Are you hosting a webinar and plan on collecting leads from all stages of the webinar process? Specifically do you want to collect the registrations, the webinar attendees, as well as from the on-demand webinar posting? If this is the case we have outlined steps to follow to ensure all the leads are captured and coded in a consistent manner for post event reporting. Click here to see the webinar program process.
The final step is to test your new process. Testing a target list based process is different than testing a project based process. A target list based process is run against a target list, a group of names not necessarily in one project. The process starts when it is turned on and the process runs through every contact in the target list. As new leads are added that match the list criteria, those leads run through the process the next time it runs.
The first step to testing your process is test the Test your Email Template Content. We are assuming that you have completed this step when you entered your content. If not we recommend you go back and review the content so when you are testing the process you can concentrate on the process not the email content. If you haven’t done so already go back and modify the subject line of each email with ::Name:: at the front. This helps in testing.
Steps to test the Process
The Testing Process
Once the process is started you can utilize the testing template created to help walk you through the steps of testing a process. The leads that are created will appear in your project, assuming you set up the landing page links utilizing the “Copied” function.
Leads that are generated in your testing will be added to your project. As long there is an email address in the Redirect all process email section (4) then sales will not be notified of the leads.
The landing pages from the process template you just selected to be copied will be copied to your newly created process. The good news is you don’t need to start from scratch you can utilize these templates for your new process.
So what is next?
Note that if you are linking to a landing page in your process make sure the link in the email is utilizing the “copied” function. This function will ensure a new lead is created for anyone that clicks submit on the landing page.
The first set is to choose a process to copy from the process templates available and create a project where leads generated will be placed. The good news is this is menu driven and can be done in one step.
First choose a Process Name for your new Process Name and place it in the New Process Name box (The process name will appear in the blue bar when you are in Automation)3. Review the project set up details
You are ready to go to the next step and enter the content for your landing pages used in the process.
Webinars can generate a lot of leads the critical step is efficiently and quickly following up on the leads following the event as well as collect new leads from people registering to see the webinar on-demand.
A post webinar process would be used after an event to send out unique emails to each contact depending on if they were able to attend the webinar or if they registered but were not able to attend. The customers that attended are provided an additional offer. The customers that did not attend receive a link to the on demand webinar. Everyone is given the option to download the slides, a whitepaper, and get help from a local expert. The contacts that request assistance are immediately put in the hands of a sales person. If a contact registers to watch the on-demand webinar and they had never heard or registered for the live event they can be added to the process.
The sales call to action is a message detailing how the lead was created, what the customer expectations are, and how the sales person should handle follow-up. Providing the sales person what they need to effectively have a conversation with the prospect will help them follow up more quickly and have a more productive conversation with the lead.
This message should include the information that the prospect received, whether it as a document the prospect received or an event he/she attended. The message should also include a link to what the prospect received to the sales person can easily find and review it.
You can also provide links to additional material for the sales person to provide the customer, such as whitepapers, product information, or a schedule of upcoming events.
This Sales Call to Action is included in the Email to Sales and called the Source Description. The sales email template has basic information in it such as the prospect’s contact information, the lead grade, and a link to the lead online for complete detail of the information collected. Every lead should have a Source Description even if the lead is not immediately sent to Sales. This is because the Source Description can be seen from the Lead Detail sheet at all times. If the lead is reassigned, the source description will be sent to the new contact.
When creating a new project, you have the opportunity to select a Sales email template in the Customer Communication section of the project set up. For more detail on the options in the Customer Communication section setup look under Project Setup Instructions. In the For the Sales Template the (1) Default Sales Template should have been chosen.
In the Marketing Resource Center in your project listed on the left side of your screen click the plus to see the email templates set up for this project. You will see a drop down list similar to the Image shown here for the project Tradeshow ABC 2015. Under the project name you will see your project has an item titled (2) Source Description. The red envelope is the sales email template. If you wish to view the contents, click on the red envelope but do not change it. The Sales Template has general information notifying the sales person they have been assigned a lead and general details on the lead as well as a link to the lead itself. If you want to change the template, contact GrowthPoint.
When you click on the words (2) Source description you will see a (3) text window where you can type in the content. Basic formatting tools are available, as well as the Hyperlink Manager if you want to add any links. When you are done adding your content click (4) Update.
