How to Write a Follow-Up LinkedIn Message After Networking Event [5 Powerful Templates]

The benefits of participation in networking events are undisputed. They nurture the establishment of vital new connections and are essential to your inbound marketing. However, they have a downside – too much goes on in too little time. How to write a follow up LinkedIn Message after a networking event to make a person contact you back?

Event calendars are usually packed with sessions and meetings. People don’t always remember everyone they met or everything they heard or discussed.

Following up after a networking event is critical if you want to continue the conversation.

In this article, we give essential tips on engaging with your prospects on LinkedIn.

We will cover:

• How to send a LinkedIn message after a networking event.
• Five powerful templates you can use to stand out from the crowd.
• How to use Expandi smart sequences to optimize your LinkedIn outreach and connect with your prospects.

Expandi is an omnichannel tool for running automated outreach campaigns. Check Expandi.io to learn more and sign up for a 7-day free trial.

Before we get into template examples…

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Why is it so important to follow up after a networking event?

People have memory limitations and find it hard to process excessive amounts of information in a short time. Research suggests that we can optimally manage up to five items in our short-term memory. Unfortunately, a networking event entails a massive and intense exchange on a tight schedule.

With that kind of cognitive load, it’s unrealistic to expect people to remember everything they discussed at every meeting. That’s why reminding your prospects of yourself and the topics you discussed is a good idea.

Reinforce the connection before your prospect has forgotten the event

You and your prospects probably have met multiple people during the event. It’s challenging to keep up with the number of potential leads after so many conversations. You must stand out in this primordial soup of future relationships to ensure successful collaboration with your prospects.

Following up is the best way to remind your leads of yourself and reinstate the conversation. Your follow-up reaffirms that you are serious and that the time you spent on your first meeting hasn’t gone to waste.

Remind your lead about the context of your conversation

As mentioned, your prospects are exposed to a lot of new information during the networking event, and they are likely to filter out a lot of it. You must put effort into having a memorable conversation to stand out from the noise. You can take notes to prepare a list of reference points to bring up in your follow-up. Use these points to remind your lead of what you talked about and the next steps you agreed upon.

Continue the conversation and start building the relationship

A follow-up isn’t merely an act of politeness. It demonstrates intent to establish a professional relationship. It’s a testimony that you are a reliable person to do business with. It shows that you’ve been paying attention and taking the opportunity seriously. Statistics show that half of the sales happen after the fifth follow up attempt, while most salespeople give up after the second attempt.

By giving signals of persistence, you increase your chances of staying in your prospect’s line of sight and continuing the conversation.

Now that you know why networking follow-up email is essential let’s discuss the best ways to compose it.

How to Follow Up After a Networking Event?

In this chapter, we share our advice on approaching the follow-up and some critical dos and don’ts that will make your life much easier.

1. Connect with your leads on LinkedIn

You can send the LinkedIn connection request during the networking event. You don’t have to wait until you return to the office. Walk the extra mile and send more than just generic connection requests. Personalize your connection request to include a reference to the event and at least one critical topic you discussed at your meeting. 

Always address your lead by name and keep a friendly but professional tone. Don’t overload your LinkedIn connection request messages with business-related details. This is not the right time to send a proposal. Your goal should be to continue the conversation.

In addition, you can broadcast a LinkedIn live stream to leave a mark in your timeline and indicate common interest to the potential leads who check your profile.

2. Avoid spamming everyone you met

Don’t send a connection request to someone you met briefly. You’ll probably collect many business cards throughout the event without having any meaningful exchange with these people. Make sure you invite to your network only people you’ve had genuine one-on-one conversations with.

A good piece of advice is to add a QR code with your LinkedIn profile URL to your business card or in your email signature. It would allow your connections to bridge the gap from paper to digital easily. You can access, share or download your LinkedIn QR code from the LinkedIn mobile app.

Save the connection requests only for significant prospects, but leave the door for other people to contact you.

3. Add keynotes to give context

When sending a connection request, include some introductory notes to remind the person what you talked about. Keep it brief and don’t overdo it to avoid overloading your lead with information at this stage.

4. Follow up on LinkedIn within 24 hours

If you didn’t send a Linkedin connection request during the meeting, the sooner you send it, the higher the chance for a response. It will be a valuable reminder of who you are and what was discussed. If you wait too long (two weeks and more) to connect on LinkedIn, you’ll give the competition ample opportunities to win the fight for your prospect’s limited time.

We in Expandi have played with the idea of following up 7-days post-event, as well as we’ve seen that this can sometimes enable you to stand out when everyone is outreaching/flooding the other attendees’ inboxes in the first 1-3 days post-event. 

