Inbound marketing is a powerful way increase lead generation and create new business opportunities.  To get more leads for your small business, you need to share engaging, information-rich content through your blog and premium content, including whitepapers, ebooks and webinars.  In order to make all your content marketing efforts worthwhile, you need to invest time in lead nurturing and take action.  In nurturing your inbound marketing leads, you will learn more about the specific interests prospects have in your business and then provide them with additional relevant information about the value you can provide via targeted email marketing campaigns.

You should create segmented email lists based on the content that prospects download, the information they provide via your calls to action, and the comments they make about your content.  Once you do this, you will be able to provide targeted, custom-tailored lead nurturing through various email marketing campaigns.  Lead nurturing is the way to move prospects all the way through the sales funnel, get the most from your inbound marketing strategy, and achieve success with your small business.

In order to advance your small business, you need to stay informed on market trends and use your newfound knowledge to take decisive action—tweaking your current inbound marketing strategies.  In order to succeed in a competitive marketplace, you need access to high-quality data, and you need to know how to use it your advantage with inbound marketing.  With access to good data, you will be equipped to beat your competition.  Get data on your side, and attract qualified leads.  Here are 29 eye-opening statistics from HubSpot that highlight the power and importance of lead nurturing.

Lead Nurturing Statistics 

1.  50% of leads are qualified but not yet ready to buy; only 25% of leads are legitimate and should advance to sales.

2.  Forrester Research estimates that only about 5% of marketers use a full-featured marketing automation solution.

3.  Research shows that 35-50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first.

4.  79% of marketing leads never convert into sales, and a lack of lead nurturing is the most common cause of poor lead conversion.

5.  61% of B2B marketers send all leads directly to Sales, but only 27% of them get qualified.

6.  Just 56% of B2B organizations verify valid business leads before they are passed on to Sales.

7.  A whopping 68% of B2B organizations have not identified their sales funnel.

8.  57% of B2B organizations identify converting qualified leads into paying customers as a top funnel priority.

9.  65% of B2B marketers have not established lead nurturing.

10.  79% of B2B marketers have not established lead scoring.

11.  34% of B2B organizations touch leads with lead nurturing on a monthly basis.

12.  22% of B2B organizations touch leads with lead nurturing on a weekly basis.

13.  15% of B2B organizations touch leads with lead nurturing on a quarterly basis.

14.  9% of B2B organizations touch leads with lead nurturing on a daily basis.

15.  2% of B2B organizations touch leads with lead nurturing on an annual basis.

16.  Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales ready leads at 33% lower cost.

17.  Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads.

18.  Companies that automate lead management see a 10% or greater increase in revenue in 6-9 months.

19.  46% of marketers with mature lead management processes have sales teams that follow up on more than 75% of marketing-generated leads.

20.  25% of marketers who adopt mature lead management processes report that sales teams contact prospects within one day.  Only 10% of marketers report the same follow-up time without mature lead management processes.

21.  Companies with mature lead generation and management practices have a 9.3% higher sales quota achievement rate.

22.  Relevant, targeted emails drive 18 times more revenue than broadcast emails.

23.  Personalized emails improve click-through rates by 14%, and conversion rates by 10%.

24.  Event-triggered marketing can potentially save 80% of your direct mail budget.

25.  Lead-nurturing emails get 4-10 times the response rate compared to standalone email blasts.

26.  Lead-nurturing emails generate an 8% click-through-rate (CTR); general emails only generate a 3% CTR.

27.  Lead nurturing emails have a slightly higher unsubscribe rate (1%) than individual email sends (0.5%), which indicate their effectiveness in removing unqualified leads from the sales funnel.

28.  Companies that excel at lead nurturing have 9% more sales reps making quota. (Source: CSO Insights)

29.  Nurtured leads produce, on average, a 20% increase in sales opportunities versus non-nurtured leads.

These statistics illustrate the critical importance of lead nurturing.  Many small business owners get overwhelmed with daily business responsibilities and fail to invest time in the activities that will help their business grow, such as content creation and lead nurturing.  A complete, fully coordinated and targeted lead nurturing strategy is necessary to get the best results and generate new business.  With insufficient time and focus, a complete lead nurturing strategy only becomes possible by hiring an inbound marketing agency. Innovative Marketing Resources is available to help plan and execute successful lead nurturing for your small business.  Increase your lead conversion rate, and rise above your competitors with effective lead nurturing.