Which take time to develop. It’s no different when it comes to developing relationships with potential buyers who have expressed an interest in your content and business.
Most leads don’t know you well enough yet to decide whether they want to invest in a relationship. It’s your job to convince them that you’re worth their time, and you can do that by investing in them.
Lead Nurturing Best Practices that Will Build Relationships with Leads
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- Start Immediately
There’s no rule that says you have to wait until prospects express purchase interest to start lead nurturing. You can begin as soon as the lead subscribes to your blog or newsletter and send helpful information and tips. Once the lead engages with your content, they can be funneled into a more personalized email campaign based on activity history.
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- Personalize Your Message
Impersonal email blasts are often unsuccessful because potential buyers want to be recognized as individuals. Personalizing the email can be as simple as adding their name to the greeting at the beginning or including details about their company or location. Including the name and picture of someone in your sales department also adds a nice touch.
But marketing automation software can also be used to personalize content based on past interactions with you. For instance, you could provide them with two links to blog posts you’ve published–one about tips on buying (what you sell) and one on other options to what you sell and the pros and cons. If they click on the first one, you know they’re interested in buying (albeit it might not turn out to be from you). If they click on the second, they’re still weighing their options. Then you can tailor your messaging accordingly.
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- Be Brief
As with most messages, being concise is important. You want to grab your lead’s attention so that within a few seconds they recognize the offer’s value. Too much information is not only ineffective, but you also risk losing your lead.
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- Educate Your Leads
Throughout the lead-nurturing process, you should inform your leads. When they first connect and become aware of what you offer, you should include links to blog posts and provide the latest industry trends and statistics in your emails. During the next stage—when they are considering your product—invite them to a demo about your product. Finally, when they are close to making a decision, share product reviews and customer success stories. And always include a call to action after your informative content.
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- Don’t Email Every Day
Create an email schedule that ensures your company remains at the front of your lead’s mind but also gives them time to process information. If you email every day, they are likely to unsubscribe.
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- Target Your Audience
Rather than sending every email to every target, segment your targets based on behaviors and interests. You should further segment and create campaigns according to the stage; where your leads are in the buyer’s journey. Segmenting will improve your responses.
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- Re-engage When Needed
If some of your leads aren’t opening your emails, start a re-engagement campaign focused on receiving feedback from them, while also offering them an incentive. This will help convey a sense of urgency and could motivate them to act.
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- Offer Useful Content
Providing valuable content on a particular topic can also bring in many new customers. For example, take advantage of your expertise and offer a free downloadable Ebook or guide on a high-demand subject.
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- Determine the Best Time to Send Emails
Testing is truly the only way to determine the best times to send emails. Again, it’s a good idea first to segment your leads and then track the click-through and open rates, the type of device, etc. to find out the best times.
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- Measure Performance
Measurement is often the biggest roadblock in determining the success of an email campaign. Although there’s no magic formula, you should always track the click-through rate, open rate, bounce rate, forwarding rate, and unsubscribe rate to get a handle on metrics.
Lead nurturing is most effective when it’s personalized to your audience. That’s why there’s no magic formula that is foolproof. But these best practices can give you the foundation to figure out what works best for your ideal customer.
