Most business owners send a connection request or exchange cards at a networking event, then do absolutely nothing for a week. By then, the conversation has gone cold and the opportunity has quietly expired. The networking follow up email is the step that separates people who build real relationships from people who simply attend events.
I say this having made the mistake myself. After a particularly good conversation at a local business breakfast a few years back, I convinced myself I’d follow up ‘when I had something useful to say’. I waited nine days. The person I’d spoken to had already started working with someone else who’d emailed them the following morning. That stung, and it was entirely my fault.
Why the 48-hour window actually matters
There is nothing magical about 48 hours specifically, but there is something real about the psychology behind it. When you meet someone at an event, they are holding a loose collection of impressions: your name, your face, something you said about your business, maybe the fact you both knew the same person. That collection is fragile. It degrades quickly as other conversations layer on top of it.
A message sent within 48 hours lands while you are still a clear memory. It requires no reintroduction. The recipient opens it and immediately knows who you are. Wait longer than that and your message starts to feel slightly awkward, like texting someone days after you said you’d be in touch. The dynamic shifts from confident to apologetic.
Speed is not about appearing keen. It is about being coherent. You are completing a loop that started in person, and the sooner you close it, the more natural the whole exchange feels.
How to write a networking follow up email that actually works
The most common failure is writing an email that is really just a business pitch wearing a polite hat. ‘Great to meet you, here’s what I do, let me know if you need anything.’ That is not a follow-up. It is a sales email with a thin layer of social courtesy over the top, and most people can see through it immediately.
A good follow-up email does four things. It reminds the person of the specific conversation you had. It offers something of genuine value with no strings attached. It makes the next step easy and optional. It stays short enough to actually be read.
Specificity is what separates a memorable message from a forgettable one. If you mentioned a book during your conversation, reference it. If they said they were struggling with a particular problem, acknowledge it. If there was a moment of shared humour or a point of genuine connection, bring it back. Generic messages get generic responses, which is to say they usually get no response at all.
A structure that holds up in practice
- Open with the specific moment. One sentence that pins the email to your actual conversation, not just the event itself.
- Offer something concrete. A link, an introduction, a resource, an answer to something they mentioned. Keep it low-effort to receive.
- State a clear but optional next step. A question or a soft suggestion, not a calendar invite they didn’t ask for.
- Keep the whole email under 150 words. If it’s longer, cut it.
That last point is not a stylistic preference. It is a practical one. People read short emails. They skim long ones and often abandon them before reaching the point you wanted them to reach.
After networking event: what next beyond the email
The email is not the end of the follow-up process. It is the beginning of it. Once you have made the initial contact and the person has responded, you are now in a relationship that requires some degree of maintenance. Not constant attention, but deliberate and occasional contact that keeps the connection warm without becoming noise.
After networking event conversations that go somewhere useful tend to share a pattern. There is an initial exchange, then a second touchpoint a few weeks later, then some form of meeting or call. The meeting is not always about doing business together. Sometimes it is about understanding each other well enough to refer work to one another, which is often more valuable anyway.
Think of the relationship in terms of seasons rather than transactions. You are not trying to convert a contact into a client within a fortnight. You are trying to build enough familiarity and trust that when the right opportunity arises, your name comes to mind first.
Business networking follow up tips that most people overlook
The practical advice around networking follow-up tends to cluster around the obvious: send an email, connect on LinkedIn, be timely. All of that is correct and also insufficient. The things that actually move the needle are slightly less comfortable to talk about.
One of the most underused strategies is the referral offer. Instead of asking for something in your follow-up, offer to introduce the person to someone in your network who might be useful to them. This is a low-risk, high-trust move. It demonstrates generosity, it shows you were genuinely listening during your conversation, and it creates a reason for them to want to stay in contact with you.
Another overlooked tactic is the second-event invitation. If you know of a relevant event, workshop, or gathering that matches what the person is interested in, mentioning it gives you a natural reason to follow up again even if the first email didn’t lead anywhere. It positions you as a connector, not a seller.
Track who you’ve contacted and when. This sounds obvious, but most people rely on memory, which is unreliable. A simple spreadsheet with names, dates, and a one-line note about the conversation is enough. You don’t need a CRM system to be organised. You need to be slightly more systematic than the average person you’re competing with.
Frequently asked questions
What if the person doesn’t reply to my follow-up email?
Send one more message roughly two weeks later. Keep it brief and reference something new, whether that is an article relevant to their work, an event, or a straightforward ‘just checking this reached you’. If there is still no reply after that, let it go without resentment. People are busy and sometimes the timing is simply wrong.
Should I connect on LinkedIn before or after emailing?
Either order works, but don’t use a LinkedIn connection request as a substitute for an actual email. The default connection message is too generic to mean much. If you only do one thing, make it the email. LinkedIn can follow.
How long should I wait before suggesting a meeting or call?
Don’t suggest a meeting in the first email. Let the conversation breathe. Once there has been at least one exchange of replies, a casual suggestion of a coffee or a short call is natural. Proposing it in your opening message, before any real dialogue, tends to feel pushy and slightly presumptuous.
The message most owners never send
The follow-up that almost never gets written is the honest one. Not the polished professional message, but the one that says ‘I genuinely found that conversation useful and I’d like to stay in touch.’ Most people filter that sentiment out, worried it sounds too direct or a little unusual. The result is a bland message that could have been written by anyone, to anyone.
Directness, handled with some care, is actually the differentiator. People remember being told they made a good impression. They remember specificity. They don’t remember the networking follow up email that started with ‘Hope this finds you well’ and ended with a vague invitation to connect.
The events are not where the business happens. The 48 hours after are.
Key takeaways
- Send your follow-up email within 48 hours while the conversation is still fresh in both minds.
- Reference something specific from your actual exchange, not just the name of the event.
- Offer value before asking for anything. An introduction, a resource, or a relevant suggestion all work well.
- Keep the email under 150 words and make the next step easy to take or easy to ignore.
- Track your contacts and follow-up dates somewhere simple. Memory is not a system.
- One unanswered message is normal. Two is a reasonable limit before you move on.
