Forget Lead Generation, It’s All About ‘Lead Nurturing’
There are literally countless articles littering the web showcasing the latest lead generation tips for businesses big and small. Whilst lead generation is no doubt the key to building a bigger, better and more profitable business, nurturing the relationships you have with buyers is the secret to long term success.
Lead nurturing can be completed at all stages of the customer journey. The aim of lead nurturing isn’t just to secure the sales that keeps your business afloat; nurturing uses buyer experiences to improve your company from within as well as refine the products and services that you offer. Lead nurturing is a great route to repeat customers and can have a huge impact on business activities and that all-important customer journey.
The benefits of lead nurturing
Just 36% of modern day marketers nurture leads on their client base’s behalf but there are a whole host of benefits that go hand-in-hand with well nurtured leads. Based on our experience, in comparison with non-nurtured leads, nurtured leads often result in more than 20% increases in sales, over half of which come at a lower cost.
As well as the increased sales opportunities, lead nurturing has also been proven to shorten buyer response times, build thought leadership, identify the interests or challenges that are important to a company, highlight other opportunities for cross-selling and upselling, and maintain or even increase customer engagement. A recent survey found that 66% of buyers actually prefer to shop with brands that maintain the consistent and relevant communication that the lead nurturing process involves.
Creating a lead nurture strategy
Whilst often mentioned in the same breath, a lead nurture strategy will differ greatly to a lead generation plan. The role of targeted content is particularly important during the lead nurturing process. Whether you are looking to improve results and deliver targeted content through personalised email communication or tailored advertising campaigns, delivering the right content to the right people at the right time is the ‘Holy Grail’. With reward also comes challenges however, and marketers report that delivering targeted content in this manner is the greatest trial they face when nurturing leads.
At first glance, a lead nurture strategy is dominated by email marketing practices but multi-channel lead nurturing is possible and can be highly successful. By thinking outside of the inbox and exploring other lead nurturing options, you can effectively build relationships with multiple audiences. Direct mail marketing, dynamic content creation, pay per click retargeting campaigns, social media marketing and marketing automation are all channels that should be explored as part of your lead nurture strategy.
Using these channels to follow up on customer experiences is another must. Leads must be followed up almost immediately, with the greatest results found when contacting customers within five minutes of purchase or enquiry. Contacting consumers within five minutes has been found to be 21 times more effective than following up 30 minutes after conversion.
Nurture leads, build your brand and improve your buyer journey for the better by starting your own lead nurturing campaign. Our expert online marketing consultants and web designers can help you connect with customers long after checkout.
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