Marketing automation, digital strategies and trigger email initiatives are effective in generating a flow of new inquiries and leads. However, many marketers struggle to determine at which point(s) they should move from automated engagement to human-to-human engagement.
Too Much Automation
A common pitfall is putting too many barriers in place that prevent your potential prospect from talking to someone who can answer questions and start building a relationship. If your strategy requires a person to click on 3+ emails before human engagement takes place, you’re likely to see a low volume of leads (& lots of missed opportunities!)
Think about it this way, when was the last time you clicked on a link in an email? What drove you to click? Chances are you’re not taking action on very many emails… unless something piques your interest or you have a need. Thus, why rely solely on sending another email when one of your prospects clicks on your email? Instead, have your tele team reach out!
You will find a variety of results…
- Sales-ready qualified leads, ready to buy!
- Information gathering stages / longer term interest, the earlier you start building a relationship the better
- Still others will have decided they are not truly interested, have no budget now, or won’t have decision making power. These are all still valuable prospects, as a conversation allows you to get a glimpse into what drove their interest in the first place, whether they are a fit for your product or service, and when to reengage them or another point of contact at the organization.
Balance Automation & Human Engagement
The most successful campaigns combine digital with telequalification, and have human touch points for each engaged prospect (someone who clicks, opens the email, fills out a form).
Here’s a step by step example of a balanced campaign:
- Send email to target prospects
- Tele-qualify those who open, click and respond
- Funnel “sales-ready” leads to your sales team
- Filter non-lead “right party conversations” to human-touch nurturing*
- Send 2nd email, rinse & repeat
* I recommend filtering the “right party conversations” that are not yet qualified leads into a human-touch nurturing campaign, which segments prospects by level of engagement and timeline for a follow up strategy that focuses on reengagement with relevant content.
This strategy will result in higher volume of sales-ready leads compared to a purely automated version. In addition, responder qualification tele-campaigns typically result in a higher conversion to qualified lead compared to proactive tele-campaigns, and provide an excellent funnel for strategic human-touch nurturing to boost long-term results.