Leads and Reports Overview

What is lead classification?

Quality leads are the key to online marketing success, and a system for classifying those leads in order to improve your marketing process is critical. Without tracking the details about your leads, you can’t connect your marketing efforts back to your actual revenue. This is why DSS provides an integrated solution for classifying all of your leads to see which kinds of leads are turning into cases or patients and where they are coming from.

How do I classify my leads in DSS?

You can classify your leads in three different places:

1. Leads & Reports > Leads by Date - This is where you normally view all of your web leads.
2. Leads & Reports > Leads by Offer Forms - This is where you can view leads specifically by type of form filled out.
3. Contacts > Edit Contact - This would be an individual contact in your CRM (non-CRM users don't have this option).

 In each of those sections, you will see your lead list:

Each listing has a set of actions that you can utilize:

1. View Lead Details: This icon will open the full record for that lead with all of your form and visit information for the lead. The information can also be accessed by clicking on the lead type under the “Details” heading:

1. Add or Edit Your Lead Classification : This icon will open a lightbox where you can provide the details about your lead after you have contacted them (more on that in a minute). You can also access the lead classification feature by clicking any of the links under “Type,” “Score,” “Source,” or "Action":

1. Block this Email : This icon will block the email address of the lead so they cannot contact you through your website again.

2. Delete this Lead : Removes the lead from your lead report entirely (this should only be used to remove leads generated through testing or internal procedures; even if a lead is bad you should still track it).

3. Edit this Contact: Though it does not have its own icon, you can easily jump to an individual contact record by clicking on his or her name.

When you click to classify your lead, the popup you see will have eight different fields that can be modified:

1. Lead Type: The list of "lead types" is automatically generated based on your website's service areas.
2. Score: 1-5 star rating system with 1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest so you can score each lead based on how good it was. Typically a 1 would denote a spam lead or something totally unrelated, and a 5 would be used for leads that turned into a case or patient.
3. Source: This categorizes where the lead came from - the options include Internet, Past Client Referral, Friend/Family Referral, Direct Mail, Phone Book, TV, Print Ad, Radio, Billboard, Returning Client, and Other. 
4. Action: This is the action taken by you after the lead was contacted, e.g. the case or patient was taken, referred out, denied, just a general lead, pending more information, or maybe it was just spam.
5. Action Date: This field should be filled out with the date you were in contact with the lead.
6. Action Note: Anything goes! Any information related to classifying your lead that isn’t captured in the other fields can be added here.
7. Closed Date: This is when the case was officially closed.
8. Value: This is the monetary value to your company of this particular lead.

Updating Emails That Receive Lead Notification

In DSS, click on “Leads & Reports” in the navigation and select “Settings.” You can also select “Settings” from the Leads & Reports dashboard. From there, you’ll select “Contact Emails.”

On the left sidebar, select “Settings” and then “Contact Emails.” 

Here you can add email addresses separated by semi-colons (;) to create a list of who will be alerted when a lead submits a form, comments on a blog post, or provides feedback.

Ok, now let’s get back to the lead notification email! 

How to Use the Lead Notification Email Efficiently

Because many of you start corresponding with clients by responding directly to lead notification emails, we want to make sure your first contact with a potential client is as visually appealing as possible. 
 
To that end, we added the "Reply to Lead" button. This button will automatically open a new email response to your prospect, making the process easier than ever. 
 
In addition, lead notification emails will contain a “View Lead” button and a “Classify Lead” button, which will give you quick and easy access to view and classify your leads.

Clicking “View Lead” will take you to your Leads Dashboard, where you can see all of your leads from that date, and take action. 

If you want to cut right to the chase and classify that lead, select the “Classify Lead” button, and you’ll be taken right into that action. 

This tool can help you track where your best leads are coming from, manage these leads during the sales process, and track the life cycle of all of your leads! 

This tool is a really awesome way to ensure you're getting a return on your marketing investment.