As a marketing agency, you probably send a lot of proposals to potential clients – only to never hear back from them again.

Most agencies send their proposals with the expectation that the prospect will always reply, in writing, to express their interest. And when they never respond, it feels like you’ve hit a dead end.In reality, the potential client might have opened your file multiple times, gone over the details, and even shared your proposal with their managers. But you have no way of knowing because they never told you that they’re doing all that. So how do you get all this information so you can reignite their interest with a perfectly timed follow-up, even if it’s weeks or months later?

Here’s how you can track the interest levels of prospective clients through the proposal you sent them. You’ll be able to know when and how exactly they view your proposal, which informs you how you should follow up with them (scripts included in this article).

Here’s how you can track the interest levels of prospective clients through the proposal you sent them. You’ll be able to know exactly when and how they view your proposal, which informs how you should follow up with them (scripts included in this article).

Overview

Why should you start tracking views on the proposals for clients?

The way your leads interact with your agency’s marketing proposal often reflects their interest levels. You’d want to capitalise on those peak interest moments with a relevant follow up. These moments can happen weeks or even months after your first interaction with a lead.

Are they actively flipping through your slide deck? Did they view it multiple times in a week? Did they suddenly revisit the proposal after months of silence? Knowing these activities is an instant gamechanger.

A lead who has supposedly gone cold suddenly becomes a viable prospect again, simply because you know they spent a lot of time today viewing the files you sent them. The moment they start to show renewed interest, you can jump into action.

So how can you start tracking the views on your marketing agency’s proposals? Things like WhatsApp “blue ticks” or email read receipts only tell you if a message has been seen (and your recipients can disable this feature at any time).

More importantly, they don’t tell you how much time a lead has spent looking at your content, or whether they revisit it weeks or even months later.

Here’s how your agency can use Privyr to track content views – this technique works whether you use WhatsApp, email, or any other messaging apps to communicate with your potential clients.

How to track views on your proposals & identify key prospects from your database

Many marketing agencies use the Privyr app to create and share content with leads and clients, including proposals, scopes of work, agency portfolios, pricing packages, and more.
Privyr automatically tracks your leads’ activities on the content you shared with them via Privyr. You’ll get real-time notifications on things like: when a specific lead opened a File or Page you sent, how many times they viewed it, and even how much time they spent looking at it.

To get started, just go to the Content tab in the Privyr app (mobile or desktop), where you can either upload a PDF file you already have, OR create a Page in Privyr to showcase your company’s marketing portfolio.

Option 1: Upload a PDF file you already have to Privyr

This could be a pitch deck or a pricing kit your team has prepared. Under the Content tab, go to the Files section and upload the PDF file.

Your company’s branding and contact information are automatically applied to the File whenever you send it to a lead through Privyr. No matter how many times your File gets forwarded to other people, your branding will always stay intact, making it easy for more prospective clients to contact you.

Option 2: Create a Page in Privyr with links, images, videos, etc.

Don’t have a PDF file ready to go? You can easily create a Page in the Privyr app to showcase your company’s ideas and strategies for different prospects, or any other content you’d like them to see. Here are the steps:

  1. Under the Content tab, go to the Pages section.
  2. Click Product or Event Page.
  3. Start building your Page by adding a title, description, and images. You can also add website links, file attachments, YouTube videos, and Google Maps. Here’s an example of how your Page would appear to your recipients.
  4. Click Create & Preview once you’re satisfied with the Page you created.
  5. Now you can start sharing the Page with your leads.

Similar to Files on Privyr, your Pages will also have your company’s branding and contact information, applied automatically, no matter how many times it is forwarded.

Privyr Pro-Tip: On Privyr, you can look up the views on your content in three ways. 👇

  1. The first way is through the Client Details screen, where you can see a timeline of how a specific lead has interacted with different Files or Pages you sent them, including the time they spent on the content.
  2. The second way is through the Content tab, where you’ll find an overview of how many times you’ve shared a File or Page, how many leads have opened it, and which leads viewed it multiple times.
  3. You can also see all the clients who opened one of your Files or Pages in the last 7 days by going to the Clients tab > Groups > Recently Active. The latest viewers will be at the top of that list.

How to follow up with leads who show interest in your content

Once you know that a lead is actively viewing and revisiting your proposal, your next step is to follow up with them so that you can start a conversation that moves them further down the funnel of your marketing agency. 

You want them to ask more questions, book another call with your agency, be even more convinced by your service offerings – a follow-up is crucial here, especially because their viewing activities show that they’re at peak interest.

However, remember that there are right and wrong ways to follow up. You should definitely avoid revealing too much about the information you know about them. For example, if you see that a lead has viewed your proposal multiple times in the past week, you SHOULD NOT be sending a follow-up like this:

“Hey Sam, I saw that you viewed our proposal 5 times last week. Do you have any questions about it? I’m happy to walk you through some of the strategies and packages we’re proposing.”

Your lead might think that you’re creepy and block you if you do this. 😅 So what is a more balanced way to use this information to your advantage? 👇

Your follow-up should be relevant to the specific content your lead is showing interest in (e.g. service packages, portfolio, or the proposal for the client themselves). However, it should never give the impression that you closely monitor what they do on your Files and Pages you share with them.

Here are some scenarios and scripts you could use to follow up successfully:

  • When you find that a potential client has opened your agency’s marketing portfolio multiple times in the past week.
    • “Hey Stella, hope you’re well! Hope you had the chance to look at our portfolio I sent last week. If you’re interested, I’d love to share some ideas specifically for your ACME launch campaign.”
  • When a lead that has gone cold suddenly revisits the proposal you sent them months ago.
    • “Hey Sam, Lisa from XYZ Marketing here. Hope all is well! I remembered that Phase 2 Launch of ACME Residences is coming up in 2 months. Would you like to explore how we could help you generate more leads that are looking for luxury residences like ACME?”
  • When a prospective client spends a really long time looking at your service packages for content creation, multiple times over a month.
    • “Hey Justin, hope all is well at Coles Inc. I just wanted to let you know that we’re running a summer promo on our content creation packages until the end of this month. I remember that you were looking for some help with creating content for your LinkedIn company page. Would you like to learn more about the promo?”

Summary

As a marketing agency, you probably understand more than anyone the importance of tracking everything that you create and send, so that you have real data to inform your next steps.

Consider sending your content to potential clients through Privyr so that it becomes trackable. This would add a layer of key information that can greatly improve the effectiveness of your customer acquisition funnel.

Tracking views on your Files and Pages gives you real-time insights into a prospect’s journey in your funnel, which you can then use to personalise your conversations with them.

This would be helpful because your agency’s sales cycle could stretch across months or even years. Your potential clients may not always have the budget to move ahead with your agency immediately. However, as their budgets free up or KPIs need to be met, you would be in a good position to reopen the conversation.The result? More clients won for your agency, even if they never explicitly expressed their interest! Try Privyr’s Content Sharing and Tracking features today.

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Author

Shuni spent way too much time on Yahoo Answers as a child. Now she writes content to help people make better use of software and marketing tools.