The worst kind of follow-up email is still flooding my inbox

On the whole, I have no objection to follow-up emails. Not only do I not mind them, but I often truly appreciate them: Your first (and even second) email may have sincerely gotten lost in a chaotic inbox, and I am grateful you are bringing it to my attention.

Of course, effective follow-up emails are an art form, and there are better and worse ways of doing them. Now it’s 2025, and I’m still getting hit with the least effective and most annoying follow-up email I received in 2024. At this point, it just makes me laugh. But it still doesn’t work — and it never will. So I again want to warn you against this style, which turns off writers about the brand… and even the sender/agency altogether.

I’m cringing as I share this note in its entirety as an example of what not to do:

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