Tip #5 for Lead Nurturing: Consistent repetition, consistent repetition, consistent repetition

Consistent repetition, consistent repetition, consistent repetition

There are two key concepts within this section. The first is repetition. The second is consistency. Since they go hand in hand, we’ve made them a single “key rule”.
Like almost everything in marketing, lead nurturing relies on repetition for its multiplying effect on success. Once a new lead is acquired and it is determined that he or she is interested but just not now, lead nurturing should begin immediately. As weekly or bi-weekly drip emails begin to be sent, the prospect may or may not be reading them or taking advantage of the useful information they contain. But over time, as the “conversation” grows, and as the prospect comes to expect the weekly email, and as trust builds that these emails are useful rather than pushy, prospects open more of them and respond more often.

The second twin in this final rule is consistency. It is imperative that lead nurturing, like its big brother, lead generation, be executed consistently. What we mean by “consistently” is the ruthless, disciplined adherence to the program. Too many organizations start out creating fresh new content for items like drip emails, newsletters, articles, etc. without fail, but eventually the effort trails off. The monthly newsletter becomes the “every 6 weeks” newsletter, and eventually the “do we still do a newsletter?” newsletter. The inventory of drip emails around key topics often suffers the same fate. Creating content for drip email must take place regularly, and ahead of the demand for it. Delivering weekly or bi-weekly drip emails to your interested leads must be done on a predictable, reliable schedule. Missing a week, or even slipping from the usual Tuesday to a Wednesday can damage the relationship you’re trying to create with your prospect. Repetition of friendly, non-salesy, informative, very bite-sized content delivered to the inbox breeds confidence, trust, and occasionally even anticipation on the part of your prospect. In turn, when he or she makes the transition from “searching for potential solutions” to “evaluating” or even “decision-making”, the probability of your company and your products being at the top of the prospect’s mind is dramatically increased.

We cannot emphasize this enough. Create the schedule for nurturing and drip emailing and stick to it.

Get your own copy of the white paper Top Five Rules for Using Lead Nurturing To Increase Sales at http://www.wingreenmarketing.net/Pages/WPTopFiveRulesforUsingLeadNurturing1.aspx

Tip #4 for Lead Nurturing: Use lead scoring to target highest potential leads

Use lead scoring to target highest potential leads

The more sophisticated lead generation systems have lead scoring in place for the initial capture of interested leads.  For example, a lead who has already downloaded two white papers and attended one webcast has a higher value than a lead who only requested one paper.  Scoring can be applied to the quality of the lead in terms of how well it matches “the perfect lead”.  For example, more lead score points can be attached when the lead is from the exact target industry, or a desirable ZIP code, or a decision-maker title.

With lead scores available, the lead nurturing program should leverage this data to deliver different drip emails to higher-scoring leads than to lower scoring leads. 

Also, during the weeks or months that a prospect is being nurtured, prior to being upgraded as a more qualified prospect, the prospect’s lead score should also be adjusted based on his or her behavior in receiving drip emails.  The previous section noted which items should be measured for the purpose of continuous improvement.  The same metrics should also be used for the purpose of adjusting prospects’ lead scores.

As a prospect opens each weekly drip email, perhaps the lead score will be increased by 100 points.  As they open an email and then click through to the website to learn more, they might earn another 500 points.  Of course, visiting subsequent web pages after arrival should be earning more lead score points anyway, so that activity also increases the score for a given prospect.  Finally, the prospect’s lead score should be decreased when he receives an email but doesn’t even open it.

With lead scoring at every phase of the marketing and sales process, sales people’s time is spent on the prospects who exhibit the highest probability of conversion and ultimate purchase.

