The Pontiflex Blog

Online Advertising: The hows and whens of following up on leads

January 20, 2009 at 3:19 pm Arun Krishnan 1 comment

You ran CPL, CPC and CPM (really?) campaigns to acquire leads for your brand. Now that you have the leads, what?

Photo credit: Supersentido

While there has always been an inordinately high focus on best practices for the front-end of the campaign, it is crucial especially in tough economic times that marketers focus on the backend of the campaign, so that they can harness the power of their database to the fullest and be able to effectively tie in marketing metrics to business results.

Here are some simple steps that you can take to get the most out of your lead database:

• Conduct multi-variate testing: Segment your database by lead source. Then divide each of these segments into multiple cells to test all the variables in follow-up and marketing. Segmenting first by lead source allows you to ensure that you can derive meaningful learnings from similar data.  You can break down the cells and test follow-up messages by:
  • The number of days before the first touch
  • The number of days after the first touch
  • Subject Line: Call to Action or Reminder
  • Personalization of messages

• Follow the user actions closely:  Once the follow-up message has been sent, track the following:
  • Did the user respond to your message? If so, log their action carefully. You can use information about this action for a successful second touch.
  • Did the respondent drop off? If so, create a message that addresses the drop-off directly and send a follow-up email directing them to the final acquisition.
  • If a user came to your site, placed an item in their shopping cart, but abandoned their action, then send them an email about the product. Include an update on price or savings.
  • If a lead has not responded after a defined amount of time, don’t email them continuously. This might cause them to request that they be removed you’re your communication stream all-together. Instead score them as “dead” or “dormant” and follow up with them after a defined period of time (three-four months) to “reactivate” them.

Remember at all times, be completely open and transparent. Display the Unsubscribe link boldly and clearly to let the user know how they can opt out of your message easily.  As in any communications, building trust is key, and there’s a reason they call it lead nurturing.

Evan Adlman, VP of Strategic Development

Entry filed under: Best Practices, Lead Generation, Online Advertising. Tags: .