
So, you want to know how to write a kick-ass follow-up thank you email after a meeting? Let’s discuss some important things to include and how to structure a good follow up thank you email. We will also give you some examples of thank you emails below which you can copy and use.
If you have a good business meeting with someone, it can often lead to a great business relationship which could help you in the future. The benefits of a good follow up email after a meeting can be enormous and are often underestimated. Anyone can attend a meeting, but what you do after the meeting tells a whole new story.
Tips on Writing a Follow-Up Thank You Email After a Meeting
Use a Professional Email Signature
You’re probably thinking “its not that important”, right?
Well actually, this is one of the most important steps. Studies have shown that email signatures build trust and convey professionalism.
So, if you haven’t already got a professional email signature, you can make a free one here.


Don’t Delay Sending the Follow-Up Email After the Meeting
Don’t leave it days or weeks before sending the thank you email after the meeting or job interview. Sending it as soon as you can displays that you valued the meeting. Leaving it too long could make it seem like you aren’t interested and that might result in a missed opportunity. The other person may have moved on and had a meeting with someone else because they thought you weren’t interested. This is why it’s important to send the follow-up email after meeting as soon as possible.

Be Honest
If you aren’t interested in what the other party had to say in the business meeting, make it known to them so you don’t waste their time. Explain to them what you didn’t like, and why you didn’t like it. They will likely appreciate that and will respect you for telling them.
On the flipside, if you are interested, let them know straight away so they know where they stand. As above, tell them what you liked and which part of the meeting made you interested in their products or services.
Be Polite
As always, when dealing with business people, you should be polite and remember the manners that your mother taught you! Don’t assume just because you had a meeting with them, that you can talk to them like a friend. Remember to remain professional and polite when sending them the follow-up email.

Good Chance for Networking
Even if you decide you aren’t interested in the product or services offered at the meeting, it’s still a good chance to network with the person. A popular quote that comes to mind is “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know“. Always remain in contact with the person, even if you don’t think anything will ever eventuate. One of the biggest keys to success is networking with like-minded individuals.
Don’t Burn Bridges
Having contacts in business is a very good thing, and can often lead to rare opportunities in the future. There is a reason that successful business people network a lot. It is because networking can open doors for you that otherwise wouldn’t. If you really didn’t like the person you met with, that is fine because not everyone gets along. However, don’t be rude or condescending to them in the follow-up email as that will burn bridges.

Keep the Thank You Email Short, but Not Too Short
Don’t write your life story in the thank-you email after the business meeting. Otherwise, they will likely skim over it and miss any important points you are trying to make. The best type of thank-you email is one that takes less than 45 seconds to read. Any longer than that, and you might start losing their attention. Don’t bore them, give them the quick facts and close off it off with a professional email signature.
Make It Personal, Avoid Generic Thank You Letters
There is nothing worse than receiving one of those generic thank you letters, that you just know has been emailed to about 15,000 people before you. Add a personal touch to the email and make sure they know it has been personally written just for them, by including something like the place where you met them or the time of the meeting. This is best done at the beginning of the email so they know straight away.
How to Structure a Follow-Up Email After a Meeting
Write a Good Subject Line
Using the right subject line in your email can make the difference between success and failure. The subject is what draws the recipient to read the email. There are generic subject lines you can use, or you can use more personal subject lines that are sure to grab the recipients attention, such as complimenting them.
Generic subject line examples:
- “Thanks for the meeting <name>”
- “It was good to see you <name>”
- “The meeting was great!”
Attention-grabbing subject line examples:
- “You have a nice car”
- “Lunch was delicious”
- “I think we’ve met before”
Thank them for the Meeting
This is kind of obvious. Make sure you actually thank them for taking time out of their day to meet with you. Make it known that you appreciate their time and that you enjoyed the meeting or found it useful. Even if you just had a phone interview with an employer, it’s still nice to send a thank you email to them. If the meeting didn’t pan out like it was meant to, then still thank them for their time.

Apologize If You Were Late to the Meeting or If Something Unexpected Happened
If you were running late for the business meeting or if you had to leave early, make sure you apologize and give them the reason. Most business people will know that sometimes life gets in the way of our plans which causes delays and changes to our schedule. Some people can interpret things like this as rude and it can make you look unorganized, which you don’t want. Apologizing in the follow-up email for being unpunctual will let them know that you weren’t purposely trying to avoid them.
Establish a Common Ground
Establishing a common ground with the other person can be a great way to earn their trust. Having something in common will allow you to speak with them naturally which can help you initialize a great relationship. If you are an anxious person that has trouble with meeting new people, this can be the perfect way to break the ice which will make you feel more at ease when communicating with them.
People will often relate to each other better if there is a common ground. A typical commonality can be anything like knowing the same people from college, having the same interests, or even belonging to the same recreational club.
Summarize the Meeting
When you are at the meeting, make sure you keep notes of all the important points. Summarize them in the follow-up email after the meeting. This will show them that you are organized and good at record keeping. This also helps to ensure that both of you walked away from the meeting with the same idea or agreements that were reached.
There are often situations in business meetings where the parties think they are agreeing to the same thing, but actually aren’t. Putting the meeting minutes in writing will overcome any miscommunication during the meeting so everyone knows exactly what was agreed and what will happen as a result of the meeting.

