A sale is not always simple. We'll go over lead nurturing and what systems and tools it needs to manage and analyze data. When we talk about sources of revenue or generating income, the main two components are customer acquisition and customer retention rate.
May 31 2021 ● 10 min read
Unfortunately, if we do not break down these processes into more specific segments, our agency on their improvement is strongly diminished. Making a sale is not always straightforward. There are some steps that lead to customer acquisition. These are typically marketing, sales leads, sales pipeline, lead nurturing, and then customer acquisition. In other words, by improving any of the following steps, you increase the chance of customer acquisition.
Here we will take a deep dive into lead nurturing, talk about lead nurturing strategy or lead nurturing campaigns, in order to help you improve sales and marketing. Nurturing leads requires you to have a system or a tool for managing and analyzing data, in order to notice patterns, rethink your decisions and ultimately make those sales numbers go up. We also go over some lead nurturing tactics and how to implement them and explain the long-term benefits of lead nurturing.
Given how this is one of the components that can boost your sales, it would be wrong to think about lead nurturing as anything less than a critical business process. Your nurturing strategy or tactics directly impact the success and longevity of your business. This is why targeted content, frequent follow-ups, and multi-channel nurturing are all parts of a successful business.
It is worth noting though that a great number of businesses struggle to establish an effective lead nurturing strategy or to continually adapt their current approach. This is why data analysis goes hand in hand with a lead nurturing campaign. You can isolate and identify tactics that are not working, and then start inventing new creative approaches to this issue.
Basically, this is a unique opportunity for any start-up or smaller business to grow. If there is room for innovation and new approaches to lead nurturing, you have an opportunity to seize the day and ramp up those sales numbers. To help you get started, we will go over some tried and tested methods or tactics for nurturing leads.
Just like with marketing tactics and sales pitches, there is no one size fits all approach. Lead nurturing strategy necessitates knowing your audience and user personas, as well as optimizing your content to resonate with them.
So, the first thing you need to do is break down your user base into distinct buyer personas, and think about content strategies for those corresponding groups. Have a meeting with your sales and customer service teams to have a better idea of what matters to them and what they’re often concerned about. The content needs to appeal to their interests, characteristics, objectives or goals, in order for them to take action. This is just one example of how lead nurturing can begin long before your customers interact with your online store.
It's also important to have a separate monitoring process for each content type. This will come in handy later on when you go over the performance reports and do data analysis of your marketing efforts.
With multi-channel sales and marketing comes multi-channel lead nurturing. Meaning, if you are using social media, like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn, along with your email, Whatsapp, and your live chat on the website, you should ensure that your lead nurturing efforts extend to all of those channels.
This is a result of the evolution of marketing. Nowadays, it's not enough to rely on automated emails, the content needs to be available on multiple sites that your shoppers are using. In other words, a modern lead nurturing program includes a combination of personalized emails, social media marketing, targeted paid ads, optimization of website content. This is what the multi-channel approach is all about. And once again, you can monitor what channel contributes the most in terms of lead generation.
This also means that you can't really separate your sales and marketing team. Have a personalized approach to advertising also means you need to continue with it all the way until the finish line. So these two teams should work in cohesion, which can be tricky if a specific product has two different target users.
This technique is commonly used in telemarking. Basically, we get phone calls on a weekly or monthly basis, in order for providers to gauge our interest in their product or service. This is something that is more prevalent in the B2B community, considering how some services take more time to sell. Because the market is so competitive, and there are so many options available, these are good reminders to leads that you are still available and eager to onboard them.
As stated, there is no one size fits all approach here and different leads or potential customers have different expectations. The idea behind these follow-ups is to figure out what works for them and what's not working. You then discuss how you can bridge the gaps, or address the challenges, and that's how to lead nurturing work in this case. It's easier to use follow-up templates if you don't want to write emails all the time.
Maybe you need to accommodate the price, extend the warranty, remove some sections within the agreement, and, in essence, create a personalized or custom offer in order to make that sale. In other words, even follow-ups can be personalized, since you can pick up the discussion where you left off, and tell the potential shopper that you have accommodated their request, or added new features.
The problem is that you cannot have such a flexible approach with everyone, because it will drain too much time and resources, which is why lead scoring goes hand in hand with follow-ups.