The key to successful demand generation programs is having consistent Sales follow-up of qualified leads. Sales needs to see consistent lead qualification criteria between Campaigns and tactics. It is critical that Marketing and Sales needs to have a common agreement on lead qualification definitions. GrowthPoint recommends a simple grading scheme for sales ready leads, based on 3 grades to communicate priority. There will be other lead grades that only marketing will use for non-sales ready leads. Example Prospects who have expressed some interest, but are not ready to a Sales person to contact.
The 3 sales ready lead grades are below.
Prospect has been through filters to remove (competitors, and other non influencing individuals), and indicated there is an active project they are working on, and would like to be contacted by an local expert.
It is important to realize there will be few of this graded leads, because many buyers would like to self serve vs vs talking to a sales person and be “sold”. Hot leads are urgent because the Prospect is waiting for someone to follow-up. The value in dollars of Hot leads are not necessarily and higher then other graded leads. Typically the Prospect is mush further down the buying process then other graded leads. Examples of a Hot leads are
Warm graded leads are where filtered prospects indicated they have needs that align with our products or services, authority based on position or Job Function, potentially a funded project or they are building the business case, but did not expressly say they wanted to be contacted. This does NOT mean these Prospect are not as important as a Hot leads, it means the Hot leads are more time sensitive because the Prospect is waiting for someone to follow up with them. Typically Warm leads are earlier in the buying process where it is easier to influence their preferences. Examples of Warm leads are:
This is a special grade lead for Sales they are told they do not have to follow up on these leads. The are just for their information. They may see a person in an account they are trying to crack, and this may be a good excuse to make contact with them.
FYI Only graded leads are to inform Sales there is a partially qualified Prospect who has responded to an Offer. Because these Prospects have not been fully qualified because of missing data, but have been through filters to remove non influencers or competitors.
Nurture grade is when a Prospect has responded to a marketing offer like downloading a white paper, but are not qualified or Sales ready. The intent of Nurture grade leads is, to Nurture the Prospect over time building preference and trust. When the Prospect has been qualified with an opportunity, a Warm or Hot lead will be sent to Sales for follow up.
The very important first step is preparing your lead file to import into the database. You must ensure that the file you send has all the data needed to accurately select the right leads and promptly follow up on them. Begin by deciding before your event starts what data you need to collect. Whether it’s a tradeshow or any marketing event, think about what data will be most valuable to your sales team. Gather only the data you really need so you don’t overwhelm attendees with too many questions.
You will deliver your file as an Excel spreadsheet. As you create the file that will be import into the LeadCentral database, include only the fields you want entered and skip the rest. Be sure to include the fields needed to assign leads. If your sales team works in geographic regions, those fields would typically include Zip Code domestically, or country for international sales. Your company may need other fields to assign leads. Include those fields in the right format so leads are properly assigned. Look in the Tools menu for a Lead Import Format Template to help guide your field selection.
Grading: Contacts are typically graded by quality. If you want to include contact grade in lead assignment, include it as a field in your database. You can then include grade as part of the logic in selecting contacts for a marketing tactic.
Lead Assignment: Leads can be assigned to a channel that is set up into the system already, all to one specific person, or indicate a specific person per per lead in your file. To do this, the channel or contacts that will be receiving leads needs to be in the LeadCentral User Resource Center. To assign the leads based on zipcode to a channel, indicate the appropriate channel in the project.
If you want to assign the leads to a specific person per lead the project should have the channel set to Landing Page. In the file add column with the header of LandingPageAssignment in the column the ContactID of that desired contact needs to be listed. The ContactID is found in the User Resource Center. After looking up the Contact column the column with the number. The final format will be ContactID=# (for example ContactID=278)
If necessary there can be a “Channel” column in the spreadsheet with the value of Landing Page versus setting the channel in the project.
If you want to set a secondary assignment in the file the column header for secondary assignments is LandingPageSecondaryAssignment, the value in that field is ContactID=#.
Labeling/Naming columns: The heading or name of each column becomes the label for that column’s data in LeadCentral. When possible, use field names that already exist in LeadCentral. For new, unique fields, use short, descriptive names. Any non-demographic data will appear in the Additional Information section on the lead detail sheet.
