Prospects vs. Leads vs. Customers

For anyone new to email marketing, I just wanted to give a fairly quick article on the difference between "prospects", "leads", and "customers". More specifically, I'm going to talk about them with regards to email marketing.

Leads: A lead is someone who has no previous affiliation with your products, service, etc. So when someone visits your landing page for the FIRST time, they are considered a lead...that is, until they actually DO something (like opt-in to your email list or click on something, etc.)

Prospects: The people who actually opt-in to your email list. These people are now "pre-qualified" to buy your stuff. It doesn't necessarily mean that they will, but there's a higher chance (since they've warmed up to you).

Customers: As the name implies, these are people who have actually bought something from you. Once a first time customer, your goal should be to make them a second time customer, etc etc.

The nomenclature isn't all that important. The important thing is that you understand the principles driving this process: someone off the internet who's NEVER heard of your product or service won't be very likely to purchase something from you. However, they WILL gladly take a free eBook (in exchange for their email of course).

At this point, you can use an auto-responder series to keep them engaged with high value content until you're ready to offer your product.