Have you ever been interested in purchasing a product, but at the time you maybe couldn’t afford it, or perhaps got distracted, making you leave the website? (I’ve been here.)
Maybe some time goes by, and WHACK! You get hit with an enticing email from the company and it reminds you about the product you wanted.
(Maybe they might even say “Hey, you forgot something in your shopping cart.”)
This form of B2B lead nurturing, might actually move you to go back and buy the product, because there was a follow-up or just a reminder that got that re-engagement going.
Without lead nurturing campaigns, companies could be missing out on a number of prospects who would like to convert, but might just not be there yet.
Therefore they might just need a little “WHACK” in the right direction.
Here are some lead nurturing examples that can help you get more qualified leads that convert into sales
What are B2B nurture campaigns?
Without a lead nurturing marketing strategy, you are going to struggle to convert your leads into sales.
Lead nurturing is basically engaging and building relationships with potential prospects, at different stages of the sales funnel in order to get them to convert and buy.
Nurturing campaigns make sure that this happens. The most successful lead nurturing campaigns rely on great communication and marketing efforts.
Zoho Campaigns explains Lead nurturing in a great way. It says: “Your website may be a wonderful platform that provides downloadable eBooks, but it does not mean that every person downloading eBooks will become a prospect or customer.
A report from Gleanster Research says that around half of the leads interested in buying do not commit immediately. Lead nurturing is all about understanding the needs and behaviors of potential buyers, providing them with solutions to streamline their needs, and finally, making them customers.”
What do lead nurturing stats show?
When it comes to B2B marketing, lead nurturing is of utmost importance.
Here’s why:
- 80% of new leads never convert to sales.
- 96% of visitors who view your website are not ready to buy.
- Lead nurturing emails that are personalized get 4 -10 times more the reply rate, than stand-alone emails.
- Companies that are good at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads.
- Email marketing and content marketing are the two most effective lead nurturing tactics.
- 49% of B2B marketers say that articles are the most effective content type for moving leads through the sales funnel.
Here are some more stats from Hubspot on lead nurturing.
Research shows that 35-50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first. (Source: InsideSales.com)
- 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales. Lack of lead nurturing is the common cause of this poor performance. (Source: MarketingSherpa)
- A whopping 68% of B2B organizations have not identified their funnel. (Source: MarketingSherpa)
- 57% of B2B organizations identify ‘converting qualified leads into paying customers as a top funnel priority. (Source: MarketingSherpa)
BUT…
- 65% of B2B marketers have not established lead nurturing. (Source: MarketingSherpa)
AND…
- 79% of B2B marketers have not established lead scoring. (Source: MarketingSherpa)
As you can see if you don’t have a solid lead nurturing strategy in place, you are going to miss out on sales.
It’s not just about lead generation, but rather consistent engagement that will move the prospect to buy.
What should your strategy entail?
1. Always define your target market
At Salesbread, we always make sure to build an ideal list of targets. We do this by looking at patterns of previous prospects who have purchased the service or product within the past 6 months.
By looking at common attributes of buyers, you will be able to build the right list of prospects, therefore ensuring sales.
Some basic attributes are:
- Company Size
- Industry
- Location
- Employee Title
Once you find the pattern, build a list of those who need what you’re selling.
2. Segment and score your leads
You can then categorize your buyer personas. At Salesbread we usually segment our list into 2 categories. It could be by “employee title” or even “industry”. If you are new to lead generation, especially in the world of Linkedin outreach or cold email, try not to make your list greater than 500 prospects per segment.
(In fact, when it comes to Linkedin outreach we suggest only sending 25 connection requests per day. Why? This ensures that your account doesn’t get suspended, plus it gives you time to really focus and personalize your messages.)
By segmenting your prospects, it gives you a chance to increase engagement and the relevance of your lead nurturing campaigns.
3. Create personalized content
When it comes to nurture programs, you have to include personalized content. If you send out thousands of spam emails or generic messages, you will most likely have tons of people unsubscribe from your mailing list.
Create personalized content for your prospects.
For example, with our Linkedin and cold email campaigns, we always mention something personal about the prospect. Something that we can compliment them on; Perhaps they were featured on a podcast or wrote an interesting article? If they have, then be sure to include that in your messages.
You can also send out drip email campaigns that start off with a welcome email, and then emails that move the prospect down the sales funnel, encouraging them to buy.
Remember to always mention how you can solve the prospect’s pain points, and never be a sleazy salesperson that bombards the prospect with “buy now material.”
On a side note: Should you use marketing automation?