How a lead is graded is important to Sales so they know which are to handle first. Don’t label a lead “Hot” if it really isn’t just to encourage Sales to act on it because that could mean truly Hot leads may not be followed. Guidelines can be found below to help you determine how to grade your leads.
Hot leads: These prospects have requested action, possibly an RFQ or sales call. You can create grading rules in LeadCentral to grade a lead Hot based on information provided. For example, you can create logic in emails and websites that grade a lead Hot any time a contact requests a followup from your Sales team.
Warm leads: These prospects are evaluating their options and have specifically expressed interest in your products. These prospect are typically working on a project but have a timeline that is several months out.
FYI Only: Prospect has indicated general interest in your company versus a specific product interest. This is a logical grade for someone who registered for, but did not attend, an event.
Nurture: Use this grade if you want to capture the lead but not send it to a sales person for follow up. The contact can be targeted for additional follow up in hopes of increasing their interest in your products or company. This is a logical grade for someone that has downloaded something from your website but not requested additional information. A typical system set up will also include a system rule that grades a lead Nurture automatically if the same contact has been entered into the same project in the last 30 days.
Unqualified: This is the grade for lead you would like to follow up with via telesales to further qualify. Assigned Sales people cannot see leads graded unqualified. To set up telesales follow up, contact GrowthPoint.
Cold: This is the grade that is set for Competitors and Employees automatically. It is possible to set up a special filter rule to grade additional leads cold such as Distributors, or students if this is something your company would like. Assigned Sales People cannot see leads graded Cold.
If your lead file includes grades, the grades in your file will override the default grade set up in your project. However, if there is a filtering rule in place that rule will override the grade in your file and the grade in the project. For example if you have a employee in the file that is graded Warm, the system rule that filters out employees and grades them cold will take affect, thus grading your lead cold.
After you set up your project and test your email templates, you or your media vendor can send Excel files of your lists to GrowthPoint at [email protected] for import. You can send files individually or on a daily, weekly or monthly schedule.
When you email the list, include the exact campaign name, project name, and the contact information (email and phone) for the person that managing the project.
It is possible to set up an automatic feed to GrowthPoint of individual leads as they are generated from third party vendor marketing programs. To learn more, contact GrowthPoint.
To set up a basic project, open the Marketing Resource Center (MRC) to see a listing of your Campaigns. Right-click on the Campaign you want to add the project to, then left-click on the Add Project option. A new blank project form will open on the right side of your screen. The first thing you want to do is fill out the Project name.
Use naming standards your company has set up to make it is easy to find projects in the future. A typical naming standard is [vendor]/[media tactic]/[start date], for example EPE/Webinar/March 2014.
Listed next to the Project name is the Campaign name you selected to house the Project. This is automatically filled in for you. If you need to move your Project to a different Campaign, open the Project and change the Campaign name using the dropdown arrow in the Project Setup Details section.
Under Project Attributes you have three options for Project Type: Standard Process, Custom Process and Send Batch Email. For this example, we chose Standard Process. We will explain how to create a Custom Process and Send a Batch Email in another section of LeadCentral Help.
After entering the Project Type, additional fields appear.
Project Code is used for specialized lead handling. Leave this field blank. If specialized rules are needed, call GrowthPoint. We will help determine how to accomplish your goals.
In the Division dropdown, choose the Division the leads are intended for. This field is used for reporting.
In the “Source Type” of these Leads? dropdown, choose the marketing tactic for the lead from the dropdown list. You can also add to the list if there is a source missing, but avoid cluttering the list with too many sources.
Enter the Lead Source. This information is seen by the sales person and used to track the lead. The Lead Source can be the same as the Project name but does not have to be.
The Lead Source indicates where the lead is being generated from. Leads can be entered from an Excel spreadsheet, via LeadCentral Landing Page(s) or from a text email. Leads can be entered into a Project from more than one Lead Source.
In the Lead Distribution section, select who should receive the leads from the dropdown . All leads are assigned, even if they are not sent to Sales. Choose the default unless you know it should be something else.
In the Lead Qualification, section choose a grade as a default for the Project. Filter rules can be set to override the grade selected. Grades added from your imported list or a landing page will override the default Project grade.
The Telesales Required field is checked if leads are going to be assigned to telesales. To use this option, talk to GrowthPoint.
