Automatic follow-up emails for leads from your own website form

The short answer

A good follow-up is quick, sounds like you, and stops. Send the first email within minutes of the form coming in, a second after a few days if you have not talked, and a last one about a week in. Then leave them alone. Three emails is the most a lead who wrote to you once should get.

When each one goes

1. Straight away. Say you got it. Answer what they asked, or say when you will. Ask one question.
2. Two or three days later, if you have not talked. One line and one easy next step, such as a time to talk or a question.
3. About a week in. A last note. Say you will leave them be and the door is open.

Subject: Got your message

Hi Sam, thanks for writing. I have your note about moving your customer list over, and I'll reply properly tomorrow. If you can tell me which tool you use now, I can answer more exactly.

Subject: Still want to talk?

Hi Sam, I wrote a few days ago about moving your customer list. If it is still on your mind, here is a time that works for me: [link]. If not, no problem.

What to avoid

• Pretending you wrote it by hand this minute. Say you got the message, and say when you will reply yourself.
• A pitch. They asked a question. Answer it before you sell anything.
• More than three emails. After that, it is nagging.
• Turning an enquiry into a newsletter. They wrote to you. They did not agree to hear from you every month.
• An email that ignores a reply. Write each one so it still reads right if they have already answered you.

Two kinds of form, two set-ups

On a site you built yourself, Kicklace hears your forms in two ways. Your website and its forms has the steps for every builder.

A signup form (a newsletter, a waitlist, a free guide). Put the Kicklace tag in the <head> of every page, and add data-kl-list with your list's name to your own <form> tag. Your form still does what it did before, and Kicklace only listens. The person joins that list with the sentence they agreed to, and gets the list's welcome email. If the form shows no sentence to agree to, the person is kept but on no list, and nothing is sent until they agree to something. Where your builder will not take the attribute, switch on Catch every signup form instead. If your server handles the form and the browser never sees it, post the sign-up to the events API with the words they agreed to (Events).

An enquiry form (contact, quote, demo request). Use the form Kicklace hosts for you, at kicklace.com/f/<your workspace>: name, email, phone and a message, wearing your name, logo and colours. Link a button to it, or put it in your page with an <iframe>. Whoever sends it lands on your Lifecycle map as a new lead, on no list. The tag still matters here, because it ties the lead to the visit that led to it.

The follow-up itself

On your Lifecycle map, a stage can be the moment somebody fills in your form. Put a sequence on it. When someone arrives at the stage, its first email goes within about a minute. Then add a wait and the second email, and another wait and the last.

An email with no words yet has Write it for me, which writes it from where it sits and what comes before it, in your voice. Change whatever you like. Then:

• Nothing sends until you switch the sequence on, and first Kicklace replays the last 30 days to show who would have got what.
• A test email goes to you alone, exactly as it would arrive.
• Each person gets each email once, and a sequence stops for somebody the moment they move on from its stage, for example when they sign up or pay.
• Tips and check-ins carry Stop these emails, one click.

Replies go to your own email address. Once you send from your own domain, they can come back into Kicklace's Mail instead (Replies and your inbox).

Kicklace only emails somebody who asked, or who got in touch first. A lead who wrote to you can be written to about that. See it in the demo, with no sign-up. Kicklace is free up to 1,000 contacts (pricing). When a lead signs up, the onboarding email template picks up from there.

FAQ

Do I still need the tag if I use the hosted form?

Yes, add it. The tag is what ties a sign-up to the visit that led to it.

Can I keep the form I already have?

Yes. Add the tag and, where your builder allows it, data-kl-list to the form. It submits and shows its success message as before. Where it will not take the attribute, use Catch every signup form or the hosted form.

Will Kicklace email people who never asked?

No. Kicklace only emails somebody who asked, or who got in touch first. There is no way to email a list you bought.