Companies that excel at lead nurturing emails generate 50% more sales-ready leads.
Lead nurturing is an internet marketing strategy using automated processes to help cultivate strong leads for your business’ sales force. Building lead nurturing sequences seeks to, in effect, warm a prospective client’s seat to avoid the typical awkwardness associated with a cold call experience and offers significant time and cost savings to a sales operation.
Lead Nurturing Strategy
The core components of lead nurturing are referred to as sequences, which are a series of steps or interactions that guide perspective clients to a position where they will be most receptive to your business’ offerings.
The most common method of building lead nurturing sequences is to create a series of automated email messages (usually with in lead nurturing software) offering real-time engagement based on the client’s perceived needs.
Sophisticated nurturing uses website visitor tracking, lead-scoring, and trigger based emails to develop continued interaction with clients.
The more targeted your information is, the better the overall results. It is not uncommon to have several different lead nurturing paths depending on what product or service a client is actually researching.
Great Lead Nurturing Emails:
- Are Personalized
- Educate and Help
- Allow an Opportunity to Connect (Social Media, Phone, Email…)
- Re-Engage with “Lost” Prospects
- Offer a Next Step
What Does a Lead Nurturing Campaign Do?
According to Gleanster Research 50% of leads are qualified but not ready to buy.
On average, only 25% of on-line leads are legitimate.1 Lead nurturing campaigns help separate serious prospective clients from the looky-loos, curious or totally confused. Building lead nurturing sequences allows your company to follow an automated process to pre-qualify candidates in a way that saves your sales staff valuable time and resources from chasing after lost causes.
Top 6 Reasons to Invest in Lead Nurturing include:2
- Increase the Number of Sales-Ready Leads
- Increase Sales Productivity
- Increase Revenue
- Increase Relevance of Marketing Communications
- Increase Collaboration Between Marketing and Sales
- Increase Marketing Effectiveness
Why Use an Automated Process Instead of Individual Attention?
Some services, like tax accountants, have annual cycles where they can literally project when the average client will be making important sales decisions.
, and automation ensures that you stick to a timetable. There is no magic formula that applies across the board; your timing should be based on industry-specific needs.
People call a plumber as soon as they need one, but tend to ease into most business arrangements. Many large-scale operations have a lead generation period of 18-24 months. Many smaller products or services have smaller lead generation periods of a few months or weeks. And, some services, like tax accountants, have annual cycles where they can literally project when the average client will be making important sales decisions.
What lead-to-sales timeline does your business run on? Cultivating input from experienced members of your sales team can add invaluable insight at this stage when you begin building lead nurturing sequences.
Why Should I Use Software for Building Lead Nurturing Sequences?
When done correctly, a lead nurturing system is difficult to do without the help of software. A lead nurturing software program walks you through the process of identifying specific content, messages and calls to action for each prospective client’s needs.
Key components to look for in lead nurturing software include easy integration with your on-line presence, usability and management ease. As you track your on-line visitors’ behavior and lead generation success rate, you will want to refine your strategy at many points along the way.
Including personal emails at any time during the sequence is a welcome strategy. Not all lead nurturing emails need to be automated.
Who Actually Sends My Lead Nurturing Emails?
Pay close attention to the who, what, when and where. One of the most important components of lead nurturing is building thought leadership and trust with prospective clients. If you have a relatively busy and inaccessible CEO, don’t put his or her name in the “from” email field.
Conversely, if your social media or web outreach staff are young newbies still learning the industry, it may not be appropriate to list them as your contact person either. Choose a representative that can help meet the lead’s identified need. It is okay to have several different point-people for different business aspects.
What Should My Lead Nurturing Emails Look Like?
Every email that avoids a spam folder gets at least a cursory glance. Write a strong, compelling subject line and make the point of the email easily understandable within moments of being opened. Prospective clients should instantly be able to identify the problem you’re fixing, service you’re providing, or value you’re offering them.
76% – The percentage of top performers (compared to 39% of everyone else) utilizing lead nurturing campaigns. – Gleansight Lead Nurturing, December, 2010
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1Lead Nurturing Gleansight, Q4, 2010
2Lead Nurturing Gleansight, Q3, 2010
