Research shows sales require an average of five follow-ups after initial contact. That’s a lot of follow-ups. And in 2025, you won’t get far by sending the typical “Hey, just checking in” message to your leads.
We need follow-up strategies that refocus prospects quickly, shifting them from “no” mode to an open mind ready to reconsider our pitch.
We’ve gathered 13 such lead follow-up strategies here. Use them to keep potential customers engaged and give them even more reason to buy.
Contents
- Review your buyer personas
- Provide value first
- Create virtual communities
- Share personalized videos
- Be strategic with timing
- Set follow-up limits
- Try AI tools
- Go offline
- Get face-to-face
- Offer a freebie
- Tap into the element of surprise
- Engage on social media first
- Use SMS for lead follow-ups
13 lead follow-up strategies to convert more leads into customers
Let’s review some tactics you can use the next time you need to “just check in” on a lead you’ve worked hard to generate.
1. Review your buyer personas
Before doing any more outreach, stop and revisit the ideal customer profile and buyer personas for your product(s).
“This takes a more strategic approach, which involves looking at your product, your ability to service your clients, and what they are looking for,” said David Radin, CEO of Confirmed.
After all, continuing to message the wrong consumers isn’t going to increase your conversion rates.
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2. Provide value first
Think of yourself as a consumer—you don’t want to be bombarded by spam, either.
That’s why it’s important to include something of value in your follow-ups to leads. That could include tips or even relevant studies or statistics.
“A lot of times, we will give clients tips on how they should better optimize their website,” said Carradean Farley, co-founder of Periscope Media. “This value-first approach makes it so we are much more likely to get responses from leads because they can tell we are genuinely trying to help them.”
For his part, Gerti Mema, marketing manager at Equipment Finance Canada, includes interactive features like calculators or quizzes.
Ford Motor Company emailed a quiz to recharge interest in their electric vehicle lineup.
“Rather than sending a boring ‘we are just checking in’ message, we give out something that can be of value,” he added. “This provides leads with justification to interact with them while demonstrating the benefits of working with us.”
3. Create virtual communities
Instead of just sending another email or making another phone call, you can also create niche communities for leads on platforms like Facebook or Slack. An example could be a Q&A subreddit about your product or a Facebook channel for fans of the activity your product supports.
Use IKEA’s strategy and invite your community to in-person workshops to keep leads engaged.
“These groups actually let people speak to each other, share exclusive content with one another, and share experiences,” said Filip Dimitrijevski, business development manager at ClickVision BPO. “What works with this method is giving the customer something permanent and personal. It puts relationships ahead of normal sales techniques.”
James Hacking, chief playmaker at Socially Powerful, agreed these groups serve as a venue to communicate with peers, share insights, and understand firsthand how your expertise addresses their challenges.
“This transforms follow-up into a value-driven relationship,” he added. “Leads enter an ecosystem where they experience your value in real-time.”
An added bonus is that you can use these groups to identify intent for more personalized outreach later on.
“The beauty of this tactic lies in its longevity,” Hacking said. “Even if a lead doesn’t convert immediately, they remain in the community, continuously exposed to your expertise and brand value, increasing the likelihood of future collaboration.”
4. Share personalized videos
Another popular tactic is to include personalized videos in your follow-up to leads.
Platforms like Loom and Vidyard allow you to send 30-second clips addressing specific client needs.
“Creating these personalized videos allows us to forge a more meaningful connection and is less likely to be overlooked by a busy prospect,” said Josef Friedman, director of operations at Kisco Candles.
Disney sends a personalized video to new Vacation Club members, and with AI marketing tools, you don’t have to have Mickey’s deep pockets to replicate the tactic.
However, he cautioned that personalizing content like this requires significant time and resources, so you’ll also want to use predictive lead scoring.
“By focusing on leads most likely to convert, we can make sure the personalized videos we craft yield the highest possible return,” Friedman added.
Mema agreed. “One unique strategy I’m prioritizing in 2025 is integrating hyper-personalized video messages,” he said. “Ordinary texts or emails can easily feel generic, but a short video addressing the lead by name, referencing their specific inquiry and providing tailored insights can make a lasting impression.”
5. Be strategic with timing
To get more bang for your proverbial buck, you may also want to re-evaluate when you send your follow-ups by using a tactic like intent-based timing.
This method uses machine learning to assess a prospect’s behavioral patterns and engagement records so you can time your outreach to when they are most likely to be receptive.
“You can find the best times to get in touch by researching elements including time of day, day of the week, and even internet activity,” said Elvis Sun, a software engineer at Google and founder of PressPulse. “This degree of customizing guarantees that your message reaches the prospect most ready to interact rather than being lost in the mix during off-peak times.”
He noted this approach shows better awareness of the needs and preferences of the prospect, fostering confidence and raising the possibility of a significant relationship.
Make your follow-up messaging timely so it’s more relevant to your potential customers.
Denise Murray, marketing manager of Microdose Mushrooms, agreed the use of behavioral data for timing is wise.
“For leads who engage with marketing materials outside of regular business hours, scheduling responses to coincide with their activity patterns demonstrates attention to their routines,” she added. “An example of this is if someone downloads our guide late at night, sending a meaningful follow-up the next morning that mentions their interaction demonstrates a timely and respectful approach.”
According to Mema, following up at off-peak times, like on the weekend or in the evening, has been a successful tactic.