To sum it up, the LinkedIn connection request is a great way to remain in your lead’s focus with minimum effort. It’s better than an email because your prospect’s inbox will be teeming with messages after the event. We also suggest testing your sending time for the first follow-up to choose the best approach.

5. Don’t make follow-up calls too early

The purpose of the first follow-up is to get a reply and nothing more. Again, you should consider your prospects’ situation during the event. It’s hectic; they meet many people in a short time, and they are overloaded with new information.

Under these circumstances, a phone call may seem like pushing a deal they are not ready to take. Always use LinkedIn and follow-up emails first before initiating a phone call. The email is easy to reply to at a convenient time and your lead won’t feel like you are soliciting.

6. Send a follow-up email if your LinkedIn invite remains unanswered

There are two critical areas to pay attention to when composing a follow-up email. They are:

1. The subject line
2. The first couple of sentences in your message

The best practice is to keep the subject line precise and to the point to increase your open rate. The subject line is the first thing your prospect sees before opening the message. Avoid generic subject lines because your recipients will likely skip them when scanning their inboxes. Instead, use the email subject to refer to your meeting with your prospect (example in the image below).

Always start your networking follow-up email with a personalized message. Use the first couple of sentences to refer to something you talked about or some common ground.

Here are a couple of examples:

• “Thank you for meeting me at [Event Name] and for recommending that podcast”
• “Thanks for the great story about your European trip”

Last, remember to include relevant links in your email signatures, such as your LinkedIn profile or portfolio website. It will make you more discoverable on other channels and help your recipients learn more about you and your relevant work.

7. Keep following up via both LinkedIn and email

Even if you send the perfect follow-up message to your new contact, you are not guaranteed an immediate reply. Statistics indicate that in most cases, people respond after several follow-ups. That’s understandable, given that your prospect is probably overwhelmed by emails and tasks put on hold during the networking event.

It’s wise to give your lead some time while using opportunities to send a reminder. Make sure you remain moderate and don’t attack your contact massively on all channels. Ideally, you should plan your outreach to event attendees and think about the right cadence and channels.

Also, remember to adjust your approach depending on your recipient’s behavior. This is where a tool like Expandi comes in handy. Expandi offers Smart Sequences that allow you to follow up based on various scenarios and recipient actions. You can connect with your leads and boost the reply rate via email, LinkedIn, or other touchpoints.

With Expandi Smart Sequences, you can set different if/else outcomes to define how the outreach would adjust depending on the results. You have full control over the actions in the sequence and the time delay between them to make your outreach seem authentic.

8 tips on how to write a good networking follow-up email

After all the guidelines above, let’s share some practical advice you can easily follow when approaching your network connections. Here are our eight tips on how to write an outstanding networking follow-up email:

1. Use just a first name – this is an excellent way to personalize your message while maintaining a friendly and relaxed tone. Don’t be too formal, but also maintain a professional attitude.
2. Start with “Thank you” – show appreciation that your prospect took the time to meet and talk to you. It will leave a lasting impression.
3. Introduce yourself and mention a conversation from the event – remind your potential clients who you are and give reference to your meeting to remind them of the purpose of the current email exchange. For example, you could say, “It was great talking to you after the lecture on advanced SEO techniques at [Event Name]”. In addition, you can mention a mutual connection in case someone from your professional network introduces you.
4. Give additional value – share useful relevant recommendations that your contact may be interested in. Anything that works as a source of helpful professional advice would work, e.g., books and authors, articles, podcasts, social media channels, etc.
5. Describe the following steps – always explain what needs to happen next and what will be expected of you or your prospect shortly. Having a list of next steps clarifies your message and makes future collaboration with your new contact easier.
6. Add spaces between paragraphs – this one may initially seem counterintuitive and against common standards. However, it makes message reading much more accessible. Short lines require less effort than long paragraphs. Good readability is paramount, so feel free to use single-sentence sections if you have to.
7. Ask to meet up or call – include a call to action when writing follow-up messages. This tells your connections that the networking stage is over and you are ready to take steps to establish an actual business relationship. A good rule of thumb is to propose at least two dates to help your prospects pick a time that works for them.

In addition to visiting industry events and pursuing new contacts you made there, you can organize your events on LinkedIn to boost inbound lead generation.

Sample LinkedIn message templates to use after a networking event

Here we share some email templates you can use to write good enticing follow-up messages to your prospects.

Case 1: Follow-up message after a networking event

TEMPLATE #1

Subject (optional): [First Name], as I promised, sharing my experience with a [Method X] approach to increase efficiency

Hi [First Name],

It was great talking to you at [Event Name]. I checked some of your case studies and loved how you presented your success story with [Client Name].

