Free field guide · worksheet included
Lead follow-up audit guide
Find where enquiries stall. Check seven handoffs from a page’s promise to a useful response, with an evidence log you can download.
No signup required. The worksheet is a blank template. Examples are illustrative unless explicitly identified as observations.
Check handoffs, record observable failures, and prioritize a repair. This guide does not automatically inspect a website or estimate lost revenue.
Define the scope before testing.
Pick one offer, entry page, enquiry route and owner. Start with your own approved test data. Obtain permission before sending test enquiries to another business. Record date, device, browser, expected result, observation and evidence. Keep screenshots and contact records private.
Separate a confirmed failure from a handoff you could not observe. A failed request alone does not prove a general outage.
Check seven handoffs.
| Handoff | Check | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Promise → page | Offer and next step match the source message. | Source and destination URL |
| Page → form | Fields are clear and mobile-friendly. | Sanitized test record |
| Submit → confirmation | Success follows acceptance; errors support recovery. | Status and visible message |
| Form → CRM | One record with correct source and consent. | Private record reference |
| CRM → owner | Assignment and notification are actionable. | Owner and timestamp |
| Owner → response | Reply is useful and matches expectations. | Timestamp and approved excerpt |
| Response → outcome | Qualification, booking or closure is recorded. | Outcome and next step |
Test success and recovery.
Try one valid submission and one recoverable error, such as a missing required field. Check the narrow mobile layout and keyboard navigation. Verify that duplicate submissions do not create unexpected duplicate work.
Distinguish email provider acceptance, inbox receipt, and a human response. A form’s success message is not proof of inbox delivery. A CRM contact is not necessarily an assigned enquiry.
Prioritize with evidence.
Put a reproducible blocked submission ahead of a cosmetic preference. For each finding, write user impact, observed frequency, confidence, owner, proposed repair and retest. Mark inaccessible handoffs “unknown.” Do not present guessed missed leads multiplied by guessed customer value as lost revenue.
An illustrative finding.
Fictional example, not a client result: the form creates a record but assigns no owner. The visitor expects a reply, while nobody receives an actionable task.
Repair hypothesis: define an assignment rule and fallback owner. Retest the same route, check assignment, and exercise the fallback with an approved test. Close the finding only when the full handoff is verified.
Deliver a useful repair brief.
Include a journey map, finding log and prioritized repair list. Each action needs an owner and a verification step. Keep access limits visible. An audit is a diagnosis; implementation and monitoring need their own scope.
If AI summarizes findings, provide sanitized observations and require evidence references. A person must approve priorities and outbound messages.
See a documented publication.
The four-site resource release case study shows how this guide and three related resources were published and checked, with the limits of those observations.