I was at a coffee shop in Portland and overheard a freelancer talk about her follow-up emails...

I was working at a spot on Alberta Street last Tuesday, and the woman at the next table was on a call. She was super calm and said, 'I just send a follow-up email that says, 'Hey, circling back on my last note,' and then I paste the entire first email right below it.' She explained that it stops clients from asking you to resend the first pitch, because it's all right there. I'd never thought of that... I always just sent a short 'checking in' line. I tried it yesterday with a lead I hadn't heard from in a week, and they replied in two hours saying they'd missed my first message. It felt like a tiny hack that saved a bunch of back-and-forth. Has anyone else used this copy-paste trick, or do you have a better way to handle follow-ups?

5 comments

5 Comments

abbyf791mo ago

Honestly that feels a bit lazy to me, like you're just hitting forward. I'll write a fresh follow-up that adds new value, maybe a link to a recent case study or a quick thought on their business. It shows I'm still engaged.

torres.nathan1mo ago

Yeah @abbyf79, I like that idea of adding new value! Maybe you could even paste the old email for context, then add a line like "Since my last note, I had this quick idea for your project..." Best of both worlds.

the_laura11d ago

Right? Same thing happened to me once with a client. I tried the old email shortcut and they completely missed the new part, just like your friend's situation.

sarah_davis1mo ago

My friend tried that forward and add a line thing last month. She sent a client her old pitch with just a quick update tacked on. The guy wrote back asking if she meant to send him the same email twice, because he didn't even see the new part. It totally backfired and made her look checked out. I mean, fresh is just safer.

wade_anderson11d ago

That copy-paste trick sounds good on paper, but what happens when the client's already seen the whole first email and then just skims right past everything again? lol. Doesn't that risk them getting annoyed by seeing the same wall of text twice, especially if they're busy? Seems like it only works if they genuinely never opened it the first time.