Measure the success of your follow-up

At this point, you’ve created a follow-up email sequence to deliver your lead magnet, provide extra value, and collect useful information about your prospect.

But is it working?

In this lesson, you’ll learn:

• What metrics that matter when delivering your lead magnet
• Exactly what to measure and how to track it
• And most importantly, how to optimize your delivery process for maximum impact

Tracking the success of your follow-up emails matters because downloading your lead magnet isn’t the end goal—it’s the first step! in a longer customer journey you’re hoping they’ll take.

Essential follow-up metrics

When delivering your lead magnet, three metrics stand out as true indicators of whether your PDF is fulfilling its ultimate purpose in your marketing funnel.

📥 Download Completion Rate

This measures how many people who submit your lead magnet form actually download your PDF. It’s the most immediate indicator of your delivery system’s effectiveness.

The formula is straightforward:

For example, if 500 people complete your form and 350 people download your lead magnet, then your download completion rate would be 350 / 500 x 100 = 70%

A healthy completion rate should be at least 85-90%. When this rate drops, there’s a problem with your delivery system. Perhaps your thank you page isn’t clear, or your download button isn’t prominent enough, or your email with the PDF link is going to spam.

Each percentage point you lose here represents leads who expressed interest but never received what you promised them!

For example, if 1,000 prospects downloaded your lead magnet and 120 clicked a link in the PDF to schedule a demo, then your CTA engagement rate would be 120 / 1,000 x 100 = 12%.

A strong lead magnet might see 10-30% engagement on its primary CTA, depending on your industry and offer.

⏲️ Length of Engagement

Length of engagement metric measures how long leads continue to interact with you after downloading your PDF. This is critical because the goal isn’t just about getting that initial download; you want to start a relationship that lasts.

You can track length of engagement by monitoring:

• Email open rates over time (are they still opening your emails 30, 60, 90 days later?)
• Click-through rates on subsequent communications
• Frequency of website returns after the initial download

A strong lead magnet doesn’t just capture any email addresses — it captures the right ones. If your engagement drops off dramatically after delivery, your lead magnet might be attracting the wrong audience or failing to properly set expectations about your value proposition.

These three metrics create a comprehensive view of your lead magnet’s performance beyond mere download numbers. They help you understand if you’re not just delivering content, but actually initiating valuable customer relationships that persist over time.

How to improve your follow-up metrics

Let’s get real here. When your metrics show your lead magnet delivery is tanking, you need fixes that work now – not theoretical BS that sounds good in a marketing podcast.

Here are the hands-on tactics that I’ve found boost your follow-up metrics the fastest:

1. Boost download completion rate

If your download rate sucks (and anything below 85% does), you’re hemorrhaging leads you already paid to acquire. Fix it:

• Kill the extra steps. Every. Single. Click. Kills. Conversions. Period. Your path should be form submission → instant gratification. Not form → email → click → landing page → download button → finally PDF. That’s madness. Burn those extra steps to the ground.
• Make your download button impossible to miss. Seriously. Make it big, make it contrasting, make it scream “CLICK ME OR REGRET IT FOREVER.” Your button should be so obvious that your grandmother could find it while wearing sunglasses in a dark room.
• Check your damn deliverability. Your brilliant lead magnet means nothing if it’s sitting pretty in Gmail’s spam folder. Run tests across email providers. If you’re not authenticated with DKIM and SPF, what are you even doing with your life? Fix it yesterday.
• Hit non-downloaders again – FAST. When someone doesn’t download within 30 minutes, hit them with a follow-up. Not “Just checking in!” garbage. Try “Your [Exact PDF Name] is waiting (did you miss it?)” Get specific. Get urgent.

2. Increase CTA Engagement Rate

Getting sad-face emoji engagement rates on your PDF’s CTA? Try these:

• Position your CTA where people are still awake. Page 1? Too soon. Last page? They’re gone. The sweet spot is usually after you’ve delivered enough value to justify asking, but before they’ve mentally checked out. For most PDFs, that’s around page 3-4.
• Your CTA shouldn’t blend in. It should pop like a neon sign in a monastery. If it looks like the rest of your text, it’ll perform like the rest of your text – which means it’ll get ignored. Give it space to breathe. Make it look clickable.
•  Don’t switch topics on them. If your lead magnet is “10 Email Templates That Convert,” don’t hit them with a CTA for your webinar on Instagram growth. That’s relationship whiplash. Your CTA should feel like the next logical step.
• Test different value propositions. Sometimes your offer is solid but your words are weak. Split test with some leads getting “Save 3 hours on content creation” and others “Double your content output without hiring help.” The difference can be staggering.

3. Extend length of engagement

To keep leads from ghosting you after downloading:

• Set expectations in your lead magnet. End with a “What happens next” section that teases upcoming emails. Don’t make your follow-up sequence a surprise party nobody asked for.
• Create a sequence that doesn’t suck. Build 5-7 emails that actually expand on the PDF topic. Nobody downloads your “SEO Checklist” because they’re dying to hear about your Black Friday sale next week.
• Stay in their lane. If they downloaded content about Facebook Ads, your follow-ups should be about Facebook Ads (or at least adjacent PPC topics). Earn the right to branch out later.
• Ask one question at a time. Instead of hitting them with a 20-field survey, use each email to learn ONE thing about them. “What’s your biggest challenge with [topic]?” gets responses. “Fill out our comprehensive profiling form” gets ignored.