Your website has been updated, content is working its magic and the leads are pouring in faster than you can do anything with them. You’re doing all the regular stuff, like using email marketing to send them automated messages thanking them for downloading your white paper and giving them access to your newsletter. You’re concerned, however, that there are real, qualified leads among them that you might lose.
This is where lead nurturing comes in, so here are some tips on how to make sure you take care of the good leads until you can close them.
Tip #1: Score the Leads
Lead scoring is a powerful way of separating the more likely leads from those who are simply looking for information or want your free white paper.
It works by assigning points to the various criteria you collect on your leads. Sometimes, that means taking a closer look at the lead’s email address and checking out the name of his or her company’s domain to see where they are located and what line of business they are in.
Leads that you met at a recent trade show, for example, are likely hotter possibilities than those who work for companies overseas. It may require some customization of your contact form, but once it’s done you can forget about it while your automated system does the rest.
Tip #2: Segment the Lists
- No matter what email marketing program you use, the chances are good that you can segment your lists. That means you can send different email messages to your different categories of leads.
- Target the different groups of prospects with content that’s specific to them. This will improve your click-through rate and ultimately your conversions, reduce the number of unsubscribes and generally give your site a better ranking in the search engines.
- Nurture your best leads by identifying who they are and what makes them tick, adding them to a list segment and then sending them relevant emails.
Tip #3: Integrate with Content
There’s no point in directing your leads to boring landing pages. That’s fine while you’re trying to attract leads, but once you’ve captured them and your focus is on lead nurturing, you have to give them more than that. Segmenting your lists is the first step, the second is to integrate the various emails with content specific to each market segment. According to MarketingSherpa’s Landing Page Handbook, just under half of all email clicks go to the business’s home page! How much more likely are they to become customers if you direct them to content that’s specifically created for the market segment?
Tip #4: Map Emails to the Buying Cycle
This is also something you probably need to enable your contact form to do, but if you can identify where the prospect is in the buying cycle, it will help you align your email marketing to each stage
If they are in the comparison phase where they’re evaluating your product or service against your competitors, sending them introductory emails isn’t going to win them over. You’re just going to look inefficient and disorganized! At that point, you want to be offering a free consultation, a no-obligation price estimate and video testimonials from satisfied clients.
Nurturing leads through email marketing is a delicate process and one that needs careful customization for each group of prospects. And if you don’t have the time for this process, hire an email marketing company with the expertise to take care of your leads until you can convert them.
