Lead generation is a hot topic, and with good reason—it's essential to company success. Leads are necessary for your business to maintain operations and increase revenue. 

However, what is lead nurturing? Your work is not over when you have the best-qualified leads. After you've obtained them, you must care for or nurture them. This will move them closer to your ultimate objective of getting them to become paying clients.

Of course, lead nurturing is just one part of executing an inbound marketing plan. Let's learn about it and seven effective strategies for nurturing leads and converting them into prospective clients. 

What is Lead Nurturing?

Lead nurturing establishes rapport with those who have expressed interest in your good or service but aren't quite ready to purchase. Lead nurturing techniques may drive prospects through your marketing funnel from early interest to conversion.

A lead nurturing campaign can contact a potential client through various channels and take many forms. Although social media, snail mail, and occasional phone contact might be helpful, email is still the most commonly used method. Your chances of closing the deal will increase by anything that fortifies your relationship with the prospect while they weigh their options.

For a real-world illustration, suppose someone consults with your staff about the product or service but doesn't place an order during the call. You can try to convince the potential lead using SMS messages, an email with a promo code, and a few follow-up emails over the following several weeks. This becomes part of the lead nurturing plan until the lead becomes a prospective client and completes the purchase. 

However, the days when leads used to call and consult about products and services are gone. Today, marketers collect lead information through websites. Whenever a client visits a landing page, you can provide a coupon code in exchange for the visitors' details (name and email ID) and gather the lead information. Now, you can include the lead in your segmented mail list and send follow-up emails along with promotional emails with a CTA button, grabbing your lead's attention and asking them to take action. 

7 Effective Lead Nurturing Strategies

Here are some of the lead nurturing strategies that you can follow to generate more leads:

1. Create a Multi-Channel Strategy.

You are not alone if email marketing is the first thing that comes to mind when you think of lead nurturing. Email marketing is the traditional method of contacting leads, but as you are surely aware, it is becoming increasingly ineffective. 

Should you completely rely on email marketing? No.

Consider employing multiple platforms to assist your efforts. Indeed! 

You may communicate with them using various methods to ensure that your leads are properly nurtured. To achieve the best results, consider communicating with them using a range of channels, including paid commercials, social media marketing, and web push alerts.

Each platform has advantages and weaknesses and varying levels of efficacy and engagement; combining platforms almost always yields better results. For example, creating a custom Facebook audience from your email subscribers allows you to target them with ads easily. This way, even if they don't open your emails, they'll see (and hopefully click) your social media ads.

2. Make Use of Content Marketing.

Lead nurturing works well with content marketing. High-quality content is enjoyable or helpful to your readers. You know the answer to their problem, and you can resolve it by publishing an extensive guide and promoting your service. 

Besides, you can utilize different material formats to extend the help your target audience requires. Blogging does not constitute content marketing; you can also publish different types of content, like: 

• Videos
• Whitepapers
• Infographics
• Case studies
• Podcasts
• eBooks

One of the most important things a business may have is a wide range of high-quality content. Most leads are not prepared to complete the purchase at any given instance. Rather, you must have an approach to communicating with them that doesn't come across as a forceful sales pitch. You can use good content to connect with your target audience, build trust, and convert them into prospective clients. 

3. Focus on Personalization. 

Source

Regardless of the lead nurturing strategy you use, you should include personalization. Consider the email above, which does a fantastic job of tailoring the content to give the lead, in this case, Mattew. It gives the impression that the business is interacting with him directly. The email has his name, is written in direct language, and has highly precise content. 

However, the same email to Mattew would not work the same way if it were sent to a freelancer looking for a project, for instance. Even if the person's name were mentioned in the email, it wouldn't matter, and the campaign wouldn't be relevant to someone looking for a freelancing project. That’s why it is recommended to use intelligent list segmentation in your lead nurturing campaigns to create customized email campaigns. 

