Follow-ups
Guidelines and Alternate Phrases
State immediately that the letter is a follow-up to earlier correspondence or an earlier commitment. Restate your original message and request for action.
I wanted to follow up with our earlier decision to....
As a follow-up to our phone conversation, I wanted to get back to you about our agreement to....
Identify the first communication by subject rather than by date alone. If an original letter or phone message was lost, misplaced, or misrouted, the reader may not know what you’re talking about.
Don’t imply the reader is negligent or incompetent.
Offer an excuse for your reader’s failure to reply—one that will allow him or her to save face for having failed to respond by the specified date or to acknowledge receipt of your request or message. Even a phrase such as, “Could you let me know the status of ...” implies some progress.
Repeat all details—about who, what, when, where, why, how, how much—that were included the first time around. Don’t rely on past correspondence that may not have been received.
Avoid a nagging, whining, or threatening tone.
Emphasize the critical need for a response. If you can, find reader incentive for the action. If appropriate, use the if-I-don’t-hear-from-you-by approach; state your next action if no response is forthcoming.
Enclose a copy of the original letter only when the subject is too long or complicated to be repeated easily in the present reminder. Otherwise, doing so seems to be “proofing yourself” or documenting the reader’s failure to reply or comply.
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