The lead nurturing process can be exhausting and time-consuming, especially if you have accumulated a high number of leads in the sales pipeline. If you are looking at all of them equally, then you are not doing your job right, unfortunately. Depending on the demographic, financial situation, and location, the quality of leads can vary. Some have other options available, some might deem your product too expensive because they don't need all the features you are offering, sometimes a language barrier can prevent you from establishing trust, and so on.
The idea is to have a scoring system for your leads that is tailored specifically for your situation or business model. You need to have a means of identifying leads and determining whether they are more likely to move forward or not. Documenting your interaction with potential clients, either via chat, phone, or email, can also provide useful hints that can be used in lead scoring. Getting to know them is the best way to determine this and to analyze the likelihood of mutually beneficial collaboration.
Here are some examples of things you need to consider when scoring your leads:
Analyzing your success and failure helps you identify patterns that are more likely to yield positive results. So try to find a system for effective scoring, improve on it as you go, and make sure you document all of the interaction with target users.
Performing data analysis on any aspect of the business helps you pinpoint its strengths and weaknesses. In other words, data analysis leads to business intelligence, which is crucial for decision-making. The same is true for lead nurturing tactics, as you will have the opportunity to test different approaches and find those that work and those that don't. Effective lead nurturing means you need to constantly improve and adjust your point of view, which is why documenting and reporting on a weekly or monthly basis is imperative.
We have mentioned how a lead nurturing program needs to include different channels of communication, follow-ups, and lead scoring, so comparing these reports to sales numbers can reveal useful insights. You can see if you are scoring leads accurately and if your marketing strategy is actually generating relevant or qualified leads.
Considering how you are using different platforms or channels for communication and for marketing automation, then it would be wise to use reporting tools that are compatible with those same channels. What this means is that instead of manually documenting everything, you can integrate your reporting tool with your social media accounts, email, Google Ads, and your eCommerce platform. This would allow you to automate report generation and have more accessible materials for data analysis.
One tool that you can use is Whatagraph, given how it offers an extensive array of API integration features for all of the mentioned channels. Moreover, it's a user-friendly tool that anyone can use to visualize data and generate a high-quality report.
Automated lead generation or marketing automation can produce lots of unreliable results and you create unrealistic expectations. To nurture leads means taking a closer look at your target audience and finding out how they actually feel about your product or services. Sales and marketing both benefit from more specific feedback. Knowing how your target audience thinks and behaves helps you have better outreach and increases the likelihood of making a sale.
Considering how lead nurturing also includes lead scoring, you can have realistic expectations in terms of business performance. Moreover, with constant follow-ups and interaction with your users, you get valuable feedback on how to improve your product or services.
You also identify where your marketing messages have the most impact and where you can cut costs. If social media posts generate more website visitors, then double down on those efforts. If lots of non-nurtured leads find you via Google Ads, then change your keywords, or don't invest as much in those ads. You are basically improving your revenue and prospects, by identifying all of the successful lead nurturing tactics within your lead nurturing program. This is because all of that knowledge can be used to create a more automated lead nurturing, and better-optimized buyer's journey.
An example of lead nurturing is personalized email. If a potential customer browses some items on your website, you can capture that interaction and use it to create a personalized email. This way, you incentivize them to make a purchase and you are focusing their attention on the product they were initially interested in, rather than inviting them to browse your site once again.
Another example is a follow-up call that builds on the previous discussion, rather than simply asking if the potential buyer changed their mind. You might need to make some product adjustments or agreement adjustments in order to onboard a certain client. So a personalized follow-up is touching base with that lead, and asking them to reevaluate their decision now that you have adjusted your offer, or added new features.
Lead nurturing is the process of generating sales-ready or qualified leads, via personalized and targeted marketing and onboarding process. This means that marketing teams make it easier for the sales teams to close the deal by generating leads that are more likely to make a purchase. It means supporting potential shoppers throughout their buyer's journey, in the same way as it was advertised. The effective lead nurturing process needs to be coherent and personalized, which is why sales and marketing teams need to be in sync.
Lead nurturing tactics include personalized content strategy, lead scoring, follow-ups, multi-channel marketing and sales, and personalized email marketing.
Published on May 31 2021
WRITTEN BY
Indrė Jankutė-CarmaciuIndrė is a copywriter at Whatagraph with extensive experience in search engine optimization and public relations. She holds a degree in International Relations, while her professional background includes different marketing and advertising niches. She manages to merge marketing strategy and public speaking while educating readers on how to automate their businesses.
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