If you’re in B2B sales, you already know the deal: most prospects don’t reply to your first email. Or your second. Or your third. The magic is in the follow-up—but who has time to chase every lead by hand? This guide is for anyone who’s tired of letting deals slip through the cracks and wants to use Mailforge to automate follow-up emails that actually get replies (and, ideally, contracts signed).
Let’s skip the fluff and get straight to how you can set this up so it works for you, not the other way around.
Why automate follow-up emails anyway?
Before we get into the “how,” let’s level-set on the “why.” Automating follow-ups isn’t about turning your outreach into a robot army. It’s about:
- Not letting good leads die just because you got busy.
- Staying top of mind without spamming people.
- Freeing up your time for the conversations that actually matter.
Manual follow-ups work—if you’re superhuman. For everyone else, automation is the only way to scale up without becoming a pest or burning out.
Step 1: Map out your follow-up sequence (before you touch Mailforge)
Don’t just jump into Mailforge and start building emails. First, sketch out your sequence:
- How many follow-ups? Three to five is the sweet spot for most B2B deals. More than that, and you’ll start annoying people.
- Timing: Wait at least 2-3 business days between touches. Too soon and you’re spammy, too late and they’ll forget you.
- Content: Don’t send “Just checking in” emails over and over. Each follow-up should add something—answer a question, share a relevant resource, or just show you listened last time.
Pro tip: Write your emails in a doc first. This makes it easier to spot if you’re repeating yourself or coming on too strong.
Step 2: Set up your campaign in Mailforge
Once you know what you want to say and when, it’s time to build it out in Mailforge:
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Create a new campaign:
Log in and hit “New Campaign.” Name it something you’ll recognize later—“Q2 SaaS Outreach” is better than “Untitled.” -
Upload your contacts:
Import your list (CSV usually works best). Double-check that emails and names are mapped correctly. If your data’s a mess, fix it now—you can’t automate your way out of garbage inputs. -
Write your first email:
This is your opener. Personalize it with merge tags (like{{FirstName}}), but don’t overdo it. If every email sounds like it was written by a bot, people will smell it. -
Add follow-up steps:
Mailforge lets you add as many as you want. For each step: - Set the delay (e.g., “Wait 3 days”).
- Choose your trigger: “If no reply” is the usual, but you can get fancier.
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Write the email. Keep it short—nobody’s reading a wall of text by email #4.
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Preview and test:
Send all emails to yourself or a test account. Check for weird formatting, broken links, or merge tag fails (nothing says “I care” like “Hi {{FirstName}},”).
Step 3: Fine-tune your triggers and exit conditions
Here’s where a lot of folks screw up and start annoying their prospects. Mailforge isn’t psychic—it’ll only stop emailing someone if you tell it to. So:
- “Stop on reply” is your friend. Make sure every follow-up step is set to halt if the lead responds. Otherwise, you’ll look sloppy.
- Manual removal: If someone asks out, or if you close the deal, take them out of the sequence. Automation is great, but you still need to keep an eye on things.
What to ignore: Most B2B deals do not require retargeting “opens” or “clicks” for follow-ups. Focus on replies. Open rates can be misleading (thanks, Apple Mail privacy).
Step 4: Personalize at scale—without getting creepy
Personalization helps, but only if it’s real. Here’s what works:
- Use first names, company names, and recent news if you have it.
- Reference their actual pain point (not just “I saw you’re in SaaS”).
- Keep it natural—if you wouldn’t say it in a 1:1 email, don’t automate it.
What to skip: Don’t try to fake “personal” by dropping in random LinkedIn trivia or using a dozen merge tags. It looks desperate and gets flagged as spam.
Reality check: Full personalization at scale isn’t really possible. Do enough to get their attention, but let the real 1:1 come after they reply.
Step 5: Monitor, tweak, and don’t chase ghosts
You’re not done after you hit “launch.” Here’s how to keep your follow-up game tight:
- Track replies, not just opens: The whole point is to get conversations started. If you’re not getting replies, your sequence needs work.
- Review bounced and unsubscribed contacts: If you see lots of bounces, your list is bad. Lots of unsubscribes? Your emails are probably too aggressive.
- A/B test, but don’t overthink it: Try swapping subject lines or changing the timing between steps. Don’t run 30 variations unless you send thousands of emails a week.
What not to worry about: Open rates are a vanity metric. If you’re getting replies from qualified leads, you’re doing it right.
What works (and what doesn’t)
Works: - Short, clear emails with one ask. - Spacing out follow-ups by a few days. - Stopping the sequence as soon as someone replies. - Personalizing only where it matters.
Doesn’t work: - Over-automating to the point of sounding robotic. - Sending 7+ follow-ups. At this point, you’re just burning goodwill. - Relying on “Just checking in” as your only message. - Ignoring replies or requests to be removed.
Pro tips for B2B follow-up automation
- Quality > quantity. A clean, well-researched list will always outperform blasting 10,000 random addresses.
- Reply fast when they do respond. Automation gets you the reply, but you still need to close the deal.
- Don’t be afraid to end sequences. Sometimes “no reply” is a reply. Move on and focus where you can win.
- Always check your emails on mobile. If your follow-up looks weird on a phone, it’s going in the trash.
- Keep your sender reputation clean. Too many bounces or spam reports, and you’ll have bigger problems than missed deals.
Keep it simple and improve as you go
Automating follow-up emails in Mailforge isn’t rocket science. Start with a basic sequence, keep your messaging human, and make tweaks based on what actually gets replies. Don’t get hung up on every feature—get the basics working, then optimize from there. You’ll save time, close more deals, and maybe even get some of your sanity back.