Lead Generation Best Practices: Designing Auto-responders
December 8, 2008
Now that you have the leads, what’s next?You have to follow up with your leads – and do it quickly.
Auto-responders are a great way to follow-up with your leads in real-time and keep them engaged with your brand. But as with all things in life, there’s a right way and a wrong way to design auto-responders.
Here’s the right way:
Photo Credit: Marketing Sherpa
1. Focus on clarity: Clearly state what the user has signed up for. If possible, specify where they saw your offer. Include a clear call-to-action.
2. Act in a timely manner: Send lead data to your database in real-time so the auto responder can be sent instantly upon receipt. If real-time posting into your database is not possible then include copy that speaks to the delay in transmission in informing the user of the next step.
But remember that in an information-deluged age, a few minutes can be a lifetime and a few days could very well be an eternity: one where your message is condemned to the depths of oblivion.
So always try and follow-up through auto-responders in real-time.
3. Measure & Optimize: Always include track able links in the auto responder so that you can track performance post-transmission. This will enable you to better design more relevant future marketing communications to your prospects , so that you close out a sale or acquisition more easily.
4. Customize: As far as possible, segment your database to enable more relevant communications.
a. Create follow up marketing campaigns to leads that have not followed through with registration or acquisition. Clearly specify the campaign for which they had expressed interest in the first place.
b. If needed, provide an incentive to the user to complete their acquisition.
c. Customize the subject line to help clarify the offer they signed up for.
d. As far as possible, personalize the message to the user.
Acquiring qualified leads in a cost-effective way is only the first half of the online advertising puzzle. When done right, auto-responders enable you to convert these leads into sales and acquisitions, and completely solve the online advertising conundrum.
Evan Adlman, Vice President, Strategic Development, Pontiflex
Entry Filed under: Best Practices, Europe, Lead Generation, Online Advertising. .
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1.
Jeff Ogden | December 8, 2008 at 4:19 pm
I agree, Evan. Clarity trumps persuasion. Responsiveness is appreciated too. Tips are spot on.
2.
Evan Adlman | December 8, 2008 at 4:54 pm
Thanks Jeff – The performance of this vehicle is commonly overlooked; the scary part is digging into all the variables that drive its performance, or is that the fun part?
3.
Andrew Murphy | December 10, 2008 at 1:29 am
Autoresponders can take some time to setup properly with followup emails but when they are well written and provide valuable content you’ll be in the driver’s seat.
4. Email spending to hit $2B by 2014 « The Pontiflex CPL Blog | June 16, 2009 at 11:32 am
[...] Communicate with lists in a timely manner. Using an auto-responder technology, you can integrate your front end and back end to follow up with your leads by email in real time. For more on best practices for designing auto-responders, see our previous post on the topic. [...]