They signed up: Now what?

May 30, 2017 by Alia McKee

You’ve come up with a creative lead generation campaign aimed at attracting the right kind of donors to your cause. You’ve secured an advertising budget. You’ve optimized the user experience. You’ve gotten sign ups. Now what?

Last week, I very humbly realized that I had neglected the “now what” part.

Here is what we got right:

Once the user took the action, we landed them on a donation form that referenced the campaign and creative they had just engaged with.

Here is what we got wrong:

(1) We didn’t make it easy for someone who didn’t want to donate to share the experience with friends instead.

(2) We thought our generic welcome message would adequately introduce the new user to the organization.

What are we doing? 

We are creating a lead generation/acquisition check list to help us make sure we don’t forget to cross our t’s and dot our i’s in the future. The experience someone has with your organization immediately after signing up is crucial to keeping them engaged.

Here’s that checklist:

(1) What do we want the new user to do immediately after signing up? [Rank the following]
– Donate
– Take another action
– Share on Facebook or through other social media channels
– Volunteer
– Other

(2) After the user signs up, what engagement (above) is promoted on the thank you landing page? Choose only one. Write copy related to the campaign that drives the user to that engagement.

(3) Should there be an email autoresponder set up that launches immediately after someone signs up? Yes or No.

(4) If yes, what engagement (above) should be promoted in the email? Choose only two. Write copy related to the campaign that drives the user to that engagement.

(5) Do you want new leads to receive your general welcome series? Yes or No.

(6) If no, do you want new leads to receive a specialized welcome message or series? Yes or No.

(7) If yes, what content do you want to create (see engagements above) to keep them interested and to introduce them to your broader work? Write copy related to the campaign and then connect it to the broader mission.

(8) When do you want them to enter your regular stream of communications?

(9) How do you want to segment them going forward in your stream of communications?

Your lead generation campaign is only as good as your follow up content. It’s crucial to think through the whole process prior to launching to ensure your best results.