Old, Lost Leads Got You Down? 10 Strategies for Reactivating & Re-Engaging Ghost Leads

People are fickle.

Take online dating, for example. You meet someone, start chatting, and it feels like you’re hitting it off. Until they disappear. No more texts. No more likes. No more anything. Just silence and the painful sensation of your self-esteem shrinking into oblivion (I assume).  

The term for this is “ghosting”. As in, “I can’t believe Ashley ghosted me after one date!”

What is a Ghost Lead?

This same thing can happen with your business leads. Visitors land on your site, opt-in and submit their info, then *poof* disappear.

Just like a ghost. Get it?

These “ghost leads” (AKA. “lost leads” or “cold leads”) are always annoying when they happen. But thankfully, the standards for appropriate behavior in dating are radically different from those in the sales process or sales funnel.

Is it worth Re-Engaging Lost, Old, or Ghost Leads?

In the dating world, repeatedly calling someone who broke up with you is creepy and sad. But in the sales funnel, following up with a lead who’s dropped off the face of the earth can make you tenacious and persistent. And it can actually help you close more sales too.

Still, a surprising amount of businesses simply give up on a lost lead that doesn’t buy from them right away. Don’t be like them.

To help you out, here are three strategies for re engaging lost leads, cold leads, and ghost leads in your sales funnel.

#1 – Reach Out to Cold Leads with Phone Calls

Back before I got into the internet marketing biz, I worked as a real estate assistant. My employee was both an agent and a landlord. So, part of my job was reaching out to prospective tenants for his rentals.

We would put up a Craigslist ad, direct people to call a number and leave their info in a voicemail. It was my job to call them back. Usually within 24 hours.

These were people who were looking for an apartment and giving out their phone numbers precisely so we could call them. And yet, when I did call back, the call went to voicemail 90% of the time. In fact, it would often take 2-3 calls to finally talk to someone in person.

The lesson here? Don’t give up after one phone call. Be annoying if you have to.  More than once, I would call a renter back and they’d be angry, demanding to know how I got their number. I would calmly explain who I was and my reason for calling, and suddenly they were grateful that I’d called back.

This won’t be the case for 100% of your leads, but even one or two extra sales can make a big impact on your business.

#2 – Use Email to Reengage Lost Leads

I’m sure you’re already using email to follow up with leads (aren’t you?), but here are some specific strategies to help bump up your email ROI.

The first one involves your Welcome Email. That is, the first email a lead gets after they opt-in to your list. Usually, all this email does is deliver on whatever promise was made to get people to opt-in. Most commonly with a download link or attachment.

You always want to deliver on your promise, but you can do a lot more with this first email. This is a good place to plug other, related content you have on your site. Or point people to case studies that might be applicable to their business.

The next tip is that you should be emailing leads consistently for a long period. Initially, you’ll want to follow up with direct 1-to-1 emails or a well-crafted autoresponder series, you also need a long-term campaign like a monthly newsletter to send to leads who don’t initially convert.

Here’s another example from my real estate gig. There are a lot of people who look up the value of their house long before they’ve decided to sell. My boss would send these people monthly emails with the latest comparable home sales in their neighborhood. Every so often, we’d hear from someone who was surprised by how much equity they’d accumulated and decided to sale. This could be months or even years after they’d initially opted in.

Of course, the best way to implement email marketing depends on what you’re trying to sell. If you’d like to discuss some specific strategies for your business, schedule a free consultation with us to get our expert advice.

#3 – Leverage Remarketing to Cold Leads & Ghost Leads

Remarketing helps you reach people who have previously visited your website.

If I search on Google for a lawyer, I’ll probably visit a handful of sites without actually moving forward with anyone. But those lawyers can use remarketing to show me more ads for their firm. Remarketing is great because you’re only targeting people who have raised their hand and shown interest in what you offer.

Most people just put up ads that take you back to their homepage, but my advice is to go one level deeper. Use remarketing to advertise specific content or product pages that you think your lead and target audience will be interested in.

Going back to the lawyer example, if my initial search was for a DUI lawyer, a good remarketing ad would be for an article on the “Top 10 Strategies to Avoid a DUI Conviction.

