Alan DraperAn effective lead nurturing program will move cold or poorly-rated leads through your funnel. In a lot of cases, leads enter CRM systems with sparsely filled in details or indicators that they aren’t a right fit right now. The concept behind nurturing is to keep all these leads in your system and send them content to entice them to fill out forms that gather qualification information and track engagement with your brand so you can score them properly. Nurturing programs should also keep the poorly scored leads in your system so you can stay top of mind in case their needs change.
The ultimate success measurement of your lead nurturing program is your conversion rate, but the most effective ones will also:
- Increase trust
- Build loyalty
- Provide timely content
- Be action-oriented
- Stay within your budget
A strong lead nurturing program needs a powerful content strategy. Your program could contain white papers, email newsletters, multistreaming videos, and preferably, all of the above. In email content, video typically receives the highest response rates.
The trickiest part of lead nurturing is ensuring that you don’t turn off your prospects with unwanted spam. The average email user receives 112 emails each day. Do you have time to read and engage with 112 emails every day? If you don’t, neither do your prospects. Target your nurturing programs as much as possible.
Create separate nurture tracks for leads based on how they interact with your brand:
- Preferred communication style
- Online and offline activities
- Social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
- Source of origination
Set your programs to launch the moment a lead interacts with your system. For example, if a lead downloads a white paper, send them a thank you tweet or email offering another piece of content. Schedule your track to hit prospects at a regular basis. Unless they’ve opted in to receive daily emails, don’t send them daily emails; send them weekly emails, and make sure to include quality content about a topic in which they’ve expressed interest.
If you have a strong online presence, you’ll generate a large volume of unfiltered leads, and nurture tracks can filter those leads and move them through the sales funnel. Your online presence can be your business website, blog, marketing articles, videos, social media accounts, and/or updates throughout the online world.
We’ve put together a few tips for keeping your website in top form to capture leads:
- Viewers read from top to bottom, left to right. The most important real estate on a page is top left.
- Regular updates to your website and blog will improve trust, confidence and loyalty in your company. Offer reliable and consistent information. No one likes seeing or hearing outdated information.
- Leave an area for comments from viewers. Reply to questions and/or concerns as soon as possible to nurture your leads. Knowing you care increases trust and confidence – key components of beneficial relationships.
Over 50% of leads consist of sales prospects that are hesitant or not ready to buy. Maintain a steady stream of communication, and you’ll be top of mind when they are ready to buy.
This article was written for Business 2 Community by Alan Draper.
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