Whether you’re running a traditional lead generation campaign or testing how to collect leads without landing pages, the end result is the same: you’ve got a lot of leads to follow up on! Remember, lead generation is only half the battle, and then lead nurturing comes into play.These leads have expressed interest, but they’re not your customers—yet. But you can convert them into paying customers quickly with the following lead nurturing tips.
1. Follow Up Fast
Ideally your new leads are immediately receiving an email. This requires linking your CRM to your lead generation campaign, whether it’s on Facebook or other websites. Can’t make that work right now? Include a confirmation screen in your ad and send the initial email to leads as soon as possible to start the lead nurturing process. Within 48 hours is best, and try not to go longer than a week. You don’t want your shiny new leads to forget about you!
2. Deliver On Promise
Chances are your lead campaign included an offer of some sort. Whether it’s for more information in a free ebook,a complimentary consultation or free shipping, you need to provide what was promised in the first email communications with your leads. If you’re sending automated, immediate emails it’s OK to wait until the second email to include the offer. Just don’t wait too long to send that second email, as it’s the first “real” message from you and sets the tone for your potential relationship with your leads.
3. Personalize Your Emails
Depending on how you acquired these leads, you may have a varied amount of information on them. But if you asked for first name, now’s the time to use it! Most email programs allow you to tether a name to an email address and automatically personalize with each send. If you don’t have actual names you can still tailor your lead nurturing email campaign to the ads or website the leads came from. Any type of personalization you can do will help remind leads how and why they gave you their information and move them through the funnel.
4. Retarget Outside Of Email
Lead nurturing doesn’t have to rely exclusively on email, either. Target users who submitted their information with subsequent ads that will lead to sales or increased brand affinity. Just make sure to keep frequency and CPM or CPC low to avoid blowing your budget. Email should still do most of the heavy lifting of lead nurturing, but a few well-timed ads can go a long way.
5. Email Frequently
Depending on the cost and complexity of your business offering, you’ll likely have to email your leads more than once. Even after a successful lead nurturing campaign turns lead into paying customers you’ll want to keep in contact for potential upsell opportunities and repeat purchases. Don’t let more than a week go by without an email from you while you are actively nurturing leads, and two weeks once they have converted to customers.
6. Include Sharing Features
Referrals are another great way to increase the value of a lead without asking them to open their wallet again. Think about it: you’ve already paid to acquire that lead, and hopefully converted to a customer. Clearly they were interested in your initial offer, so it stands to reason they know others who might, too. Make your email and content easy to share with others and reap the benefits of your lead nurturing campaign.