Follow up marketing: how to exploit its advantages?

By Maxime Perotti

Published: 1 May 2025

Does follow up marketing mean anything to you? Have you already heard of it or is the concept of follow up completely new to you?

Having seen what it is, let us analyse when and how this process is implemented 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 a term in Italian that clearly expresses this marketing action. Literally, follow up is the process whose objective 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 could be, for example, a form filled out online, a visit to a stand or even a download of a white paper.

Most of the time, the purpose pursued by companies with this action is to make a telephone appointment or initiate an exchange via email with prospects.

The requirements of follow up marketing

In order to be effective, follow up activities must have certain characteristics:

they must be systematic (in the sense that they must be carried out in the same way);
they must generate consistent and predictable results;
they must have a certain degree of automation.

If it is not well organised, 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 on already acquired customers. After an initial contact, in fact, the prospect has become a fully-fledged customer. Follow-up consists of proposing further services and products at regular intervals. This type of follow-up takes place mainly through an emailing system.

Post-event follow-up

Companies organise 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.

The follow up action starts immediately after the event: in fact, follow up consists in this case of contacting event participants with the aim of establishing a long-term working relationship.

Follow up training course

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

However, feedback is also an important element as it helps to understand what needs to be improved.

Therefore, the follow-up of a training course is based above all on the feedback of the course participants and must be carried out at two specific points in time:

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

Follow-up tools to make a difference

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

Telephone contacts

Phone calls are certainly 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 first contact, the prospect may be interested in proceeding with the purchase.

E-mails

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 objective 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 a tutorial.

This type of email focuses exclusively on the service or product in question, and provides instructions on how to use it correctly. 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 objective of this email is to transform a prospect into a better performer. This type of email goes beyond the presentation of one's own products or services, and is characterised by a pedagogical approach to train the recipient in some best practices.

The objective is to facilitate the prospect's decision-making process and to inspire him 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 of a renewal invoice.

Useful tips

Plan

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

In order to push prospects to purchase, you have to plan and try to develop a direct and continuous connection with them. You can, for example, plan in advance to send out e-mails, phone calls, etc., setting precise days and times.

☝ If you focus on telephone follow-up, choose appropriate times. In fact, nobody likes to receive a call at 7 a.m. or 9 p.m., or during the coffee break. For email, the issue is less relevant, since the potential customer has the choice of when to check his mailbox and when to reply to messages. However, it is preferable to send this type of content in the morning, when the recipient starts his working day and defines his goals for the day.

Structure time intervals

Follow-ups with the same person must take place at regular intervals and must allow a progressive progression 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 target 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 many telephone contacts.

Act now

In order to be effective, it is important not to waste time in making 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.

Categorise the different types of contacts

It is important to classify prospects in an orderly database. You can do this with a simple Excel file, or with SaaS software. The distinction can for example be based on the degree of interest shown by prospects.

Define clear and winning content

Content can make all the difference in arousing the interest of prospects. The right tone, as well as relevant words, are crucial. If you want to receive a response, 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 as to establish a connection with the user from the start, and gain their trust.