Ask once, nicely.Then ask better.
Send the first follow-up email after a quote two or three working days after the quote goes out: long enough for the client to read it, soon enough that they still remember asking. Then send two more, spaced to fit how long they said they’d take to decide: one with something useful, and one check-in around their decision date or before the quote expires. Finish with a short close-out that says it is your last. That is four emails at most, and they stop the moment the client replies. Below are a planner that writes all four with their dates, five templates, subject lines and the mistakes to skip.
By the Builderify team
Wait long enough for them to read it, and not so long that they forget asking. For most quotes that is two or three working days. If they said they would decide this week, make it two. This is common practice among people who quote for a living, not a figure from a study; your own replies will tell you more than any average.
Three, then a close-out. One email is easy to miss, and a client who goes quiet is often busy rather than saying no. Past four, you are chasing someone who has made up their mind. The close-out is what gets the most honest replies, because it gives people an easy way to say no.
The one number that sets the plan is when they expect to decide. Ask it while you take the details for the quote, and write it down. The speed that matters most comes even earlier, when the inquiry first arrives; the guide on why a website isn’t generating leads covers replying to inquiries quickly.
| If the client said | First nudge | Something useful | Check-in | Close-out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| This week | Day 2 | Day 4 | Day 6 | Day 13 |
| Within two weeks | Day 3 | Day 7 | Day 15 | Day 22 |
| Within a month | Day 3 | Day 15 | Day 31 | Day 38 |
| They didn’t say | Day 3 | Day 7 | Day 15 | Day 22 |
Tell the planner what you quoted for, when it went out and when the client expects to decide. It writes three or four follow-up emails, each with its send day, date, subject and body, plus the day offsets to put in an email sequence. Write them for one client, or switch to a sequence version that works for every client. It starts with a made-up kitchen fitter’s quote; change the details to yours. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
4 emails · Day 3, Day 7, Day 15, Day 22 · 2 credits at most
Day offsets for a sequenceDay 3, Day 7, Day 15, Day 22
Subject: Your quote for the kitchen refit
Subject: Two questions people ask about the kitchen refit
Subject: Your quote is valid until 30 November
Subject: Should I close the file on the kitchen refit?
Day 0 is the day the quote goes out. Every day is counted from then, not from the email before, which is also how a Builderify sequence counts from the day someone joins its list.
The first name is a merge tag. Hi {{first_name}}, fills in each client’s name in Builderify. In another tool, swap it for that tool’s tag, or type the name.
Read every sentence as a promise. Delete anything you won’t do, such as a call, a cheaper option or a held date, before it goes to a client.
Pick the one that matches where the quote stands, replace everything in [square brackets], and keep it short. Each one ends by asking for a reply, because an answer of any kind, even a no, is worth more than silence.
The last one is the follow-up email after no response from a client. It is the one people are most nervous to send, and the one that most often gets a reply.
Subject: Your quote for [the job]
Put the job in the subject, so the client can tell which quote it is without opening it. A follow-up sent as a new email doesn’t sit in the same thread as the quote, and “Following up” could be from anyone. Keep it short enough to read on a phone.
They say nothing about which quote it is, or they fake urgency. A fake “Re:” is the worst of them: the client opens it expecting a conversation and finds a sales email.
Most follow-ups fail by being too pushy or too empty, not by being sent. The client asked you for a price; reminding them is a service, as long as each email is useful and the last one lets them go.
Instead Give them two or three working days to read it, then space the rest further apart.
Instead Each email should carry one new thing: a question answered, an option, a date.
Instead Ask what is in the way first. If it is the budget, offer a smaller scope before a smaller price.
Instead Write each email so it reads fine on its own. They owe you an answer, not an apology.
Instead The worst follow-up is the automatic one that lands after they said yes. Stop the moment they write back.
Instead That is cold email, not a follow-up. Only follow up with people who asked you to quote.
Under the US CAN-SPAM Act, the FTC’s transactional categories include completing or confirming a transaction the recipient has already agreed to, and it says it reads those categories narrowly.FTC A quote the client hasn’t accepted yet isn’t in that list, so we would treat a follow-up that asks for the job as commercial email: say who you are, and include a way to opt out. The FTC also says the law makes no exception for business-to-business email. A Builderify sequence email gets an unsubscribe link at the foot if you haven’t placed the unsubscribe merge tag yourself.