In the Customer Communications section, you have the option to choose who will receive emails when the lead is entered into the system. The email to Sales notifies the sales person they have a lead to follow up on and gives them needed details. Once the lead is added to the system, it is important to follow up via some communication to thank them for their interest, further engage the prospect with additional offers and provide them with the name of their sales person.
After you have selected who will receive an email, additional boxes will appear to select the email templates you want to use based on the recipient. For the Prospect email option select the Blank Template in the Prospect Email Template from the dropdown. This will give you a blank slate for entering content. After you select a template, follow the prompt to name it. Use a descriptive name that will help you and others identify the purpose of the email. Click Okay.
Later you will have an option to select a wireframe (design) and enter the data for your email. Instead of creating a new email template from a wireframe, you can copy a previously created email by selecting it from the Campaign/Project listing found in the dropdown.
For the Sales Email template dropdown choose the default sales template.
The Redirect all Project Email option is used when testing a project. If you check the option and enter an email address, all the projects emails will be sent to this address. This will be discussed further in the Testing section.
This section is optional. If you enter data here, it can be valuable when creating Project reports. Anything entered in the Project Notes/Comments can be viewed only via the MRC. You can use this for any background information or details about the Project, but this information cannot be included in reports.
When you are done making changes click Update.
Before you start creating your email, think about what it is you want the recipient to know or what action you’d like them to take. Create a message that will grab your prospect’s attention. Point out their pains and describe how you can solve them. Include the results your solution has produced or provide an offer that will help explain how you can solve their problem. Do not make the mistake of just telling the prospect what you do or offer. Take their perspective. Tell them what is in it for them. Consider that you are taking up their valuable time to read your email. The goal is to quickly and simply encourage your prospect to want to know more.
In your project set up when you add a new blank prospect email the Email Summary will be mostly blank. If you need instructions on adding a transactional email to a project check the section Setting up a Basic Project. Once your project is set up to receive a prospect email you will see a blue envelope in your project drop down in the Campaign tab on the left side of your screen. 
In this step, you will use the new wireframe you selected and named, and fill it with the text, pictures, and other information to create your email. Before beginning this step, it is a best practice to have the text written and any images collected and ready to upload.
Adding hyperlinks allows you direct recipients to landing pages, documents in LeadCentral and other online resources. You can include multiple hyperlinks in the text of your template, enabling the recipient to quickly access the resources. You can also attach links to images.
To enter a hyperlink, from the Edit Email tab, highlight the block of text where you want to add the hyperlink. Click the (1) Hyperlink button.
After you click on the Hyperlink button, the Hyperlink Manager window will open.
You have several options for the type of hyperlink (option 1 above). In this instance, you will most likely want to link to a document, a landing page or manually enter a URL. These options are explained below.
Link to landing page within LeadCentral: This option creates a link to an existing landing page within LeadCentral. The advantage of linking to landing pages within LeadCentral is that the system can collect additional information about the recipient, including the creation of a new lead. You can navigate to the landing page three ways:
After clicking the radio button to indicate the location of the landing page, click in the (2) Landing Page dropdown and choose the desired landing page. You have two (3) contact data handling options, Update Data on existing lead and Copy Data to new lead. Most likely you will want to update the data on the existing lead. The details of the two options are below.
In the Hyperlink Manager at the bottom of the Hyperlink Manager screen, section 3 on the Hyperlink graphic, you will see a number of optional fields for completion:
After creating and formatting your hyperlink, click OK to save the changes.
This option creates a link that will open a preaddressed email. From the Hyperlink Manager, click the (1) E-mail tab. In the Address field, enter the destination email address. The Link Text field shows the text you highlighted in the email as the link. Fill in the Subject of the email. Leave the CSS Class dropdown with the default selection, “Apply Class.”
Before sending out your email, you’ll definitely want to do some testing. You don’t want to make any embarrassing mistakes in front of your recipients. Some general testing tips include: Proof your content, Test all the links, Confirm the address information, and Review the subject line for accuracy. The benefit of using a wireframe is you will not need to test the message in a variety of email engines as the templates have been tested previously.
Sending a test message
Remember to remove the :Redirect all Project Email” email address, uncheck the box and click Update on the bottom of the page when you are finished testing to remove the project from override. If you don’t the leads will be entered, graded and assigned correctly but all emails will be sent to the email address indicated in the redirect all project email box.