Follow up marketing: how to take advantage of its benefits?

By Maxime Perotti

Published: May 1, 2025

Does follow up marketing ring a bell? Have you heard of it before or is the concept of follow up completely new to you?

After seeing what it is, let's look at when and how you implement this process within an overall marketing strategy.

Finally, what are the main benefits for businesses?

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What is follow up marketing?

Definition

It is difficult to find, in Italian, a term that clearly expresses this marketing action. Literally, follow up is the process whose goal is to "follow up" or "continue."

In most cases, it consists of an email marketing strategy : an email is sent to a recipient shortly after the latter has shown interest in a certain product or service. This expression of interest might consist, for example, of a form filled out online, a visit to a booth, or even a download of a white paper.

Most often, the purpose pursued by companies with this action is to make a phone appointment or initiate an email exchange with prospects.

The requirements of follow up marketing

Follow-up activities, in order to be effective, must have specific characteristics:

they must be systematic (meaning they must be carried out in the same way);
they must generate consistent and predictable results;
they must have some degree of automation.

If it is not well organized, follow up marketing can be extremely tiring, both for the company and for the potential customer.

The different types of follow up

Sales follow up

When it comes to sales, follow up plays an important role. It is identified as the process through which one continues to follow up with already acquired customers. After an initial contact, in fact, the prospect has become a full-fledged customer. Follow-up involves offering additional services and products at regular intervals. This type of follow up is mainly done through an emailing system.

Post-event follow-up

Companies hold events, such as open days, where potential customers can visit the company, learn about its production and work ethics. Free trials are also offered to event participants.

Follow up action begins immediately after the event: in fact, doing follow up in this case consists of contacting event participants with the goal of establishing a long-term working relationship.

Follow up training course

Every company must organize training courses for its employees in order to develop new skills for business growth.

However, feedback is also an important element as it helps to understand the elements that need improvement.

Thus, the follow up of a training course is mainly based on the feedback of the course participants and must be carried out at two specific times:

At the end of the course,
A few months later.

Follow-up tools to make a difference

To capture customers' attention, there are several follow-up tools.

Phone contacts

Phone calls certainly rank among the most effective techniques. Many salespeople are hesitant about whether or not to call prospects, for fear of being too pushy. It is important to be concise, and to have a valid reason for calling them. After the initial contact, the prospect may be interested in proceeding with the purchase.

The emails

The personal email

The recipient must perceive the email as being addressed exclusively to him. Therefore, its content must relate directly to his personal situation.

These emails are part of so-called "one-to-one marketing." The goal is to initiate a "personal" discussion, and induce the customer to take a specific and personal action.

The "tutorial" email

A user, when registering on your website or purchasing a new product/service, may request that a tutorial be sent.

This type of email focuses exclusively on the service or product in question, and provides instructions for its proper use. Its purpose is to make learning quick and provide the user with tips and tricks to exploit its full potential in the shortest possible time.

The training email

The goal of this email is to transform a prospect into a better performing one. This type of email goes beyond presenting one's products or services, and is characterized by a pedagogical approach to train the recipient in some best practices.

The goal is to facilitate the prospect's decision making process, and to inspire him or her with your offer.

The confirmation email

This is an email that follows or precedes a specific action taken by a customer or user. It can be a:

verification after a subscription has been taken out;
confirmation of the creation of a new account;
confirmation of an order placed;
sending a renewal invoice.

Helpful hints

Plan

Similar to all business processes, the follow up strategy requires meticulous planning to make the most of it.

To drive prospects to purchase, you must plan ahead and try to develop a direct and ongoing connection with them. You can, for example, plan in advance to send emails, phone calls, etc., setting days and times precisely.

☝ If you are banking on telephone follow-up, choose appropriate times. In fact, no one likes to receive a call at 7 a.m. or 9 p.m., or during a coffee break. For email, the issue is less relevant, since the prospect has the choice of when to check his mailbox and when to respond to messages. However, it is preferable to send this type of content in the morning, when the recipient begins his or her workday and sets his or her goals for the day.

Structure time intervals.

Follow-ups with the same person should be on a regular basis and should allow for a progressive advancement of the relationship between the company and the customer.

Since each prospect has a different decision-making profile, it is very important that a salesperson knows his or her target audience very well so as not to be too intrusive or distant. Some customers have a lot of free time and are more willing to listen to you. Others, however, are very busy and may be annoyed by too much phone contact.

Act now

For it to be effective, it is important not to waste time in carrying out follow-ups. Once you have obtained the prospect's contacts, it is essential to contact them within 2 days so as not to be overtaken by competitors.

Categorize the different types of contacts

It is important to categorize prospects into an orderly database. You can do this through a simple Excel file, or through SaaS software. For example, the distinction can be based on the degree of interest shown by prospects.

Define clear and winning content

Content can make all the difference in getting prospects interested. The right tone, as well as relevant words, are critical. If you want to receive a response in fact, capturing customers' attention is vital. Don't forget to thank the user for their interest, and offer them interesting content.

Obviously, it is very important to know your target audience very well, so that you establish a connection with the user from the very beginning, and gain their trust.