LinkedIn post,” your prospect liked or “a blog topic” that he recently posted or any other form of personalization, that too is possible.

SmartReach.io also provides Spintax and liquid conditioning features, making every email unique. This reduces the chances of getting caught by spam filters, improving email deliverability.

Tip #4: Create an action hook in your email

While sending a gentle reminder email, compose an action-driven email ending. Adding a call-to-action (CTA) will gently push your prospect to reply. 

A CTA need not always be like “Schedule a Demo” or “Start a Free Trial”.

Asking a question that the prospect can’t resist answering and the end of a gentle reminder email is the best way to invoke a response

Hi {{First_Name}}, Just a friendly follow-up to my previous email. We’ve been helping teams like yours boost their outreach efforts and achieve great results. Our webinar on {{Product}} just around the corner. I wanted to reach out and see if you would like to attend, and if you like, we could tailor the session to match your interests and concerns. Do you have any last-minute questions or topics you’d like us to address during the webinar? Feel free to hit “Reply” to this email and let us know.  Looking forward to your thoughts! Best regards,  {Your Name}

In the above example – hit “Reply” to this email – it gives a feeling that you’re approachable for any and all queries. Creating a hook in your reminder email also makes the prospect feel valued and assures them of quality service. 

Tip #5: Be polite and hit your main points 

Using a friendly and polite tone signifies that you genuinely care about a response from them.

The last thing you need is your email to be sent to SPAM.

An unprofessionally drafted email can do that exact thing. So make sure to sound friendly and polite in your email! 

Secondly, you should remember to state the pointers of the email clearly. Make sure to have the following in your reminder email:

• Friendly opening
• Clearly stated purpose
• Descriptions and questions (CTA) to invoke a response. 
• Time and date of specific events to be highlighted.

Tip #6: Use metrics and statistics to increase your email response rate

Predicting your prospect’s mood or reaction is impossible when crafting a gentle reminder email. Hence, recipient activity trackers can help optimize the conversions of your reminder emails.

Using a tracker, you can –

• See who is opening your email. 
• How often is your email being opened? 
• Whether or not your readers are clicking on reply links. 
• Percentage of emails that are bouncing back.
• Percentage of people clicking on the CTA button.

Using the information gathered, you can take appropriate action.

For example, if your prospect isn’t responding to your email even after opening it, they might be unavailable or busy. You can reschedule the sending of your reminder email to when they are most active. 

Rated amongst the best cold email software, SmartReach.io provides detailed reporting and helps you drill down into campaign performance at a team member level to make better campaign-setting decisions that would increase email response rates.

Please check our cold email masterclass for more information on writing good emails.

Apart from adding value to every email you write to your Prospect, you also want to follow these other guidelines.

Other guidelines to increase responses through polite reminder emails

The below guidelines hold true for all sales emails, i.e., your initial email and your follow up reminder emails. Hence, you could safely use these interchangeably.

How long should your follow-up reminder email be? 

A critical aspect of email outreach is the length of your reminder emails. Balancing the email with the correct length is quite important.

If your email is too short, it might not convey the information; on the other hand, if it is too long, it could overwhelm the reader. 

Nowadays, the attention span of prospects or readers has reduced drastically. They tend to skim through their email, looking for information if it is relevant to them or searching for a solution to their problem.

Keeping your email in a way that the reader can skim through it in under a minute would be good practice. 

Goldilocks Principle: Not Too Long, Not Too Short –  So, you might be wondering, what is the best word count for reminder emails?

Well, research from Boomerang, the email tracking experts, says that the sweet spot is around 50 to 125 words. This range gets the best response rates.

The Atlantic agrees. They found that emails with about 50 words get opened around 50%.

That’s way better than longer reminder emails. Keeping things polite and brief helps you get to the point without detours.

Jill Konrath, the mind behind “SNAP Selling,” suggests that your email should be under five sentences. Her take is that people prefer quick and snappy messages. If you don’t have time to read her book, this article from HubSpot will help.

