The Basics of Lead Nurturing [INFOGRAPHIC]

Qualifying leads no longer has to be a tedious task for your team. Lead nurturing campaigns automate the entire process for you.  

This means your emails to leads will always be relevant, your sales pipeline will have fewer leaks, and you?ll have more time to focus on projects that matter. 

Sounds good, right? 

Lead nurturing campaigns are automated processes that send a set of messaging or content to sales leads at the right moment to guide them through the sales cycle.  

Here are some of the advantages lead nurturing campaigns can provide your team: 

• Consistently “touch” leads in timed intervals to send relevant information
• Respond to actions, or other parameters, taken by your prospects
• Free up valuable marketing and sales resources without neglecting your prospects 

Want a deeper look at lead nurturing? 

Check out our infographic below to showcase what you can do with lead nurturing campaigns! 

This post was originally written and posted by Matt Wesson on August 22, 2014, and updated April 2020 by Crystal Garrett. 

Infographic (Text Version)

The Basics of Lead Nurturing

Lead nurturing is the process of automatically ?dripping? relevant content to prospects or customers over a period of time, based either on user action or a predefined time interval.

Benefits of Lead Nurturing

Timely Information

Be relevant: Deliver the right information exactly when your users need it. The content delivered through nurturing programs is triggered by how a user is interacting with your brand and where they are in the sales cycle.

Hotter Leads

Create Leads: Lead nurturing engages early stage leads until they are sales ready. Nurturing campaigns can provide your sales team with a continuous supply of leads that are ready to close, maximizing marketing and sales effectiveness.

Types of Nurturing Campaigns

Top of Mind Nurture

Top-of-Mind nurtures help keep your leads engaged with your company throughout the sales process.

Education Nurture

Educational nurtures provide relevant information to prospects to prepare them for purchase.

Cold Leads Nurture

Cold leads nurtures are designed to win back the interest of leads that haven?t been engaged for a while.

Deal Compete Nurture

Competitive nurtures give your reps access to resources to highlight the benefits of your offering over a competitor.

Promo Nurture

Promotional nurtures entice prospects with limited-run promotions and special pricing offers.

Training Nurture

Training nurtures can be used for new clients or internally to onboard and move them through training.

Lead nurturing programs can be customized and tailored to an infinite number of uses. Marketers are only limited by their creativity!

Example Nurture Campaign

Nurture campaigns can be employed to more prospects to a sales ready state automatically. Below is an example of how this nurturing process could work.

Flowchart:

• Paid Ad Opened?
  • Yes: E-Book
    • Opened?
      • Yes: Product Demo: Once a lead shows significant interest you can schedule a call.
      • No: Video: Provide engaging content to keep prospects interested.
  • No: Video
    • Opened?
      • Yes: E-Book: Content for a deeper analysis of your product and benefits.
      • No: End of Nurture: Remove unengaged prospects or add them to another campaign.

The example above illustrates one way a nurture campaign can be used to move leads through a journey. Nurture campaigns can be easily customized for any purpose.

Best Practices

Start with Segmentation

Develop a plan around the audiences you want to reach. Group them into segments so you can deliver the right content based on their needs.

Personalize Everything

Tailor your campaign to target each segment with a personalized message. The deeper your segmentation the more personal your message can be.

Design for Your Audience

Design content your audience cares about. By understanding your audience and delivering helpful content they will be more engaged and be closer to becoming a customer.

Test, Test, and Test Again

Test your campaign effectiveness and continually evaluate which aspects are working best. Review campaign goals, KPIs, and metrics like opens, click-through rate, and unsubscribes.