Have you tried using [Method X] in addition to your approach to increase efficiency? I've been using it for a year, and it makes quite a difference.

I'd be happy to tell you more about it if you’re interested. Hope to see you again soon!

[Signature]

TEMPLATE #2

Subject (optional): Hey [First Name], check the pricing episode in this video – it should help you with [problem discussed]

Hi [First Name],

We met briefly during [Conference Name]! I just wanted to share our industry-leading SaaS webinars with you. I think you’d find the pricing episode especially interesting.

Looking forward to meeting you again at future SaaS conferences.

Best regards,

[Signature]

Case 2: Follow up email after promoting your service at the event

TEMPLATE #3

Subject (optional): [First Name] – check out this solution for your [Area of Improvement] that we’ve discussed yesterday

Hi [First Name],

It was great meeting you yesterday. Learning how quickly you improved your lead generation after your website redesign was fascinating.

You mentioned that [Area of Improvement] was your next considerable propriety. I believe our customizable cloud service can be of great aid along your journey.

Let me know if we can speak next week and discuss if [Solution Name] is a good fit for you, given your current challenges.

[Signature]

TEMPLATE #4

Subject: Use [Product Name] to add more value to your services

Hi [First Name],

How are you keeping?

Thanks so much for visiting us at our [Company Name] Booth! Wondering if you had any follow up questions?

There was a lot to unpack from the event itself; from industry insights to best practices - for me, learning that the average worker loses 129 hours yearly to unnecessary meetings was a big eye-opener!

With that being said, I’d be interested in hearing how work at [Company Name] could be streamlined even further.

Is that something you and your team would be interested in? If so, feel free to book some time on my calendar here.

[Signature]

P.S. If you’d like me to send over some extra materials/resources on [topic], let me know!

Case 3: If prospects are silent after previous follow-up emails

TEMPLATE #5

Subject (optional): [Name], Remember our meeting at [Conference Name]?

Hey [First Name],

It's been a while since we spoke during [Event Name]. Your recent article on LinkedIn reminded me of some challenges we discussed at the event.

I'd be happy to reconnect and hear how your business is going. Let me know if you have a few minutes for a call early next week.

[Signature] 

Bonus Case from Expandi Team: Getting to C-Level Executives if you’ve never met.

Background: 

Despite not having the chance to meet with C-level executives, we still wanted to network with them after the event. 

We used Expandi Connector Campaign with a four-step sequence on LinkedIn to push 127 handpicked SaaS founders to a meeting. 

Tip from the Expandi team: Add ‘I was at Event Name’ to your header to get instant visibility as soon as you connect with others. 

Connector Message

Hey [First_Name], did you catch at ten at SaaStr Barcelona? It was crazy, with lots of networking and keynotes. We didn't get a chance to meet, so circling back on LinkedIn! - Let's connect.

Message: 01 – 1 Hour After 

Cheers! Great to have you in here. 

Message: 02 – 8 Hours After 

[First_Name] quick one, I spoke with other Founders at SaaStr about their Sales Team struggling to optimize their LinkedIn touchpoints in their sequences. 

Wanna see how I use Open InMail to overcome this? 

Message: 03 – 2 Days 

Didn't manage to hear back and thought I'd drop you another line - would love to jump into a call and run through your approach to how you handled your post-event outreach! 

Let me know if you've got 15 mins {first_name}, next Tuesday for a chat?

Message: 04 – 3 Days 

Signing off and will keep my eye out for you at the next SaaStr! Going to be at WebSummit later this year - drop me a note if you're about? 

Speak soon 

Results:

So here are the results we’ve got:

We have got 127 leads in our campaign.
We have sent 108 connection requests to them.
43 people accepted our contact request.

The overall conversion rate of people connected out of all requests sent made 40%.

23 people out of those who connected replied back to us, which made it a 53.5% response rate.

Out of those, who replied back:
– 7 people responded to a connector message, making it 16.3%
– 16 people responded to the follow-up message – 37.2% (Wow!)

Final words: how to nail the perfect LinkedIn follow-up after a networking event

To wrap it up, let’s highlight again the importance of following up with your leads after a networking event. The follow-up is the best way to keep the conversation alive and take it to a stage where your prospect can readily discuss business in detail and consider a purchase.

Ideally, people would reply to all their messages, but in reality, most professionals are quite busy and overwhelmed with incoming mail. It usually takes several follow-ups to agree on another meeting or a call. That’s why it’s best to use Expandi Smart Sequences to automate and adjust your follow-up sequence based on your prospect’s behavior.

Learn more on Expandi.io and sign up for a 7-day free trial.