How Good Are You At Lead Nurturing?

If you build it, they will come, or so the adage goes. But when it comes to converting your leads into paying customers, it’s not always that simple. Most buyers won’t make a purchasing decision the first time they learn about you. Like any good relationship, your relationship with your future clients needs time and attention to flourish.

Benefits of Lead Nurturing

That’s where lead nurturing comes in. Lead nurturing is the process of building relationships with your prospects through strategic, targeted communications at all stages of the buying process. The goal is to move your prospects through the sales funnel and make it more likely they’ll choose you when they’re ready to buy. Incorporating lead nurturing into your broader marketing strategy enables you to:

• Build relationships with prospects who may not be ready to buy yet
• Demonstrate your value
• Educate your prospects about what you offer
• Increase trust with future customers

If you’ve optimized your website and built a solid list of leads, but your conversion rate isn’t as high as you’d hoped, it’s time to look at what more you can do to nurture your leads.

Lead Nurturing Tactics That Work

Consistent communication is the cornerstone of lead nurturing. To make a lead nurturing strategy effective, you must first have a clear understanding of your ideal customer and the key decision points in their buying process. Then, you can communicate the right content at the right time using some of the following lead nurturing tactics.

Lead Scoring

Lead scoring is the process of ranking your leads based on their interactions with your business, so your sales team can engage with them at critical points. By assigning value to actions like clicking emails, spending time on high priority pages, or completing a form to request more information, you can identify your hottest prospects, prioritize your sales and marketing efforts, and determine the best way to nurture your leads now and in the future. Most marketing automation platforms can help you implement a lead scoring methodology, but the success of the process lies in your sales and marketing teams working together to decide the best follow-up strategies.

Follow Ups

Customers today have short attention spans and high expectations for a rapid response. In fact, one study showed that you’ll be seven times more likely to have a meaningful conversation with a decision maker if you respond to a website conversion, like a form submission or white paper download, within 60 minutes. That means your team will need to plan for the best follow up approach for each tier of leads in your lead scoring framework, so you can make your initial contact effective and efficient. Your approach should address:

• When to pick up the phone versus when to respond via email
• How soon after a conversion the follow up should happen
• The frequency of subsequent communications

Timely follows up can solidify your relationship and lay the groundwork for future communications, especially if you make your response relevant and personal and take care to avoid making your prospect feel rushed or pressure.

Targeted Content

Targeted content can be a highly effective way to keep your leads engaged, but it can be difficult to get right. You need a thorough understanding of your buyers and their decision making process, as well as an assortment of content to address their needs at different points in their buying journey. Once you’ve laid the groundwork with appropriate content, a marketing automation platform can help you deliver that content to the right audience at the right time. Remember, your intention is to engage your prospects with purpose, so a one-size-fits all approach to content won’t cut it.

Multi-Channel Engagement

Today, it’s not enough to hit send on an email and expect results. While email remains one of the most effective ways to drive customers to your website, it shouldn’t be the ONLY way you’re reaching your potential clients. Since it takes an average of ten contacts to convert a new lead into a closed sale, you’ll need a combination of website content, email, phone calls, retargeting, and social media outreach to engage your leads.

Learn How to Nurture Your Leads Into Conversions

When you implement a lead nurturing strategy, you’re playing the long game. With an eye to the future, lead nurturing ensures that your pipeline remains full of prospects who are learning about all you have to offer, so your company will be top of mind when they’re ready to make a decision. At EmoryDay, our team of marketing specialists understand the most effective lead nurturing tactics for turning your leads into your customers. Contact us today to to learn more.