Sales Follow-Up Email: How to Automate in 3 Steps [+ Setup Guide]

Summary

Sales teams often struggle to balance chasing large deals (big whales) with nurturing many small accounts (long tail). Intercom addressed this by automating sales follow-up for smaller accounts using Smart Campaigns. The three-step process involves segmenting leads into high-value large accounts with multiple stakeholders and long cycles, and high-velocity small accounts with single stakeholders and quick cycles; personalizing the first two touches using saved replies and product-specific templates; and then automating follow-up with campaign rules, goals, variables, cadence, and exit points, including removing leads who reply, start a trial, or become customers. Results include a nearly 50% response rate among previously unresponsive small accounts, an 8% increase in pipeline opportunities, and five hours saved per account executive weekly. The post also emphasizes keeping automated messages personal with emojis and gifs, and always adding value with case studies and demos.

Takeaways

1. 1

   Automating sales follow-up for small accounts yielded a nearly 50% response rate among leads that had not responded to initial outreach.

2. 2

   The automation added 8% more opportunities to the pipeline that would have otherwise gone dark.

3. 3

   Segmenting leads into high-value large accounts and high-velocity small accounts allows sales teams to focus manual effort on complex deals while nurturing the long tail at scale.

FAQ