AI-Powered Lead Follow-Up is Your New Sales Assistant 

Leads are doorways to conversions. They appear as opportunities for us, as businesses, to turn strangers into customers. Yet, it’s shocking just how many leads slip through our fingers. We should be ensuring that every lead is given ample chance to convert, but few businesses manage this.

When leads aren’t nurtured, it’s unlikely they will continue on their buying journey. Many leads need a nudge. This is typically in the form of a follow-up message, note, or email. It sounds so simple. So why are so many businesses failing to adequately or competently follow-up? It could be time. It might be the extra effort. Perhaps they’re just too busy. Maybe they have a fear of follow-up. Whatever the reason, business is being left on the table, and customers are being left out in the cold.

There’s a bright future for the apparent drudgery of lead follow-up. It comes in the form of automation. In this article, we’ll cover:

• Benefits Of Using AI-Powered Lead Follow-Up
• Traditional Methods Versus Modern Digital Approaches
• Smart Drip Campaigns Powered By AI

Benefits Of Using AI-Powered Lead Follow-up 

There are clear advantages when employing AI for follow-up tasks, notably the significant time saved for your sales team, but that’s not all, check this out: 

• Personalization at scale: Each time a person has a conversation with an AI or responds to an email in an AI chain, the AI learns from that interaction. It then crafts messages accordingly. It schedules specific follow-up opportunities. Plus, it guarantees that its messaging resonates.
• Responsiveness: Unlike your sales team, an AI assistant doesn’t need sleep. It operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That means that you operate globally with no delay in response time.
• Cost savings: An automated follow-up process means reduced manual labor costs. Plus, there’s the added bonus of a higher conversion rate leading to an effective ROI. 
• Consistency: Tone, timing, content, all of this is kept consistent when the responses are delivered by an AI. Human emotion and disparity aren’t an issue. This is particularly useful when multiple team members are servicing the same account.

Traditional Methods Versus Modern Digital Approaches

It wasn’t long ago that lead follow-up was an unwelcome part of any job role. For many people, it still is! It’s a tedious, involved process that often involves cold calling, manual input, and long periods of time editing email templates. There are even those who still don’t use CRM tools and are manually tracking all of the lead nurturing process. 

The issue with this process is that it relies on the person carrying out the lead follow-up process. That can lead to errors being made, leads being missed, and relationships left to stagnate. That’s not a criticism of those salespeople, but it’s a statement of reality. 

It’s no surprise that innovation has created a more robust, reliable alternative. We now have a plethora of tools at our disposal. CRM systems, automated email campaigns, and dedicated analytics suites. There’s all this and an ever-increasing provision. These tools have existed for a while, but they’ve been streamlined to include impressive levels of personalization. No longer do prospects and leads have to receive generic, impersonal messaging. 

That’s where we have been for the last few years. It’s time for the next iteration.. It’s the advent of AI. Already we’re marveling at the ability of AI to deliver follow-up in a way that feels human. Rather than accepting broad, semi-personal campaigns, we’re able to deliver a personalized campaign. These conversational AI campaigns uniquely blend the accurate touch of traditional methods with the scalability afforded by modern tools.

Smart Drip Campaigns Powered By AI

Drip campaigns aren’t anything new. They’ve been a stalwart figure in digital marketing for a long time. You create a sequence of emails or messages. You set triggers. The campaign launches and your messages automatically go out. They are effective, especially when compared to following up manually or not following up at all. It is, however, something of a one-size-fits-all style of approach.

Yes, you can include elements of personalization. Through merge tags, CRM data, and smart templates, these messages can feel personalized. Still, they are a long way from a genuine personal note.

That was until we were able to merge drip campaigns with AI. These campaigns automatically follow-up  with your leads in a hyper-personalized way. To the point that the leads will question if they’re talking to a bot or a human being. 

‍Structurely adjusts its response based on the lead’s behavior, how they’ve previously interacted with you, and data in the CRM. Imagine you’re a roofer, and you’ve had a request for a quotation or inspection. That’s a hot lead. Even when you try calling them or responding to them, and there’s a chance that you’ll never hear from them again. This is where AI-powered follow-up makes all the difference. Especially in the home services sector.

That lead receives automated, personalized follow-up on a schedule for up to a year after initial contact. As soon as they respond, your agents sweep in and pick up the conversation. If required, the AI to continues the conversation and qualifies the lead first.

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Here’s what the first couple of follow-up drips might look like:

• 1 day after initial lead registration (send during day time hours)

Hi {first name},
This is {chatbot name} with {business name}.
Thanks for reaching out about your home. Would it be helpful for you if we shared typical pricing criteria for new roofing?
{chatbot name}

• 5 days after initial lead registration (send during day time hours)

Hi {first name},
This is {chatbot name} with {business name}.
Are you seriously considering upgrading your roof, or are you just curious what it might cost?I’m happy to help out either way!
{chatbot name}

Sometimes you might not hear from them. Other times you might get a response, and your agents can dive in. There are also times when someone responds to your follow-up but then completely disappears. That’s where AI can step in and support your nurturing process. Here at Structurely, we call these Re-Drips:

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Key Takeaways

Welcome to the brave new world of AI-powered lead follow-up. It certainly is an exciting time to be part of an effective sales team. This isn’t a passing trend. Instead, it feels like the next evolutionary step of the sales process. The harmonious blend of deft human touch and efficient machine technology. 

• Lead follow-up through AI delivers dynamic, personalized interactions.
• Not only are results more effective, but they also lead to impressive cost savings too.
• Automated drip and follow-up campaigns give precious time back to human sales agents.

Ready to integrate a conversational AI sales assistant into your business? Get in touch with the team at Structurely. Start designing and personalizing your follow-up campaign in just a few clicks.