Get the white paper, Top Five Rules for Using Lead Nurturing To Increase Sales, to learn all five tips for maximizing sales effectiveness. Click here to get your copy: http://www.wingreenmarketing.net/Pages/WPTopFiveRulesforUsingLeadNurturing1.aspx

Third Tip for Using Lead Nurturing to Improve Sales Pipelines: Use web analytics and tracking

Use web analytics and tracking to adjust and mold your messages to your targets

Modern online marketing tools allow marketers to see who visits their websites, which pages are visited, and how different activities affect web traffic and results. Tracking and measuring effectiveness of lead nurturing is just as important – or perhaps more so – as tracking keyword, search engine, and web page effectiveness.

We’ll assume you’re using a comprehensive online marketing system, made up of bulk emailing, blogging, inbound marketing, web visitor tracking, CRM, and database integrity software tools. A well-conceived, well-executed online lead generation system (See our white paper entitled 21st Century Marketing for Effective Online Lead Generation at www.WinGreenMarketing.com/resourcecenter.aspx) allows you to send trackable emails to your prospects. Once they have responded to your initial lead generation campaign and self-identified themselves on your landing page, you’ll be able to track not only their “footprints” through your web pages, but also the effectiveness of your drip marketing efforts.

All lead nurturing emails should contain links back to pages on your website for prospects whose curiosity is aroused by the email they've received. Your goal isn’t to close business with a well-crafted nurturing email, but rather to create interest in the benefits of your products and earn trust that you are subject matter experts who might one day help the prospect achieve an objective. Therefore, your links shouldn't take people to “hard sell” pages, but rather to pages set up to deliver more information to those who wish to find it.
You can and should track all drip emails for the following:

• Was the email opened by the prospect?
• After landing on your website, did the prospect visit any other pages on the site? Which pages? In which order?
• Were any of the links within the email clicked? Which link(s)?

With this type of tracking information in hand, you should be able to make improvements to your drip program. For example, since multiple prospects will be receiving the same emails, you’ll be able to set up control groups, i.e. two different groups receiving the same email content but different subject line (to measure which subject line does better at getting people to open the email), or two different groups receiving similar email content but different links to see which links are more attractive. With control groups and web tracking, you’ll be able to see across many recipients which emails get opened and clicked and which do not. Armed with this knowledge, continuous improvement of your drip marketing tactics and methods becomes a way of life.

Second Tip for Using Lead Nurturing to Increase Sales: Use Nurturing Only in the Right Phase of the Sales Cycle.

Use lead nurturing only in the right phase of the sales cycle

As we all know, prospects advance through a “sales funnel” of various stages or phases of buying behavior, from initial contact through to (hopefully) closed sales. 

Marketing or sales funnel classifications may vary by company.  A good example of the levels or phases in a sales funnel might be:

1.     All possible contacts

2.     All target contacts

3.     Interested leads

4.     Pre-qualified prospects

5.     Qualified prospects

6.     Closed sales

All sales processes and pipeline definitions account for the fact that buyers exhibit different behaviors and look for different things at each stage of their progression through the process.  It’s critical to match your drip marketing content to both your and your prospects’ objectives for each phase.

 

The time to use drip marketing for nurturing your leads is after they have expressed some level of interest, but before they’re ready to take a meeting or seriously evaluate your specific product or proposal.  In most online lead generation scenarios, this means you’ll be getting new, interested leads who are in the “search for solutions” phase, who probably signed up for a webcast or a white paper, or contacted you for more information through your web form.  The proper marketing content for generating the interested lead would be a white paper, article, podcast, or webcast about the general topic related to what benefits your product delivers.  Once your new, interested lead has self-identified in order to receive that content, it’s very likely (70% or more) that although they’ve demonstrated interest, they’re not at all in a timeframe of buying or even evaluating products yet.  It is at this point that your lead nurturing and drip marketing should begin. 

The intent of lead nurturing between the “interested” and the “pre-qualified” stage is to keep your company’s brand in front of your prospect repeatedly during the period of time when they are working through their own processes that lead to evaluating, justifying, and finally purchasing a product. 

Learn more by requesting the complimentary white paper, Top Five Rules for Using Lead Nurturing To Increase Sales, at www.wingreenmarketing.com/Pages/WPTopFiveRulesforUsingLeadNurturing1.aspx