Then we’ve got Mark Hunter, the author of “High-Profit Prospecting,” who says people want info they can easily chew. They’re moving on to the next thing if it’s too long.

CampaignMonitor has some more interesting insights. They’re all about science-backed strategies. They confirm that email length matters and advise on nailing subject lines, personalization, and when to hit that “send” button.

In the first hour, 75% of emails are opened, and 42% are replied to. In the first 4 hours, 93% of emails are opened, and 75% are replied to.

Source: Yesware

When is the right time to send cold email? 

Whooping, 75% of sales emails are opened within the first hour of reaching the primary inbox

Have you ever wondered when’s the right time to send cold emails?

Let’s find out so you and your colleagues can step up your email game.

Which day gets you the best results?

Guess what?

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are your go-to days.

Midweek gives the best response rate. Mondays are too busy, and Fridays are preoccupied with weekend plans.

And If your audience spans the globe, time zones are your buddies. Use email tools to figure out the right time for different regions.

SmartReach.io has a campaign settings section dedicated only to the above two points. And if you don’t have a timezone, you could set a default timezone based on your location.

The best part is the “Sending Holiday Calendar,” which lets you set up a holiday calendar for countries you target; your cold emails will not be sent out on those days, bettering your chances of getting a response.

Hyperise study states that 8 am to 11 am is the best time to send reminder emails. Jeb Blount suggests catching decision-makers before or after regular work hours.

Grammatical correctness

Like how good music needs the right notes, your follow-up reminder email needs the right words. Checking for grammatical errors is not just about using fancy words. It is all about making your email clear and easy to understand. 

When your sentences are correctly structured and the grammar is in check, the right message gets delivered instantly. If not, the meaning of the email might get lost.

Sometimes, we make simple and silly mistakes. We should be careful and avoid bloopers such as:

• Your vs. You’re
• Their vs. There vs. They’re
• It is vs. It’s
• Then vs. Than

These are just a few, but you might encounter many ‘whoops’ moments while drafting an email. Just be careful.

Email formatting

When formatting your email, think of it as dressing your reminder email to look more presentable. A well-formatted email not only increases readability but also increases engagement. 

You don’t have to be an expert when formatting an email; simplicity is the key. Try to keep the below points in mind:

• Avoid longer paragraphs. Break it into smaller chunks (typically 2-3 sentences per para)
• Bold the highlighted portion. Don’t keep too many highlights in one place
• If your email has got too much information, break it into smaller bullet points
• Keep enough space between the paragraphs.

Politeness / Non-demanding 

Let’s discuss how being polite and non-demanding can work wonders for your email. Just like saying please and thank you in person, being courteous also works with email. 

Setting a polite tone in your email increases the possibility of getting a positive response; after all, who doesn’t like polite behavior? 

Some of the ways by which you can show politeness are

• Start with a warm greeting
• Adding ‘please’ if you need your prospect to perform specific actions
• Say ‘thank you’ in advance if you ask for their time.

Personalized emails get opened 22% more, and 58% of revenue is generated due to segmented and personalized emails.

So, when keeping your reminder email polite and concise, ensure it still shows you “understand” your prospect’s needs.

Call to Action

A call-to-action in your email is essential as it acts as a roadmap. Without a CTA, the reader might be lost or clueless about what has to be done in the next step, even though the prospect might be interested.

A strong and straightforward call to action shows the prospect the path and increases the chance to take action. 

Be specific on the action you want the prospect to take, like ‘schedule a call,’ ‘click here,’ ‘learn more about..’, etc. 

Using benefit-driven call to action can also be used, such as ‘join the winning team’, ‘take control of your ROI’, etc.

Trends regarding email response rates change frequently. The best way to go is by trial and error. 

Concluding – How to remind someone politely

With the tips and tactics mentioned above, increasing email replies from prospects shouldn’t be difficult. But remember, be polite and not pushy or rude. Your prospects are probably busy and have not asked you a favor. Remember that you’re sending a cold email to a prospect who has not heard of your product. Grab extra tips from our cold email masterclass.