Organize a Follow-Up Meeting (If Required)
If another meeting is required, make sure you mention this. By asking for another meeting, this shows that you are interested to speak with them again and pursuing the outcome of the first meeting. This shows willpower to achieve results that were discussed in the meeting.
Do What You Said You Will Do in the Meeting
If you promised that you would call them at 1 pm next Thursday, then make sure you do exactly that. Doing the things you said you would do gives off a trustworthy and credible impression which is always looked up upon in the business world. You don’t want to be that person that over promises and under delivers.
Common Mistakes When Writing a Thank You Email After a Business Meeting
Spelling and Grammatical Errors
There is nothing more embarrassing than sending a professional email after a business meeting only to find it is riddled with grammatical and spelling errors. Not proofreading the email before you send it is a recipe for disaster. If spelling is not your thing and you just can’t detect grammatical errors in your copy, save yourself the embarrassment and use a tool like Grammarly.

Not Changing Placeholder Text
Have you ever been sent an email that still has placeholder text in it? It tells the recipient that you haven’t bothered to write the email yourself and that just looks lazy. Your recipient will not feel very special if they know they were just sent a generic email template that you send to all of your customers. This is a really easy mistake to make, but if you proofread your email correctly, it shouldn’t happen.
Wrong Spelling of Names
Sending the email with incorrect spelling of the recipient’s name is sure to make you look ignorant. If their name sounds like “John”, don’t assume its spelt that way. There are many ways to spell it…John…Johan…Jon…Jone…Joan and so on. When you are in a business meeting, the best way to get the correct spelling of their name is to ask for their business card. So, before you send the follow-up email, double check the spelling of their name. If their name is spelt differently to the conventional way and you spell it correctly, it shows that you are paying attention to detail.
Writing a Long or Short Follow-Up Email
If the follow-up email is too long, you will either bore them and they won’t read it, or they will skim over it too quickly and miss any important points you are trying to make. If the email it too short, you have likely forgotten to include important details and they will wonder if you were actually paying attention at the meeting. Don’t include details they don’t need to know. Keeping it short and sweet will ensure their attention span lasts the entire email and that will likely produce better results.

Thank You Email Templates
We’ve created some great thank you email after meeting templates that you can copy and use. Remember, some of these templates will have fields in them that you will need to modify and fill out to suit your needs.
Hi <name>,
Just wanted to say a huge thank you for meeting with me on <day>. I have to say, I absolutely loved your <car/bike/shop – common ground>.
It means a lot to me to have this opportunity to talk with you about <subject of meeting> and also to learn more about your company.
I’ve had a think about what we spoke about in the meeting, and I think the best course of action would be to <action>.
Just to summarize the main points from the meeting:
<Point 1>
<Point 2>
<Point 3>
Let’s organise another meeting for <date/time> so we can go over the finer details.
Let me know if that works for you. If not, we can organise another time.
Hello <name>,
Thank you for the meeting on <day>. It was great to see you to talk about <subject>.
I couldn’t help but notice your <car/bike/watch – common ground>. I am a huge fan of <common ground>.
During the meeting, you have given me some great ideas about <subject of meeting> that I will definitely look into further.
Just to recap on the things we discussed at the meeting:
<Point 1>
<Point 2>
<Point 3>
I would love to meet up again to discuss <subject> further.
Please let me know what date and time you are available, and I will lock it in.
Follow-Up Email Templates
Here are some follow-up email templates that you can use when you haven’t heard back from the person after you have sent them a thank you email. Be mindful that some sections in square brackets will need to be filled out or replaced to suit your needs.
Hello again <name>,
Hope you’ve been well since our meeting on <date>.
I just wanted to follow-up on my last email to check if you are still interested in having another meeting about <subject>?
I really gained some valuable information from the last meeting we had, but I just wanted to find out a little bit more information, if you have the time.
Please let me know when you are available to meet again to discuss <subject>.
Hi <name>,
I was just thinking about <subject> and it reminded me of the meeting we had on <date>.
I sent you an email on <date> about possibly organizing another meeting, I was wondering if you’ve had a chance to read it?
I forgot to mention in my original email that <establish more common ground>.
Anyway, thanks again for your time on <date of first meeting> and I hope we can meet again to further discuss <subject>.
Take care and speak soon!
And that’s a wrap! As usual, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to comment below!
That’s a great article and i was searching for this content because i didn’t know that doing follow up after applying for job is have this much importance so i was looking for how to do follow up process, thanks a lot for letting us know.Going to bookmark this for sure.
Find very interesting and knowledgable too.
Really helpful article. Thank you
This article is really helpful. I have recently attended a zoom meeting and I thought that thank you email is not necessary. From this article, I have learned the importance of that.