“These quieter times often allow leads to engage without the distractions of a typical workday,” he said.
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6. Set follow-up limits
Another important consideration is how long you’ll chase a lead.
Benjamin Goodey, founder of Spicy Margarita, has advice he concedes is a bit controversial: Follow up a max of two times as consumers are overwhelmed with information, sick of aggressive sales tactics, and more empowered than ever to do research themselves about products and services they want to buy.
“That’s the process I follow, and it’s effective,” he said. “I only want to work with clients who want to work with me. I don’t want to drag them screaming and kicking into a sales cycle.”
7. Try AI tools
On a related note, you can also consider AI-generated sequential marketing to make timing decisions for you.
For instance, let’s say a prospect fills out a form on your website to indicate interest in your services. With AI-generated sequential marketing, AI will literally create a sequence of messages for a retargeting campaign.
“Imagine you come to a website searching for an ad agency looking to help you sell more hotel rooms,” said Andrew Barrow, founder of Revenue Arc. “Imagine later you don’t just see ads targeting you from that agency, but you see ads specifically calling out how that agency has helped other hoteliers secure more sold-out nights than anyone else in the industry. This is one of the ways follow-ups are going to change in a big way this year.”
8. Go offline
If you don’t want to get lost in the noise online, you can always go offline with your follow-up efforts. Examples include physical mail like a handwritten note or branded merchandise.
A branded coffee mug or T-shirt is a great way to keep your brand top-of-mind with leads.
That’s according to Joy Gendusa, CEO of PostcardMania, who said it’s simple to set up a trigger to mail something to prospects via a CRM platform or an automation app.
“One of my clients started doing this to follow up with unconverted website leads and closed a sale worth $40,000 after sending just 17 triggered postcards,” she said.
Brian Lim, CEO of iHeartRaves, agreed that this small detail can help humanize a brand and distinguish it from the competition at a time when most outreach is automated.
“Leads are more likely to engage with brands that invest in making their audience feel unique and valuable,” he said.
And then there’s this approach from Ryan Anderson, president of Markiserv. He suggests mailing a shoe to a prospect with a note saying, “The reason why I have a shoe in the box is to represent that I have gotten one foot in the door. Please meet with me so I can get the second foot in the door as well.”
9. Get face-to-face
In a similar vein, try to get in front of potential leads at events or office visits.
“That initial face-to-face talk gives you a leg up on the first stages of establishing word of mouth being rapport and trust,” Anderson said.
Festivals and other local events are great opportunities to reconnect with leads face-to-face.
If you are able to get their contact information, you can then add it to your CRM for future outreach.
“From there, if the customer engages with your site, you can then assign SEM or paid social campaigns to their cookie that will help guide them along their digital journey to learn more,” he added. “If they choose to engage further, sales can take it from there.”
10. Offer a freebie
Virtually everyone likes free food. Justin Mauldin, CEO of Salient PR, suggests using this to your advantage when reaching out to prospects.
“Instead of just asking for 30 minutes on their calendar, I’ll send prospective clients a virtual gift card to their favorite local spot—no strings attached,” he said. “I’ve seen response rates go from 10% to 40% with this simple move.”
It works because it’s different from the usual emails about setting up demos.
“In a world of cold calls and templated follow-ups, offering a tangible benefit—like lunch—makes all the difference,” he added.
11. Tap Into the element of surprise
You can also stand out by incorporating personality and/or humor. It’s a great alternative to the usual follow-ups.
“I once sent a lead a voice note pretending to be a game character they loved—it totally worked!” said Marin Cristian-Ovidiu, CEO of Online Games. “Humor builds a connection faster than any sales pitch.”
12. Engage on social media first
Instead of reaching out cold and running the risk of being ignored, you can also interact with potential clients on social media first.
Be like Wendy’s and converse with people online who may be interested in buying what you sell.
“We actively look for education and training businesses operating in our region and engage with their social media posts to build a connection before introducing ourselves as a potential training partner,” Ahmad said. “The response rate is substantially higher compared with sending emails randomly without any prior interaction.”
This, he noted, is because the company has demonstrated a genuine interest in the success of potential clients.
“If you can combine this with AI-based social listening tools, such as Brand24 and Sprinklr, then you can understand the needs of your potential clients at a micro-level and adapt your offers more precisely,” he added.
13. Use SMS for lead follow-ups
SMS marketing is a fantastic method for lead follow-up. Why? Because text messages feel highly personal. Plus, it’s hard to ignore a text when it pops up on your phone.
The trick with using promotional texts for follow-up is to make the message as relevant to your prospect as possible, and that calls for personalization.
There are several ways to use SMS as a lead follow-up method. You can send an extra discount, provide more information about the product, or add a sense of urgency by highlighting a limited supply (here are some text-messaging templates and examples to get you started).
Use these creative lead follow-up strategies
There’s nothing more frustrating when you’re building a business than when a bunch of your best prospective customers go silent. You know they’d love what you sell. They were initially very interested. You just need to motivate them to take action.
These follow-up strategies are here to help. They’ve been tried and tested by expert marketers and sales professionals. So you can start using them with confidence—and hopefully never have to send another “just circling back” email again.
And if you’d like a little assistance filling your lead pipeline and converting more people into paying customers, contact us. We’ll show you how we’ve done just that for businesses like yours.
