How many follow-up emails to send in a cold campaign: one
By Travis Heurtelou · 5 min read · October 10, 2026
The short version
- Every campaign we run is two emails: the first one and one follow-up.
- In ListKit's published set of 200 scripts, sequences of 1 to 3 steps had a median reply rate 2.6 times higher than sequences of 7 or 8.
- The follow-up says one new thing. 'Bumping this to the top of your inbox' isn't one.
- Each extra step adds sends to the same people and raises the chance of a spam complaint.
Two emails per person
We cut every campaign to two steps. The first email carries the offer. The follow-up goes a few days later in the same thread and says one thing the first email didn't.
The data we can point to backs this up. ListKit published 200 of their best scripts with the numbers behind each. Sequences of 1 to 3 steps had a median positive-reply rate of 0.380% per prospect. Sequences of 7 or 8 steps, which was most of the set, had 0.145%. Part of that is because short sequences tend to sit on stronger offers. Even so, the long ones didn't rescue anything.
What the follow-up says
One new thing. A different piece of proof, a narrower version of the offer, or a simpler question. It stays short, under 50 words, and in the same thread so the reader sees the first email underneath.
Subject: re: quick one
[[FirstName]], one more thing on this.
Most OEMs already have a supplier for the parts they make today. The opening is usually the next program, the one that hasn't been quoted yet.
Is there one coming up this year?
What it doesn't say: 'Just following up', 'Bumping this to the top of your inbox', 'Did you get a chance to read my last email'. The reader knows they didn't reply. Telling them so gives them no new reason to.
What extra steps cost
Each step goes to everyone who didn't reply to the steps before it, which by step four is almost the whole list. That's more sends from the same inboxes and more chances for someone to hit the spam button. Spam complaints hurt the domain for every campaign it sends, not only this one.
When a campaign isn't getting replies, a third or fourth email won't change that. Change the offer or the list.
Two emails. The follow-up says one new thing, in the same thread, under 50 words. If the campaign is flat, change the offer or the list before adding steps.
Questions
How many days between the two emails?
Three to five business days. Long enough that it doesn't look automated, short enough that they remember the first one.
What about people who opened but didn't reply?
Opens are unreliable since Apple Mail began preloading images. Don't build a step around them.
Should I email the same company again later?
A new person at the same company, or the same person months later with a new reason, is fine. That's a new campaign, not step five.
Related
Rather we just run it?
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