As more companies turn to inbound techniques to generate new leads, lead nurturing has become increasingly important. Generally, inbound leads generated won’t be ready to convert into paying customers when they visit your site for the first time. So how do you convert these potential customers into paying customers?
In this blog, we’ll outline some tactics you should be using when developing a lead-nurturing strategy. Employing these will help keep these potential leads in your funnel until they're ready to buy.
1. Lead Scoring
Put simply lead scoring is a methodology used to rank prospects based on the perceived value they represent.
Lead scoring can be undertaken in most marketing automation software. It consists of assigning a numeric value to actions such as social media interactions, on-site behaviour, or email interaction
You can also undertake manual lead-scoring activities.
Start by identifying customers who have earned you the most money within your CRM.
Next, identify those who took the least time to travel through your sales funnel.
Now figure out what these customers have in common, it may be company size, industries, or acquisition method. The factors you use will vary depending on your offering.
Analysing your existing customer base provides insight into the types of buyer personas you should focus your marketing efforts on.
Remember, leads scores do not remain static, lead status can change quickly. Assign actions to take once a certain score is reached to ensure it doesn’t go cold.
2. Invest in the right technology
“It’s already evident that most sales organizations need new tools and processes to meet the demands of the online age.”
This quote comes from an article from Harvard Business Review first published 10 years ago, Professor Oldroyd also reported:
“The odds of the lead entering the sales process, or becoming qualified, are 21 times greater when contacted within five minutes versus 30 minutes after the lead was submitted.”
Today, the “5-minute rule” is widely used as a reference for lead response time. While "tools and processes” that were missing a decade ago are readily available to organisations.
Surely now, leads are being followed up even faster than 5 minutes after reaching out. Well, according to research conducted by Drift, only 1 in 10 B2B businesses were following up in less than 5 minutes.
Don’t let your leads go cold, invest in technologies available that let you connect with a customer quickly. There's a range of tools that allow you to set up workflows or automated rules to follow up on leads for you. Invest in automation or live chatbots for your site to ensure you’re following up on leads in good time.
3. Email Automation (Done Right!)
I know email automation isn’t going to be news to anyone undertaking lead nurturing activities. Email drip campaigns have been a staple of lead nurturing for years.
Marketing automation software allows you to identify, segment and target specific groups based on their interests, goals, objectives, behaviour and more. This allows you to create targeted campaigns to nurture leads with relevant content from the first contact right through to conversion.
Email automation doesn't automate the entire nurturing process. This is where some organisations fall short, letting the term “automated” email campaigns lull them into a false sense of security.
Automated campaigns can be a useful tactic for lead nurturing. However, they should only act as the first point of contact for building a strong connection.
To get the most out of email automation it should be used as part of a wider multi-channel marketing strategy.
4. Use Multi-Channel Lead Nurturing Techniques
Lead Nurturing campaigns have generally consisted of drip email campaigns. In many companies the terms “lead nurturing” and "email marketing" definitions have become blurred.
Email campaigns do play a part in the nurturing process, however, they should make up only a part of your strategy.
The main problem with relying solely on email automation to nurture leads is the limited audience you reach. The number of visitors to sites who opt-in for email updates is low think somewhere between 1-5%. Open rates among those who receive updates (around 21%) make the number of prospects your reach even lower.
Luckily for you, expanding your lead nurturing campaigns beyond email has never been easier! The average prospect receives ten marketing touches before converting, focus on multiple touchpoints to turn your prospects into customers. Effective lead nurturing campaigns consist of a mixture of techniques. Some examples include:
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Email automation
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Quality website content
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Social Media Advertising
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Paid retargeting
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Direct mail
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Sales calls
Lead nurturing is becoming increasingly important for businesses as they employ more inbound marketing techniques. Use this blog as a starting point for your lead nurturing strategy to deliver qualified leads for your sales team.
In our next blog, we will explore marketing automation and discuss automated workflows to fuel your lead-nurturing efforts.
