It would be nice if meetings were the only thing you needed to move a business deal or project forward. But when you’re a busy professional faced with back-to-back meetings all day, sometimes you need a reminder about what each meeting was about.
Sending out a follow-up email after a meeting is a great way to show your colleagues — or potential clients — that you were paying attention and have a plan for what happens next. Here’s why you should always send a follow-up email after every meeting, and what to include in your follow-up message for several common use cases.
And if you don't have time to write a follow-up email yourself, don’t worry: It’s easy to automate the entire process using AI.
What Is a Follow-Up Email?
A follow-up email is a short message that you send out after a meeting to everyone who attended the meeting or was on the invite list. A follow-up email isn’t the same thing as meeting minutes or meeting notes, but there can be a bit of overlap. The purpose of a follow-up email isn’t to recap everything, but to go over the meeting highlights.
A follow-up email could look like any of the following examples:
- A meeting summary with action items after a team meeting
- A thank-you note after a sales meeting or a networking event
- A review of key takeaways after an annual board meeting
- A quick recap of a town hall presentation or online webinar
The key to a follow-up email is that it’s short and to the point, and serves as a reminder of what went on during the meeting in order to keep the momentum going.
Why It’s Important to Write Follow-Up Emails
A follow-up email helps you capitalize on the progress you made during a meeting. By checking in with your attendees shortly after the meeting is over, you’ll ensure that the meeting has an impact and help to spur action on any follow-up items.
Here are three ways a great follow-up email can further your business objectives.
To maintain professional relationships
Some meetings are with team members that we see everyday, but other meetings are with casual acquaintances: business associates, sales leads, potential customers we meet at networking events. While the meeting you had may stand out to you, it might not be as important or memorable to the other participants.
When you send a follow-up with a reminder of who you are and what you discussed, you’ll keep your meeting top of mind and encourage further conversation.
To keep a record of the meeting
A meeting follow-up email isn’t a replacement for meeting minutes, but it serves as a reminder that the meeting took place and what was on the agenda. Participants can look back at it later to refresh their memory of any major votes or decisions.
This is especially true if your meeting was for a large group of stakeholders, and not everyone who was invited could be there. For example, your follow-up email could summarize the new remote work policy announced at your all-hands meeting.
To ensure follow-through or next steps
A follow-up email can contain a list of action items that your team members agreed to do after the meeting, or a call to action for potential customers or clients.
When you use an automated note-taking tool like Anchor AI, you can easily generate follow-up emails after a meeting. Simply Ask Max, your AI project manager, to write a follow-up email for you: “Create a follow up email from this meeting that includes a recap, a list of key takeaways and action items, and a thank you to everyone who attended.”
In addition to crafting a follow-up email, Max will automatically add actionable items to your task list and assign them to an individual team member.
6 Items to Include in a Follow-Up Email After a Meeting
The format of your follow-up email will depend on the type of meeting and the purpose of the follow-up. Is there another follow-up meeting scheduled, or will this be the last contact you have with your recipients for a while? Aim to send out your email within 24-48 hours after a meeting and include the following components.
1. A useful subject line
Your follow-up email subject line should provide the context of the email. For recurring team meetings, include the date and meeting topic so it’s easy to search for later. For sales or business meetings, personalize it to ensure that your recipient opens it.
2. A brief introduction
Next, start off the meeting by reminding the recipient who you are and where you met. This is less relevant for internal meetings, but it may still be a good idea to introduce yourself and your role on the project, especially if it’s a project kickoff meeting.
3. A meeting recap
A meeting recap is a brief summary of the meeting that mentions all of the key points and agenda items, but goes into less detail than meeting minutes. You can attach the full transcription or meeting minutes depending on the nature of the meeting.
4. Key takeaways
Key takeaways are the TL;DR of your follow-up email. These are even briefer than a recap, and are usually just a series of bullet points that highlight the most important details from the meeting, such as the outcome of a discussion or vote.
5. Action items
Action items are the follow-up tasks that meeting participants have agreed to complete after the meeting. With Anchor AI, you can use automation to capture action items, due dates, and assignees. You can then add them to your follow-up email and action item tracker automatically.
6. A thank you
Express gratitude to everyone who participated and show appreciation to anyone who helped run a great meeting. Use project management tools to stay in touch during the post-meeting period, and set a date for the next meeting well in advance.
Follow-Up Email Templates
The format of your follow-up email will vary depending on the type of meeting you held and how many people attended. Try one of these follow-up templates to get started.
After a team meeting
Subject line: Project kickoff meeting 3/7/24
Hello Team,
It’s [name], your project leader, and I’m excited to be working on this project with you! I wanted to send you a recap of last week’s project kickoff meeting.
We were thrilled to have [client name] from [company name] take some time out of her busy schedule to visit our department for the first time. We reviewed the timeline and budget for the project, and scheduled a follow-up meeting for next week.
Action items:
- Jean: plan social media outreach
- Rosa: schedule follow-up phone call
- Marc: update team contact information
After a networking meeting
Subject line: Continuing our chat about [pain point]
Hi [name],
It was a pleasure meeting you at the [networking event] yesterday. As a reminder of our previous conversation, I’m [name], the [job title] at [company name], and we discussed whether or not [product] would be a good fit for your [startup].
I’ve attached a link to a podcast episode I found about someone who experienced the exact same issue as you! I thought you might find it helpful.
I’d love to schedule a follow-up phone call if you’d be interested in discussing it further. Otherwise, feel free to add me on LinkedIn and we can stay in touch there.
Best regards,
[name]
After a business meeting
Subject line: [Company Name] Annual Board Meeting 2024
Dear colleagues and stakeholders,
Thank you for another successful year at [Company Name]. We had much to discuss at this year’s board meeting. I have attached the meeting minutes below for you to review. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.
Key Takeaways:
- Workplace productivity is up by 7%
- Board has approved a new hybrid work model
- Impact of artificial intelligence on operations still TBD
Craft Effective Follow-Up Emails With Anchor AI
Follow-up emails help you have more productive meetings by reinforcing key points and highlighting action items. Use them to follow up with potential customers or clients, keep your team engaged on a project, or summarize the results of a board meeting. A great follow-up email has a compelling subject line and includes a personal touch.
Anchor AI makes it easy to create a follow-up email after any meeting with our AI-powered note-taking and project management tools. Ask Max to generate a follow-up email with action items and key takeaways so you don’t have to do it yourself. Max can also generate a complete set of meeting notes and add follow-up items to your task tracker automatically.
Try it out for yourself and start writing great follow-up emails today.