Remember: people are fickle.

Getting a lead is only half the battle. Make sure you’re doing everything you can to keep your business top of mind in both the immediate and far future to avoid losing leads wherever possible.

#4 – Share Relevant Content with Lost Leads

Sharing relevant content to lost leads will help you increase your chances of getting them to reengage.

This can be done using any of the methods already mentioned. Email, blogs, and remarketing are all good vehicle for relevant content. Having a supply or relevant, interesting, and high quality content available to help re engage lost leads is a critical component of a a long term sales pitch.

Remember, most leads drop off because they lose interest at some point. So, being ready with relevant content for prospective customers is a great sales opportunity.

#5 – Offer Incentives to Re Engage

Customer loyalty is important to almost all leads, but it can really help to spark fire in the lost leads.

This might look like a limited-time offer to get them to act immediately or tell them what their previous interest was for sale. In practice, this would look like tracking relationships in your CRM, learning their weaknesses and interests and reaching a short-lived offer directly corresponding to your objectives. Perhaps you just released ebooks containing information aimed at helping your business practice improve and you’re offering this at discounted prices. Or maybe you have a new deal or discount being offered specifically for cold leads.

Regardless of the incentive, if you want to convert a cold lead into paying customers, you’ll have to think of a few examples to whet their appetite and get them back on the line.

#6 – Update Cold Leads on New Features

The reason prospects are not getting a conversion could also be that you didn’t meet their needs in the past, but now you do.

Featured updating email is the perfect opportunity to show off new things to the target audience. Your service has not had what they wanted previously. But now maybe you do! Let your old leads be aware if you are implementing what changes you want them to make and return to. Introducing new features can help revive the passions you already have. Please keep it brief and give some details about new functionality. Add supplemental material for your message. Add a CTA.

Regardless of what new features you highlight, updating them on new features is simply another way to create meaningful conversations around your product or service.

#7 – Offer a Personalized Demo with your Team

The importance of demos is critically important to SaaS companies especially. Demos of SaaS products will make the buying decision easier as product demonstrations have become critical to a business decision.

You may lose an opportunity that your lead did not utilize due to the lost lead having insufficient product knowledge. Seeing what is on the market helps them to understand the functionality more effectively. And because you will reach an email client you must customize their email and demos, both of these work hand in hand.

#8 – Track the Ghost Lead Changes

Before you start engaging with the person you lost, it is crucial that you learn as much about the ghost leads as possible.

Examine how customers are getting into sales funnels by looking at their customer journey analytics. Analyze data that may reveal problems or disconnections that result in abandonment. By learning these concepts, you can resolve problems and ensure customers have the smoothest experience possible.

Ghost leads can sometimes be dead but not always “real” dead. In some circumstances they may just need more care or have changed their circumstances.

#9 – Use Retargeting Ads

Retargeting ads can be used as a means of connecting with cold leads who are interested in the product/service you provide.

Retargeting works by embedding pixels in websites that track the visitor behavior and collect data. Using this data, you can then make targeted ads which can be shown when individuals browse other websites or use social networks. Display targeted ads in various media and encourage them to return and explore your website.

#10 – Survey the Lost Leads

Survey data is an invaluable method of marketing research and lead generation. Surveys and polls are also important for the success of losing lost leads. This analysis helps to understand the reason for lead loss. Did you suffer from poor customer care? Did the family just not have enough funds? Surveys are often helpful in finding out a leader’s interest. This data will enable a successful marketing strategy. Surveying and polls are the best tools to engage with lost leads.

Conclusion: Don’t Lose Hope with Your Cold Leads & Lost Leads!

It is always a frustrating thing when an initial contact goes well, but then whoever you were talking to turns into a ghosted, lost lead out of thin air. But keep in mind this is all part of wooing potential customers.

Don’t give up! If you deploy a steady, concentrated, and active strategy utilizing any of the tips above, you’re sure to hold more leads attention, keep your sales funnel in a healthy state, and re engage lost leads for the long-haul.

Photo credit (modified from original)