If you email a business leader or anyone at a CXO level, these decision-makers often receive daily emails. Even if they want to reply to your email, they might not get the opportunity. Hence, ensure you empathize with them, be polite, and use proper grammar, tone, and vocabulary. Your prospects will find it compelling to send email replies to well-crafted, polite reminder emails. 

Trends regarding email response rates change frequently. The best way to keep up with the changes in this ever-evolving landscape is by trial and error. 

How to remind someone politely FAQs

Q. How do you say remind formally?

To say “remind” in a more formal way, you can use phrases like:

1. I would like to bring to your attention…
2. I wish to remind you of…
3. This is to inform you…
4. Please be advised that…
5. Kindly be reminded that…

Q. How do you write a reminder in an email?

Writing a reminder email seems simple but its an art

1. Write only 50-125 words. People usually skim emails, so make your point quickly.
2. Use a respectful tone and don’t sound demanding.
3. Briefly remind them what your previous email was about.
4. Let them know what you want them to do next, like setting up a call or replying to your question.

Read this blog for more reminder templates

Q. How do you politely remind someone through a message?

Being polite is the foundation of any kind of reminder, whether is email or text

1. Use “Hi [Name]” or “Hello there.”
2. Briefly say what you are reminding them about.
3. State what you need.
4. Thank them for their time.

Read this blog for more reminder templates

Q. How do you politely remind someone in a sentence?

To politely remind someone in a sentence, you can use any of these examples.

1. Just a gentle reminder about our meeting tomorrow at 10 AM.
2. This is a friendly reminder to complete the survey by Friday.
3. I wanted to remind you about our deadline next week.
4. Just checking in to see if you had a chance to review my previous email.
5. A quick reminder about our call scheduled for this afternoon.

Read this blog for more reminder templates

Q. What is a good sentence for a reminder?

A great reminder sentence is clear, concise, and polite. Here are few i recommend:

1. Just wanted to follow up on…..
2. This is a friendly reminder about…..
3. Hope this message finds you well. I’m following up on…..
4. Wanted to circle back on my previous email about…..

Q. How to follow up politely?

Following up politely involves the same principles as writing a reminder

1. Be respectful
2. Get to the point quickly.
3. Be clear

Few more tips for email follow-ups:

1. Don’t send too many emails. Wait a few days between follow-ups.
2. Include new information or answer a question they might have.

Hoping this article on how to remind someone politely will help you follow-up better and effectively. The mantra is simple – be polite, be brief, be clear.

Q. How to remind someone who you are in an email?

Clearly state your name and role.

• Direct approach: “Hi [Name], this is [Your Name], [Your Position] from [Company].”
• Subtle reminder: “I hope this email finds you well. Just a quick reminder, I’m [Your Name] from [Company].”
• Referring to previous contact: “As we discussed on [date], I’m [Your Name] from [Company].”

Q. How to politely nudge someone via email?

Politely nudge with a friendly reminder, express understanding of their busy schedule, and offer assistance if needed. That is the best way to nudge someone via email.

Q. How to reply professionally in an email?

To reply any email professionally –

• Reply promptly
• Be clear and concise
• Maintain professional tone
• Proofread carefully
• Use clear subject line and
• Include a polite closing

Q. How to nicely follow up on an email?

• Be polite and respectful.
• Reference the original email.
• Offer additional value or information.
• Express understanding of their busy schedule.
• Suggest a specific time for a follow-up.
• End with a clear call to action.

Q. How to send reminder email in outlook to another person?

To send a reminder email in Outlook:

1. Compose your email: Write the content of your message.
2. Flag for follow-up: Click “Follow Up” in the message tab.
3. Set reminder: Choose “Custom” and select the desired date and time.
4. Send email: Your recipient will receive a flagged email with a reminder.

Q. How to ask for something in an email politely?

• Be clear and concise about your request.
• Explain the reason or benefit if necessary.
• Use polite language and express gratitude.
• Avoid sounding demanding or entitled.
• Provide a specific timeframe if applicable.

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