The Multi-Touch Sequence

The Follow-Up Problem

Here are the statistics that should change how you think about outreach:

Yet here's the disconnect:

• 92% of salespeople give up after 4 "no's"—but 80% of prospects say no at least 4 times before saying yes
• 44% of salespeople give up after just 1 follow-up
• Only 8% of salespeople make it to the 5th follow-up attempt

The math is simple: if you're not following up, you're leaving 80% of your potential deals on the table.

But there's another problem. The typical follow-up looks like this:

Hi [Name],

Just wanted to bump this to the top of your inbox. 
Did you have a chance to review my previous email?

Let me know if you'd like to connect.

Best,
[Sender]
                    

This adds zero value. It just reminds them they ignored you—and gives them a reason to do it again.

The Different Angle Approach

Effective follow-ups don't repeat the first message. They approach the same prospect from a completely different direction.

Think of it this way: your first email might focus on efficiency gains. If that didn't resonate, maybe this prospect cares more about competitive advantage. Or risk reduction. Or team productivity.

Same prospect, same product, different story.

The 3-Email Sequence Framework

A well-crafted three-email sequence covers your major value propositions without being repetitive:

Where Replies Come From

Data shows replies are distributed across a sequence, not concentrated in Email 1:

Key insight: If you're only sending one email, you're capturing less than 35% of your potential replies. The other 65%+ need a follow-up with a different angle.

Timing Your Sequence

Spacing matters almost as much as content. Too fast and you're annoying. Too slow and you lose momentum. Research shows optimal timing:

Best days: Tuesday through Thursday typically see 25-30% higher response rates than Mondays (inbox overwhelm) or Fridays (weekend mode). Best times: 8-10 AM or 4-6 PM in the prospect's timezone.

What Each Email Should Include

Every Email Needs:

• A reason to care: Why should they read this right now?
• Demonstrated understanding: Show you know their situation
• Clear value proposition: What's in it for them?
• Simple call to action: One ask, easy to do

Every Email Should NOT:

• Reference the previous email explicitly ("Following up on...")
• Sound passive-aggressive ("Haven't heard back...")
• Add guilt ("I know you're busy, but...")
• Repeat the same pitch with different words

Sample 3-Email Sequence

Here's how a sequence might look for a sales automation tool targeting a VP of Sales at a growing SaaS company:

Subject: Scaling past 50 clients

Your expansion into enterprise accounts this quarter 
creates a familiar challenge: the outreach processes 
that worked at smaller scale start breaking down.

When every prospect needs genuine personalization but 
your team is stretched, something gives—usually quality 
or sanity.

Worth a 15-minute conversation about how we help teams 
maintain outreach quality while scaling volume?

[Name]
                    

Subject: What your competitors discovered

Interesting pattern in your market: companies prioritizing 
outreach personalization are seeing 3-4x the meeting rates 
of those still relying on templates.

The gap is widening. Prospects now expect relevant, 
researched outreach—they can spot mass emails instantly.

Quick question: is outreach quality something your team 
is actively working on, or is volume still the priority?

[Name]
                    

Subject: How [Similar Company] hit 22% reply rates

Quick example that might be relevant:

A SaaS company similar to yours was stuck at 4% reply rates. 
Their team was spending 6+ hours daily on prospect research, 
and it still wasn't moving the needle.

After automating their research and personalization, they hit 
22% reply rates—5x improvement—while their SDRs actually spent 
MORE time on calls instead of prep work.

Happy to share specifics if useful. Either way, hope this 
sparks some ideas.

[Name]
                    

When to Stop

Three emails is usually the right number for cold outreach. Here's the data:

Why 3 is the sweet spot for cold outreach:

• You've covered multiple angles—if none resonate, more won't help
• Unsubscribe rates spike after email 4 for cold prospects
• You've demonstrated persistence without damaging your sender reputation
• The door stays open for future outreach with new triggers

Save your longer sequences (5-7 emails) for warmer leads who've shown some engagement—webinar attendees, content downloaders, or referrals.

Measuring Sequence Performance

Track these metrics for each email in your sequence:

Often, Email 2 or 3 outperforms Email 1. That's valuable data—maybe you should lead with a different angle.

The Automation Opportunity

Manual multi-touch sequences have two failure modes:

1. Dropped sequences: Rep gets busy, forgets to send Email 2 or 3
2. Cookie-cutter follow-ups: No time to craft unique angles per prospect

Automated sequences solve the first problem. Smart automation—where each email is genuinely personalized to the prospect, not just the sequence—solves both.