How an Automated Lead Follow-Up System Supports Sales Excellence

You know it’s important to respond to leads quickly, and that lead-to-call automation can help. But the truth is, that’s just one part of your overall automated lead follow-up system.

In this article, you’ll learn what an automated lead follow-up system is, and why you need one to support your sales efforts.

If you’re already exploring emerging sales strategies, such as Conversational Sales, or more established ones like Marketing Automation, chances are that setting up your automated lead follow-up system will be pretty manageable. But even if automated lead follow-up is entirely new to you, this post will help make this strategy clear and easy to implement.

What is an Automated Lead Follow-Up System?

The phrase “automated lead follow-up system” describes all of the processes and technology you use to automatically follow up with leads and prospects. 

In many cases, this includes web forms and automated emails, but it can and should also include automated phone calls and text messages. There’s even ways for web chat to play a role in your automated lead response and follow-up system. 

If you’ve ever requested a resource and immediately gotten an email, you’ve experienced an automated lead response. But a good automated lead follow-up system will be more robust. (More on that later!)

A new method of automated lead follow-ups is lead-to-call automation. This is the process of automatically converting a new lead inquiry to a phone call. Calldrip has taken this a step further by pioneering lead-to-text automation, too! Now, when a lead fills out a form on your website, you can instantly and automatically follow up with a phone call and text message conversation.

While lead-to-call and lead-to-text automation is a critical part of your overall automated lead followup efforts, it’s just one element.

Why You Need An Automated Lead Follow-Up System

Here are the three main reasons why you need an automated lead follow-up process:

1. To provide an exceptional customer experience
2. To improve the conversion rate of leads to customers
3. To make your sales processes more efficient, and allow you to scale the human connection.

Automated Lead Follow-Up Systems Provide an Exceptional Customer Experience

These days, prospects want and expect an exceptional customer experience. It’s the most important factor for customers when deciding whether to buy from a company. Customers will pay 16% more for a good customer experience; on the other hand, more than a third of all consumers would stop doing business with a brand they love after just one bad experience.

But creating a positive customer experience is not just about sending an automated email. That’s not sufficient anymore. 

Research reveals that 82% of U.S. and 74% of non-U.S. consumers want more human interaction in their sales process. Today, almost 60% of all consumers feel most companies have forgotten about personal interaction in an online transaction.

That’s why we advocate so strongly for Conversational Sales, a strategy that enables human connection at scale!

Automated Lead Follow-Up Systems Also Improve the Conversion Rate of Leads to Customers

Studies show that a faster response to leads results in more closed-won deals. To put a finer point on it, you’re 100x more likely to win the sale if you respond to leads within 5 minutes versus 30 minutes. And if you don’t connect with a lead within the first hour, you’re unlikely to ever connect with them. 

That’s why rapid lead response is so important! But a 5-minute lead response time is difficult to achieve without a rapid lead response solution. That’s where automated lead follow-up comes in. 

An automated lead response system allows your company to provide a quick, personalized response automatically. This has a direct and measurable impact on your sales velocity and success. (At Calldrip, we see this every day!)

By blending standard tools like email confirmation automation with more innovative lead response solutions like lead-to-call and lead-to-text automation, you can even provide a convenient conversation with customers on every channel!

Automated Lead Follow-Up Systems Make Your Sales Processes More Efficient

The operative word here is “automated.” With an automated lead follow-up system, your sales team doesn’t need to be stuck at their desk, sitting on go. 

For example, your automated lead response system could be set up so that, when a prospect fills out a form, a quick automated thank you email is sent, and an automated call is immediately made to connect the prospect with an available sales representative.

This frees your sales team up from having to send all those emails and make all those calls manually. Plus, the best automated lead response systems also include analytics and reporting so that you can proactively evaluate and improve your sales team performance.

The Secret to a Good Automated Lead Follow-Up System

It’s simple: a good automated lead follow-up system must cultivate an exceptional customer experience. 

When reviewing your automated lead response system, ask yourself “does this create a positive experience for my leads”? 

The best automated lead response systems encourage a personal connection by enabling human conversations at scale. 

Examples of Automated Lead Follow-Up Systems

Example 1: An ​Automated Lead Capture System with Follow-Up Autoresponder Series

This is a fairly basic type of automated lead response. It’s common in content marketing. Here’s how it works:

• Create a lead magnet, like an eBook or other free download.
• Put it behind a form on a landing page (sometimes called a gate) to automatically capture leads’ email addresses and information. 
• Then, an autoresponder series kicks off. Oftentimes, these autoresponders are mostly emails.

Today, marketing automation software makes this process easy. Unfortunately, it misses a big opportunity because about 70% of emails go unopened.

That’s why at Calldrip, we recommend an automated lead follow-up system that’s more tailored to your customers and probably includes a range of different types of communication, including text. After all, more than 95% of texts are opened within 3 minutes!

Example 2: Real Estate Lead Automated System Follow Up

Real estate is one industry that benefits from an automated system to follow up with leads. For a customer buying a property, what could be more important than responsiveness and positive experience?

Plus, realtors are often on the move. That means they aren’t able to check their texts or emails while they’re driving or showing a property. The time delay between a prospective buyer submitting an inquiry and the real estate agent learning of their interest is critical. Without an automated system, this wasted time can mean lost sales!

Here’s how a real estate automated lead follow up system could work:

• Lead submits an inquiry on a website.
• The lead receives an instant, automated email response confirming that their inquiry was received.
• The lead-to-call automation tool  instantly dials both the prospect and a salesperson to connect them. 
• After the phone call or voicemail, an automated text is sent with the agent’s information so that the prospect can get in touch.

If one team member isn’t available, you can even set your automated follow-up system to go to the next team member!

Example 3: Automotive Lead Follow Up Automation

The automotive industry is another one of Calldrip’s specialities. In fact, we work with thousands of dealerships globally! 

After all, car salespeople are often meeting with shoppers on the lot, and can’t constantly watch for new web leads to come through. Buying a car can be a complex and emotional process, and there’s some stigma associated with car salespeople. In this industry, quality of connection is everything. Automotive lead follow up automation can be hugely beneficial for building trust-based relationships quickly.

Here’s one way automotive lead follow up automation can work:

• Lead submits an inquiry about a vehicle online, either via a form or web chat.
• That lead instantly receives a text message letting them know they’ll be getting a call from the dealership shortly.
• An automated call connects the lead to an available salesperson so they can quickly answer questions about availability and options, and invite the shopper to the dealership.
• After the call is over, an automated thank you text is sent with the salesperson’s information so that the prospect can get back in touch.
• You can even automate the customer review process via text, this will help capture more review and improve your Google search ranking. 

But those are just a few examples! We work with companies around the world, each with their own unique sales processes, CRM software, and sales teams. We'll work with you to tailor an automated lead response system that works for you. 

Now you know why an automated lead follow up system is so important, and how it could work for your business! 

When you’re ready to see how Calldrip can help you design and implement an automated lead follow-up system that includes call and text, you can book a risk-free demo here.