Now that you’ve started generating leads without landing pages, the next step is to nurture those leads into converting customers. You started with a desired target audience, then showed them some basic branding ads. That narrowed your audience down to allow for efficient lead ads. Now you’ve collected contact information of those who meet your customer criteria and were interested enough in your ads to offer up their email address—or maybe more. But the battle isn’t quite over. You have a more personalized way to reach them, but you still have to close the deal. That’s where lead nurturing comes in.
Immediate Lead Nurturing
If you’re collecting lead without landing pages, as soon as your prospect hits “submit” on your lead ad, you could start lead nurturing. How? By hooking up those lead generation ads to your CRM and automatically sending a confirmation email. Depending on the complexity and cost of your offering, as well as how much personal information you collect, your lead nurturing timeline may vary. But that first trust is crucial to cementing your brand in their brain.
This initial email might be as simple as “thanks for connecting!” Or a straightforward double opt-in message to confirm their email address. If your lead ad promised a simple offer with no string attached, such as free shipping or a white paper download, you can even have your initial email deliver on that promise. At the very least, acknowledge that their free shipping email will be coming soon.
The First 24 Hours of Lead Nurturing
If you’re unable to automate the initial lead nurturing email at this time, commit to following up with each lead within 24-48 hours of their lead ad submission. This email should follow the guidelines above, introducing them to your brand and delivering on your lead generation campaign promise if possible. Since you’re not automating your emails, it’s best to bundle the “welcome” and “here’s your offer” email into one send here.
If you did send that immediate automated lead nurturing email but didn’t include the campaign offer, then this second touchpoint must include whatever you mentioned in your ad. You don’t want to keep a prospect on the hook forever. If your product or service demands a higher level of service, such as a personal consultation, this email can be to set that appointment. But it is imperative that within two days of clicking your lead ad, your new potential customer has at least started the process of receiving what that ad promised.
The First Week of Lead Nurturing
Whether you automated your lead nurturing email campaign or not, after the first week your prospects should have heard from you at least once if not twice. But have they purchased your product or service? How can you upsell additional sales? Now is the time to send another email and then start segmenting your list to create more manageable email cycles. This one week email is intended to push them to purchase and allow you to segment into two groups: those who have completed a transaction and become a customer, and those who have not.
Those who haven’t purchased yet will be put into a continuous campaign designed to incentivize trial. Your frequency here will vary based on cost of purchase, but aim for at least a week. The goal is to convert them to customers without over-emailing them to the point they unsubscribe. For the customer group, your goal is to keep them happy, sharing your brand message and buying again. Weekly or bi-weekly emails will work well here and depend on cost and frequency of your product or service. They will still need offers, but make sure they are ones they can share with friends to spread the word.
Following this first week you can move to a stable email frequency for all prospects and customers, regardless of when they submitted their information through your lead ad. But that first week is crucial to conversion, so don’t wait to start lead nurturing!