Divide your audience and segment your online push notifications, PPC advertisements, and email campaigns according to the important criteria in your sector and sales targets. The segmentation could be based on the visitor's activities on your website, their interests, or a combination of demographic factors. Create campaigns that are specifically targeted at that demographic. It is among the most effective lead nurturing strategies, especially given that 71% of customers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and 76% of customers get frustrated when they don't receive personalized content. 

4. Strike When the Time is Correct.

Once you have gathered your leads, ensure your lead nurturing strategies are set up and ready to deploy. Timing is crucial in lead nurturing, and improper time optimization can ruin even the most successful campaigns.

When is the right time to follow up with a lead? Following up with the lead as soon as possible is best, ideally within five minutes. InsideSales, an old study reveals that interacting with a lead in five minutes instead of thirty minutes increases your chances of converting them into a client by 21 times. 

You are incorrect if you believe you should follow up a day or several days later! After they are gathered, you should get in touch with your lead as quickly as you can!

What happens after that first contact? That time is also important! You don't want to bother your leads by contacting them too often, even though you want to ensure they remember your company. Like most marketing campaigns, success depends on striking the correct balance. A weekly follow-up is likely too infrequent, but a daily contact is likely too frequent. Create a basic plan and adjust it in light of your personal experiences. An example of a strategy could resemble this:

• First follow-up: in five minutes
• Second follow-up: after a day
• Third follow-up: after three days
• Fourth follow-up: after five days

What works best for you might be determined by your target audience. To effectively nurture your leads, always evaluate your outcomes and make any adjustments.

5. Send Targeted Emails.

Email is a lead-nurturing medium that everyone adores. It is infinitely customizable, less expensive than advertisements, and simple to automate. It works for almost every kind of business or product.

Naturally, you cannot simply send a lead many unsolicited emails. That will grow grating. 

The following are some strategies to make the most of your nurture emails:

• Segment Your List By Engagement.

Segment using different criteria, like engagement (who opened the recent email versus who didn't), activity (watched a video, clicked on a product page), or journey stage (new lead versus returning customer).

• Personalize For Relevance

Based on your information about each consumer, such as their birthday, interests, and purchasing patterns, provide each consumer with a personalized email with offers and relevant information.

• Write Captivating Headlines.

Compose clear, useful subject lines to increase open rates.

• Include a Strong CTA.

Include a call to action that explains in detail what your lead should do next (e.g., watch the video, buy now, get your discount).

• Conduct the A/B testing.

You can perform an A/B test to determine which version of your CTA subject line offers the most clicks and conversions.

• Don't Forget Mobile Optimization!

Since 50% of emails are seen on mobile devices, ensure yours load quickly and are easily read.

6. Calling with your phone

Even though it can sound archaic in the digital age, calling a potential customer and having a genuine chat using a VoIP phone service can be a powerful lead nurturing strategy. Here are some essential details of this strategy

1. It is easier to establish rapport and create a personal connection with prospects through this method than through other means.
2. To better understand their requirements and pain points, you can address problems, ask questions, and receive immediate feedback.
3. Making a phone call demonstrates your human side and willingness to put in the time and energy necessary to grow the relationship with potential clients.
4. It's a chance to contribute value by answering the lead's concerns, giving counsel, or sharing pertinent information.
5. You can determine the interest of the prospective lead and proceed accordingly to push them into sales pipelines. 
6. Being organized, considerate of the prospect's time, and intent on offering value rather than pushing a hard pitch are the keys to this strategy.

7. Lead Scoring

Lead scoring is a method for ranking leads according to their perceived value and chance of becoming customers. It is a crucial component of a successful lead nurturing plan. 

It entails giving leads numerical values (scores) based on various traits and actions, including demographic data, business features, website interactions, email engagement, and more. Hotter, more qualified leads with higher scores are more sales-ready and should be given greater attention by your sales staff.

On the other hand, lower ratings suggest colder leads that require more involvement, offers, and tailored content to nurture. Sales teams should use lead scoring to focus on the most promising possibilities and prioritize their efforts.

