What is Lead Nurturing and How Does it Work?

Not every lead you pitch your products or services to is going to make a purchase, and that’s okay. Sure, some leads may place an order, but others will be reluctant to pull out their credit card and submit their financial information.

Here’s where lead nurturing comes into play. By nurturing your leads and warming them up beforehand, you’ll have an easier time convincing them to make a purchase. To learn more about the art of lead nurturing and how it works, keep reading.

Lead Nurturing: The Basics

In short, lead nurturing refers to the process of developing strong relationships with potential customers at multiple stages of the sales funnel. Lead nurturing embraces communication as being a fundamental component of the process.

The business communicates with its leads throughout the sales process, warming them up, so they are more likely to make a purchase. Regardless of your business’s niche, chances are it will benefit from lead nurturing.

Benefits of Lead Nurturing

Why should you embrace the practice of lead nurturing? For starters, it creates greater trust between you and your audience. When leads trust your business, they’ll feel more comfortable making a purchase. A study conducted by Genius.com found 66% of consumers believe consistent and relevant communication is a significant reason why they chose a specific service provider.

Need another reason to nurture your leads before pitching your products or services? According to a study conducted by Market2Lead, nurtured leads have a 23% shorter sales cycle than non-nurtured leads. In other words, you’ll convert a potential customer into a paying customer in less time if you nurture them.

Identify Your Sales Funnel

Before you even think of nurturing your leads, you’ll first need to identify your sales funnel. This concept is the process of a potential customer following so you can convert them into a paying customer.

It begins at the top, with the leads first being collected and harvested, and then working their way to the bottom where they make a purchase. Sales funnels will vary depending on the business and its marketing strategy, so don’t feel like you must use a single type of sales funnel.

Regardless, though, you need to identify each step in your sales funnel so you can implement the necessary lead nurturing techniques into the process.

Begin with an Introduction

One of the most common mistakes business owners make with their digital marketing strategy is attempting to sell their product or service to leads in the initial communication. Instead of taking this approach, you should begin by nurturing your leads with an introduction email or message.

It doesn’t have to be a long, drawn-out message, rather create a brief introductory message greeting the leads while explaining who you are and what you do. The purpose of this message is to establish an essential means of communication without scaring away the customer.

Here are a few key elements to include in your introductory email:

• Greet the potential customers by name (if possible).
• Thank the potential customers for their time.
• Explain who you are and what your business does.
• Include your contact information so the potential customers know how to reach you.

Answer Potential Customer’s Questions

Some leads will have questions about your products or services. Failure to answer these questions and address their concerns may discourage them from making a purchase. So when you’re nurturing leads, be sure to answer any questions they may ask.

Instead of sending the same generic, cookie-cutter messages, you should customize your messages to include specific answers to the specific questions asked by potential customers. This technique shows customers you are investing your time and energy into creating a relationship with them, which should prove useful in converting them into a customer.

Reinforce the Benefits

Even if you don’t directly promote your product or service throughout the lead nurturing process, you should still explain the benefits it offers to potential customers. You need to tell leads throughout the sales funnel and nurturing process why they should purchase your product or service.

Don’t just list the features, but instead, list the benefits. When a lead hears how a particular product or service will help them, they will be more likely to buy it.

Observe the Potential Customer’s Behavior Throughout the Nurturing Process

Oracle recommends business owners and workers observe their potential customers behavior throughout the nurturing process to determine when it’s best to engage them with sales. Granted, you won’t be able to see potential customers in person, but you can still measure their digital behavior by looking for key signs.

If a customer has stopped responding to your emails, for instance, it could indicate they have gone cold, in which case you’ll have a difficult time converting the potential customers into a paying customer. On the other hand, if a potential customer begins to respond to your messages more frequently, and they are expressing interest in your products or services, it may indicate it’s time to sell.

Have any other lead nurturing tips that you would like to share with our readers? Let us know in the comments section below!