Lead Nurturing: What It Is and Why It’s Important to a Successful Campaign
Lead generation insights tell us that 80% of new leads do not become buyers.
Why do these leads never translate to sales? They do not know that they need your product or service.
Mass email campaigns send out generic information that does not address their specific needs, so they decide your company is not for them (even if it is). So how can you get through to these leads and generate more conversion?
It would be best if you had a lead nurturing strategy.
Ready to start following leads instead of letting them fade into the distance. Follow along to learn what lead nurturing is and how you can use it to facilitate more successful email campaigns.
What Is Lead Nurturing?
Nurturing your leads is the relationship-building practice that guides your consumers from the initial interaction to purchasing your product or service.
When you send generic emails out to every lead in your system, you become background noise, and your messages do not get opened. This approach is ineffective and unengaging.
A nurturing approach uses the information you know about your consumer’s behavior to send targeted content that reinforces your relationship with them at each stage of the buying funnel. This technique drives lead generation and allows you to communicate with your audience in a way that recaptures their attention and builds trust in your brand.
Why You Need It
Your customers do not want you to keep bothering them with unhelpful information. We hate to tell you, but that is precisely what your generic emails are, unhelpful and unwanted.
When you take steps to nurture your leads, you can provide more relevant information based on where they left off. Each stage of the funnel will give you insight into where you are losing people and taking steps to draw them back in.
When they stop engaging at certain points, you can send a custom email that will recapture their attention and address the problem that prevented them from continuing. You will be able to answer their questions and address their concerns so that they can make it to purchasing.
Because you helped them at each stage, they will feel more connected to your brand and develop a level of loyalty due to increased trust and awareness.
This connection will result in less stale leads and more meaningful relationships.
How To Implement
Nurturing your leads is so effective because consumers’ questions are answered as they come up, and the interaction is continually reinforced as they go. This option means that they can take the journey at their speed and receive relevant emails as they go.
Here are the critical components of this system and how you can use them.
Automate your approach
Develop customized emails that will be sent out at crucial points based on the consumer’s behavior.
Sending out content to entire subscription lists by hand will cause you to send only one or two formats to groups. Instead, use a system that can track where a consumer’s last interaction took place and send out the right email for that stage.
Automated email systems will gather information and insights that you can use for future campaigns and better understand your audience.
Understand Their Behavior
If your lead follows a link from your email but doesn’t continue to the next step, what is it that is stopping them?
Understand what is getting in the way and provide answers to the questions they have. If your customers discontinue because they do not think they need your product, show them why they do.
Gather information to see where these roadblocks happen and develop solutions to provide your leads at these steps.
Know How You Fit
What are your customers already using, and how can you compliment their existing system? Making your product or service fit into their life is an essential element of creating demand.
Understand what they are doing to create engagements surrounding how you are helpful and what problems your service can solve for them.
Speak Their Language
Get on their level and engage with them in a way that drives the conversation. Do not get overly technical with your explanations. If they do not understand what you are talking about, they will lose interest and tune out.
On top of this, if they know exactly what you do, they can associate value with your business.
You will want to develop a voice that is consistent with the ones they already enjoy and follow. This voice will make you feel familiar and friendly and encourage them to interact with you.
Lead Their Journey
Define key buckets that they will land into and customize your approach for each of these levels.
They will likely be stuck at one of four stages, which are awareness, interest, decision, and action. Guide their journey at each point by addressing where they are and bridging the gap to the next bucket.
Are they aware of a problem but are not seeking a solution, let them know why they need a solution. Now your customers want the answer, but they do not know what it is. Provide them with the details they need to get the solution, and so on until they are ready to take action.
Personalize for Behavior
Create the next step and follow up for every stage of their journey based on how they reacted to the previous one.
For example, if they fill out your contact form, send out an email with a downloadable file for information. After a few days, action your next step by determining what they did with your last email.
If they downloaded the link, ask them how they felt about the ideas, and encourage feedback. If they have not downloaded it yet, send a friendly reminder with the link easily accessible.
Finding Leads and Maximizing Campaigns
Now that you know the key ingredients to a successful campaign, you can utilize these tips and tricks to focus your efforts and implement lead nurturing. From improved engagement to increased revenue, your customers and your profits will love this approach.
Ready to start following leads and growing your business? Get in touch with us today to discover the best email marketing strategies and maximize your campaign success.