The CAN-SPAM compliance checklist covers the rest. Other countries have their own rules. This is how the FTC’s guide reads to us, not legal advice.
Everything on this page assumes the person asked you for a quote. Emailing people who didn’t, with a “following up on our quote” subject, is cold email dressed up as a follow-up, and clients can tell.
The plan above only works if you remember it on day 3, day 7 and day 15, for every quote. In Builderify you write the emails once as a sequence on a list called “Quoted”. Each client you add starts it that day, gets each email on its day, and is taken off it when they reply to one.
A list in Leads that holds only people you have quoted for. Keep it apart from your newsletter list, so a quote follow-up never goes to a subscriber.
Create a sequence on that list in Sequences, start from scratch, and add one email per day offset the planner gave you. Switch the planner to A sequence first: every client gets the same words, and a sequence’s merge tags fill in names and email addresses, not a job or a price. Leave Enroll new leads on (it is on by default), then switch the sequence on. Turn on skip weekends if your clients are businesses.
A reply can only stop the sequence if it arrives in your Inbox. Check that replies go to a mailbox there: the Reply-to address on the Sending domains page, or the sender email when that is empty. The how-to on stopping an email sequence when someone replies walks through the mailbox, the headers and the six ways a reply goes unheard.
Add them to “Quoted” by hand with their first name. Builderify asks you to tick I confirm this person agreed to receive email from us, and keeps that as the record of consent. A running sequence with Enroll new leads on puts them on it straight away, and day 0 is that moment. If their request came into your Inbox, the panel beside the conversation has Add to a list too; added that way, Builderify checks the address first and the sequence starts once it passes.
When a client presses Reply on one of the follow-ups, Builderify matches the answer to the email it quotes and takes them off the sequence: Stopped, with the reason replied. An out-of-office reply is labelled as one and stops nothing. You answer from the Inbox.
A client added from the Inbox panel also counts as a new lead, at 1 credit. There is no monthly fee. Packs start at $9 and purchased credits never expire; see pricing for the whole rate card.
If you send the quote from your own mail app and the client answers that, Builderify never sees it, so the follow-ups carry on. Open the sequence and choose Remove from sequence on their row. Only replies to the sequence’s own emails stop it.
A person only ever goes through a given sequence once, and a list won’t take the same address twice. When a past client asks for a second quote, follow that one up by hand from the Inbox.
Sequences send from the same verified domain as Broadcast, and a person approves each new sender before it can send, so do this before your next quote, not on the day.
The same mechanics run longer sequences: the automated lead follow-up flow starts one from a popup signup, and the welcome email sequence template is the version for new subscribers. A quote sequence is the short one: four emails, one client, and it ends the moment they answer.
Two or three working days is the usual practice: long enough for the client to read the quote, soon enough that they still remember asking for it. If they said they would decide this week, follow up after two days. This is common practice rather than a figure from a study, so adjust it to what your own clients do.
Three follow-ups and then a short close-out is plenty: a first nudge, one email with something useful, a check-in after their decision date or before the quote expires, and a last email that says you won't chase again. Stop the moment the client replies, whatever they say.
Say you haven't heard back, that you'll take it the timing or the quote isn't right for now, and that this is your last email about it. Then tell them how to pick it up later and thank them for asking you to quote. A close-out like that often gets a reply, because it makes saying no easy.
Yes. Put the follow-ups in a sequence on a list such as Quoted and add each client by hand the day you send the quote, confirming they agreed to hear from you. A running sequence enrols them straight away, sends each email on its day and takes them off it when they reply to one of its emails, as long as replies go to a Builderify Inbox mailbox. Each email is 0.5 credits.
Not if you sent the quote from your own mail app, because Builderify only sees replies to the sequence's own emails. When a client answers the quote directly, open the sequence and choose Remove from sequence on their row. An out-of-office reply never stops a sequence.
The FTC guide was read on 29 October 2026. The timing on this page is common practice, not the result of a study. The Builderify details come from the Sequences and Inbox pages, the how-to on stopping a sequence when someone replies, and the rate card on this site. The templates and the planner’s sentences are starting points to edit, and nothing here is legal advice.
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