How to Write a 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.

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.

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.