Lead Nurturing: What is it, why is it important and how do you do it?

Did you know that 80% of new leads never translate into sales? To help something grow, you need to nurture it. Indeed, market research company Forrester reports that marketers see a 20% increase in sales opportunities from nurtured vs non-nurtured leads, and companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at 33% lower cost.

But what exactly is lead nurturing, and what is the best way to effectively nurture leads? According to Marketo, lead nurturing is the process of developing relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel, and through every step of the buyer’s journey. It focuses the marketing and communication efforts on listening to the needs of prospects and providing the information and answers they need.

This can be done through myriad ways, such as targeted content, multi-channel nurturing, multiple touches, timely follow-ups, and personalisation – we break down some of these below:

Targeted content

As the saying goes, one size does not fit all, thus strategically nurturing your leads using targeted content can significantly improve results. But how do you do it? First, you need to identify and understand your customers and their different personas and then create a selection of content designed to nurture each of those personas.

Multi-touch and multiple-channel lead nurturing

On average, prospects receive ten marketing touches from the time they enter the top of the funnel to close of a sale so if you’re sending out a couple of emails now and again then that’s most likely to be the reason sales aren’t coming in. You need a multi-faceted approach. People consume content via so many different methods these days, so it makes sense to take advantage of each of those mediums. Someone who receives a personalised email and a targeted social media post, both of which lead to a website that is relevant to them and features dynamic content, is much likely to become a customer.

Timely Follow-Ups

According to a survey of more than 2,000 US business by Harvard Business Review, salespeople are generally rather slow at following up leads – the average being 42 hours. It also found that salespeople who attempted to reach leads within an hour of a conversion action were nearly seven times likelier to have meaningful conversations with decision-makers than those who waited even one hour. Furthermore, those contacted within five minutes were also 21 times more likely to convert than those contacted after 30 minutes.

Personalisation

Email marketing is still one of the best ways to communicate with an audience – it’s the most direct way to get specific content to a specific lead. Not only that, but research by Experian has suggested that personalised emails can generate up to six times higher revenue per email than non-personalized campaigns. The more personal you can get, the easier it is to build trust and open up a dialogue which could lead to a sale. You can pique the receiver’s interest simply by including their name or their favourite products in the subject line, but why stop there? Why not personalise the imagery, product offering or call to action depending on the customer? For more on how to create a successful marketing campaign click here.

Are you struggling to get results from your digital marketing efforts? Let Air Social Digital Marketing Agency help you with your lead nurturing strategy.