It lets you automate lead nurturing by using a lead's score to trigger certain actions (such as sending a specific email or assigning a sales representative). However, it's critical to periodically assess and modify your lead scoring criteria in light of changing buyer and business profiles.

Benefits of Lead Nurturing

Businesses can profit greatly from lead nurturing, which has a good effect on several marketing strategy elements. Here are some benefits of adopting lead nurturing tactics:

1. Help Create Targeted Campaigns.

Businesses can develop audience-resonant tailored marketing through lead nurturing, which raises brand awareness and credibility.

2. Identify Pain Points.

Through lead nurturing, companies may determine the problems prospective clients face, enabling them to provide more individualized solutions and raise customer satisfaction.

3. Build Brand Awareness and Credibility.

Lead nurturing contributes to establishing credibility and brand awareness within the audience using individualized communication and consistent involvement.

4. Save Time and Resources with Automation. 

By automating lead nurturing procedures, businesses can save money and time while continuing to communicate with leads regularly.

5. Capture New Leads.

Lead nurturing helps capture new leads by offering helpful tools and information, raising brand recognition, and drawing in prospective clients.

6. Increase in Click-Through Rates.

Successful lead-nurturing campaigns can boost click-through rates by offering pertinent material that entices prospects to interact with the business further.

7. Generate Revenue from Existing Customers

Lead nurturing initiatives can target current clients for upselling and cross-selling opportunities, generating income from them.

Neo: Your Partner to Build Effective and Impactful Email Campaigns

Utilize Neo's email marketing platform to capture and nurture your leads and fill your sales pipeline with prospective clients. When you subscribe to Neo, you can create your professional business email address and start email marketing. It offers many features to boost your digital marketing efforts: 

1. Smart Write: Neo offers AI assistance to draft professional and compelling emails per your requirements. So, you do not need to waste your time drafting pitch-perfect email messages. 
2. Email Tracking: The platform offers a feature to evaluate whether the recipient has read the email. This allows you to gain all the essential insights and segment your mailing lists accordingly. 
3. Set Rules: This feature lets you make rules for your inbox. 
4. Email Campaigns: You can start an email campaign in three simple steps: add recipients, write a plaintext email, or customize an attractive and engaging email template using Neo AI and send it. You can track engagement with Read Receipts. 

Sending bulk emails just became easier with Neo! Besides, if you are a small business or start-up considering establishing your online presence, you can build your one-page website for free with Neo. You can utilize Neo's email address as the webpage's domain address and launch your website with email-integrated forms and social media handles! 

Conclusion

In today's competitive environment, proper lead nurturing is critical to marketing tactics. With appropriate lead nurturing tactics, businesses can develop significant connections with their leads, offer value at every stage of the customer journey, and eventually increase conversions. 

The strategies include personalized email campaigns, content marketing strategy, social media engagement, marketing automation, webinars and events, lead scoring and segmentation, and follow-up strategies. It is critical to comprehend your leads' particular requirements and preferences, customize your correspondence to suit their demands, and maintain constant contact with them during their buyer's journey. Businesses may create enduring relationships with their audience and achieve long-term growth and success by prioritizing nurturing initiatives and utilizing these tried-and-true strategies.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How to create a lead nurturing process?

In five simple steps, you can create a lead nurturing process: 

1. Understand the customer journey to become a prospect to a customer. 
2. Set up lead nurturing tools, like CRM or lead management software. 
3. Create content for each phase in a customer journey. 
4. Establish a process to share your content through email or social media. 
5. Track your results and connect with a lead who shows interest. 

2. What are some of the best lead nurturing channels?

Some lead nurturing channels are SEO, content marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, and paid search. 

3. What is AI lead nurturing?

AI lead nurturing is the process of utilizing artificial intelligence to automate and optimize the lead nurturing process. It can be utilized for customer behavioral analysis, personalization, lead scoring, automated communication by sending up follow-up emails, and predictive analysis.