How to follow up by e-mail after a trade show.

Follow a cadence: same day, next day, day 3, day 7, day 14.

Most follow-up fails for one of two reasons. It arrives after the lead has forgotten the stand, or it arrives once and never again. A fixed cadence fixes both. Count days as working days after the show closes, and treat the table below as a starting point you adjust, not a law.

Hot leads get four touches in two weeks. Cold leads get two. Writing to a cold lead five times is how a brand ends up in a spam folder. The wider routine, from the stand to the CRM, is in how to capture and follow up trade show leads.

Write to the lead you have, not the list.

One template for 400 people reads like one template for 400 people. Split the list by temperature first. A lead score built from what each visitor did gives you that split without opening every record.

• Hot. Asked for a meeting, a quote or a demo. They expect to hear from you, so speed matters more than polish. Name the request and offer times.

• Warm. Showed interest and left details, but asked for nothing. Refer to what you talked about and give them one useful thing.

• Cold. Scanned a code or took a card. Thank them, give one link, and let them reply if they want to. Do not chase.

If your tool scores leads, check the thresholds against your own results after the first show. 1Namecard bands a score as hot from 60, warm from 30 and cold below that, and shows the reasons behind each score, so the rep can open the e-mail with the right detail.

Put the conversation in the subject line.

A subject line has one job: to be recognised. Name the show, the stand or the topic. Keep it short enough to read on a phone lock screen, which as a rule of thumb means under about 50 characters.

• Hot. 'Your quote for 20 reps, and two times to talk'

• Warm. 'The sampling question from stand B12'

• Cold. 'Good to meet you at the show'

• Day 7. 'One more thing on delivery times'

• Day 14. 'Should I stop here?'

Avoid 'Following up', 'Checking in' and 'Quick question' on their own. They say nothing, and every other exhibitor sent the same ones.

Plan the workload before the show ends.

A cadence is only real if the hours exist. Take a four-person stand that ends the show with 180 leads: 24 hot, 66 warm and 90 cold.

That is about five hours per rep across two weeks, and a heavy first day: 24 hot messages that evening and 156 more the next morning. If nobody has that time, shorten the cold track to one message, or let hot leads go first and send the rest on day 2. Do not let the whole plan slip a week.

Three templates you can copy.

Replace the words in curly brackets. Keep each message under 90 words and end with one question.

Hot lead, same day or next morning

Subject: Your quote for {team size}, and two times to talk

Hi {first name}, thank you for stopping by stand {number} today. You asked what a rollout for {team size} would cost. The one-page quote is here: {link}. Could you do {day} at 10:00 or {day} at 14:00, {city} time? If neither works, reply with a time that does and I will send an invitation. {Rep name}, {direct phone}

Warm lead, next working day

Subject: {Topic} from stand {number}

Hi {first name}, good to talk about {topic} at the show. You mentioned {one detail they said}. This page answers it in two minutes: {link}. If it is worth 20 minutes, reply with a day that suits you. If not, no problem at all. {Rep name}

Cold lead, next working day

Subject: Good to meet you at {show name}

Hi {first name}, thanks for stopping by. In case it is useful, here is a short read on {topic shown on the stand}: {link}. If you have a question, reply to this e-mail and it reaches me directly. {Rep name}

What not to do.

Mail only people who agreed, and let replies reach the rep.

A business card handed over is not consent to a mailing list. Reply to what the person asked for, and put marketing mail behind a separate, clearly worded opt-in. The rules differ by country, so read GDPR-compliant lead capture at events and ask your data protection officer.

Set the reply-to address to the rep who spoke to the visitor, not a shared inbox. A shared inbox adds a day and loses context. Add a line saying how to stop receiving mail.

Check the time zone before you send. A message that lands at 03:00 in Singapore is buried under the night's mail by morning. Schedule it for 08:30 to 10:00 in the recipient's time zone. The time zone etiquette guide covers proposing times across zones.

A follow-up checklist.

1. 01
   Step 1.

   Split leads into hot, warm and cold before anyone writes.

2. 02
   Step 2.

   Send hot leads a thank-you with times the same evening.

3. 03
   Step 3.

   Send every warm and cold lead who agreed a message by the next working day.

4. 04
   Step 4.

   Mention one detail of the conversation in each message.

5. 05
   Step 5.

   Ask one question per message.

6. 06
   Step 6.

   Link to content instead of attaching it.

7. 07
   Step 7.

   Set reply-to to the rep and check the recipient's time zone.

8. 08
   Step 8.

   Put days 3, 7 and 14 in the diary at the time you send the first message.

9. 09
   Step 9.

   Stop after the last step and record the outcome in your CRM, as set out in CRM hygiene after a trade show.