We all have them: Zombie leads who invade and spread fear in our marketing databases. Halloween is here and so is the time to talk about "zombie" leads. There are a couple of definitions of a zombie lead:
1. A lead generated by marketing dies because it did not receive the follow-up nourishment from marketing and sales to sustain life
2. A lead gives resemblance of life but in actuality is not interested – you don’t want to waste too much time with them so you need to identify them quickly
No matter the definition, a zombie blurs the lines between life and death – confusing us marketers. Zombie leads turned cold, unresponsive, or shows strange behavior – yet for some strange reason still “live” on in your marketing database.
Talking to marketers from a variety of industries, I have found the majority of marketing departments experience the very real problem of zombie leads. As marketers are asked to do more with less (or the same) resources, it is important that you have processes in place to take care of both zombie types. Start by re-animating dead leads in your current database. These leads have shown interest in your offering in the past and might just need that extra piece of nutritious content to get them back. Then, implement a holistic lead management process that ensures less of your new leads end up in the grave.
If you dare, take a look at our infographic for tips every marketer needs to disinfect the zombie virus from their database.