We only recommend automated emails if you have a high reply rate. If your reply rate is low, rather send real-time, human-written emails, as this will encourage engagement. People can tell when a robot has automated a message, or whether or not it’s just spam.
Therefore, before using automation tools, get your reply rates up.
4. Make use of A/B testing
Testing your campaigns and optimizing them, it’s also an important aspect of lead nurturing. By doing this, you can see what works and what doesn’t and can change your strategy accordingly. Testing allows you to see which time of day is the best to send out emails or Linkedin messages, or even which messages are working and which aren’t.
If you include each of the above steps when finding new customers, you can be sure that they will slowly but surely move down the sales funnel and complete the buying process.
What are the best lead nurturing channels?
Content marketing
When it comes to content marketing you can share things such as articles, webinars, ebooks, whitepapers, and even emails to capture your buyer’s attention. Marketers make use of Instagram, their websites, Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin to do so.
Email marketing
As mentioned above, drip campaigns can be a great way to lead prospects through the sales cycle. Monthly email newsletters or event-based emails can also help to nurture your leads.
At Salesbread we always make sure that we follow up with prospects 3 times. Most of the time within these few touchpoints, they usually agree to a meeting.
Retargeting campaigns
If you have a list of prospects, and some don’t reply to your campaign or they ask you to contact them at a later stage, you could then add them to a retargeted campaign later on.
This could be a month or 2 down the line, or even six months down the line, depending on their wishes.
Social media retargeting campaigns
Linkedin is an ideal platform for nurturing B2B companies. This is where like-minded businesses go to connect and talk about all things business-related. You could even use things such as Linkedin ads to retarget prospects.
Google ads might be a little pricey, or PPC campaigns, but it’s also a great way to get people interested in your product again.
Perhaps they are busy Googling something and then your ad pops up, reminding them to purchase.
In-person interactions
Covid has unfortunately made it difficult to attend in-person lead nurturing events.
But I’m some areas, meeting in person to nurture leads is still a possibility.
Before an event, it’s important to have a pre-event phase where you email or remind the prospect of the event. This could be 3 spaced-out emails before the event, with a reminder the day before.
This keeps your event in the mind of the prospect, and they might even be inclined to reply to your emails.
Another option is to keep promoting the event on social media. This can encourage your followers to contact you and keep engaging.
During the event, it’s also important to connect and socialize with prospects. By doing this you can create positive interactions for your brand.
Some examples of our nurture campaigns
Salesbreads email sign up for website visitors
When a visitor lands on our webpage, we have a pop-up that asks if they would like to subscribe to our emails. This has been quite successful as our metrics reveal that we have daily signups. These leads are then added to nurture campaigns.
PRO TIP: Have a great landing page for your website. It’s important to ask the visitor to sign up for a newsletter, or you could even offer something free (Such as email templates…)
When you do this, the prospect needs to enter their email address. Because of the provided info, you can then continue to nurture them as a lead, via email.
Salesbread Email Drip Campaign
Here are screenshots of a nurture campaign that we have set up when someone subscribes to our emails.
Email 1
Email 2:
These emails get sent out strategically and include educational content. Plus, they encourage the prospect to reply. There are only a set of 6 emails in this series. Not more. Spamming prospects is never the way to go.
(Ps: Always remember to include a clear CTA that tells the prospect what you want from them.)
Linkedin Lead Nurturing
Linkedin is a great platform for lead generation. It is also an easy way to develop lead nurturing.
How?
Well once a prospect replies to our connection request invite, we will always send 3 follow-ups.
If you are a regular reader of our blogs, you will know that Salesbread uses personalization in each and every message that we send out.
By personalizing Linkedin messages, you can easily create warm leads, lead nurturing, and engagement.
Some examples from other companies
Netflix re-subscription campaign
Some people might cancel a subscription to your product or service for whatever reason. But adding them to a re-subscription campaign is a great way to create engagement, as well as make it easy for them to just resubscribe with a click of a button.
Drifts Welcome Email
The nice thing about the above B2B email is that it’s short and to the point. It also directs the reader to different blogs on their website that are helpful. Plus there is a clear CTA at the bottom.
Do you need more qualified leads?
If you have your nurture campaigns up and running, but aren’t getting any bang for your buck, (leaving you feeling a bit depressed) we would love to help.
Our outreach campaigns include lead nurturing.
How you might ask?
Well by following up on our cold email and Linkedin outreach.
But also by using personalization and building the perfect list for you, so that you target the right people.
Therefore moving them along the sales pipeline, through a positive buyer’s journey.
PS: If you’re not yet ready to partner up with us, no problem, we also offer consulting services (the pricing is a fraction of the cost) and even a free 15 minute strategy session, if you would like to know more.
