We know that businesses rely on leads but, a lot of the time we only think about generating them. There are other ways to improve the number of sales earned from leads. Here's where lead nurturing comes in.
Lead generation is only half the story. Your team can generate thousands of leads but, if they don't close them the effort is moot. That's why nurturing your leads is a must to adequately grow your business.
Not sure what we're talking about? We'll tell you all about it and how you can set up your own nurture campaign. Read on to learn more!
Lead Nurturing: The Essential Guide
Before we discuss how you can set up your nurturing campaign, let's discuss the basics. What is nurturing leads? How can you do it?
Nurturing leads creates a connection with your client throughout the complete sales process. Experts have found that almost 80 percent of new leads never become a sale. That's why you need to set up your nurturing campaign to convert those leads into sales.
If you generate leads but do not nurture them, your sales will end up being more expensive. All businesses are driven by return on investment. To increase ROI, you've to get the right leads for your nurturing campaign.
How to Get the Right Leads for Your Nurture Campaign?
Now, not all leads are the same. When it comes to the leads for your nurturing campaign, the key will be knowing when your customer becomes a buyer. Experts have found that 50 percent of your leads aren't ready to buy right away.
But, how can you know when your customer is ready to buy? If you set up the right pinpointing system, your nurturing campaign will be a success.
Your lead scoring system must fit your brand. You design your business with a customer in mind. Who's your customer? What's their budget?
These are just some of the questions that can point you in the right direction. Any lead scoring system must look at the lead fit, interest, behavior, and overall buying mindset.
Before ever targeting a lead, you've got to make sure they will fit your audience and brand. Do they really even need your products or services? You can know this through measures like analyzing demographics, budget, and possibly business size.
Once you gauge this information, you'll know if they're interested in your products or services. The lead interest is when you track a customer's interest in your brand. Are they engaging with your brand online? How are they engaging? Are they engaging by visiting your website or certain product or service pages? Are they visiting your social media or checking out particular videos? You should establish your system to keep track of these corresponding behaviors.
Their actions will tell you when ready to they'rebuy. Continuous engagement with pricing pages and demos can be a sign that they're ready to buy your product.
Your nurturing campaign will move your customer through these corresponding buying stages. Your system overall will depend on the product and services you offer. You must design your sales funnel to guide your customer thoroughly, as well as make the process simple and easy for them to do so.
How to Nurture Leads?
Nurturing leads can sound more complicated than it really is. Your content marketing nurturing campaign needs to begin once you find the right lead. This content will guide your customer all the way to buying.
Before setting up your campaign, you must understand the buying stages your customer goes through. Experts have found that companies that put in place the right nurturing campaign generate 50 percent more sales. That's why you need to accurately time when you nurture your customer.
Here are some effective tactics to nurture your leads in the right way:
1. Nurture Your Leads on Multiple Channels
Not all customers are the same. That's why to have a successful nurturing campaign, you can't have a one size fits all approach. You must know your lead fits your audience.
But not all of them will engage with your brand the same way either. Some might engage on multiple platforms or only stick to one of them. That's why you must be sure to nurture your leads on multiple channels.
If your current approach is the typical generic email campaign, you need to start thinking outside of just email. Email open rates keep going down, so you need to market on other platforms like social media or possibly even consider items like Google adwords.
It's recommended you develop a great multi-channel approach. It should include a combination of social media, targeted ads, direct sales, and other strategies. You should aim to find a balanced approach that matches to your brand and audience overall.
2. Following up at the Right Time
Like they say, you need to get it while it's hot. Leads aren't an exception to this rule. Your nurture campaign must include following up at the right time.
Most businesses wait as long as 42 hours to follow up on a lead. You should aim to follow up with that lead as soon as possible. An automated follow-up campaign can help you with this problem.
Yet, many customers may prefer a personalized email or phone call. Regardless, you should aim to contact the customer quickly.
But, your team should always utilize a well-researched call or email. Your customer needs to feel that you understand their needs, not that your simply just interested in the sale. This will improve the overall effectiveness of your sales.
3. Sales and Marketing Teams Working Together to Nurture Leads
Experts have found an increase in conversion rates when sales and marketing teams work together to nurture leads. To do this, you must find out when the marketing or sales team is handling the customer. You've got to develop a strategy to integrate both teams in the nurturing campaign.
An example would be how the marketing team engages with the client through social media. Yet, your sales team would start working with the customer when they ask for pricing or detailed information on a social media post.
Will a Nurture Campaign Improve Your Sales?
Yes, a nurture campaign can increase your sales. Lead nurturing is an absolute must to grow your company. If you focus only on generating the leads, you might not bring in the number of sales you're aiming for.
Remember you must generate the right lead and guide them through the buying stages. Every business has it's own needs. That's why you should aim to develop a lead nurture strategy that creates synergy between your teams and fits your customer.
Now you know the basics about setting up a nurture campaign. Want to learn how to generate the right lead for it?
Check out our blog post to learn more.