Lead nurturing: The importance of nurturing the relationship with your customer

Inês Tito – Copywriter –

The relationships we build help shape our personality, beliefs and values. In short, without them we'd be left to our own devices.

Inês Tito – Copywriter –

The relationships we build help shape our personality, beliefs and values. In short, without them we'd be left to our own devices.

Source: Freepik. That said, these relationships don't appear out of thin air.

You have to spend quality time with those closest to you. You have to build a meaningful emotional connection. You have to feed that relationship.

These days, brands that want to know their customers have to do exactly the same. Building a close relationship is essential to give customers what they're looking for and earn their trust.

What is lead nurturing?

Lead nurturing is the process of building relationships with potential customers (leads), nurturing them at every stage of the customer journey.

It all starts before the customer is ready to buy. For brands, this is the key moment, because leads are open to suggestions.

At this stage, it's crucial to offer solutions rather than aggressive sales tactics.

As a customer, have you ever been pestered to the point where you felt “obliged” to buy, only to then put that brand on your “blacklist” and go with a competitor? Exactly… that's precisely what happens with your customers.

By offering solutions instead of focusing on the sale (or the conversion), you'll take the first step towards a healthy relationship with the customer.

Through lead nurturing, you can focus on the potential customer and their needs, showing them exactly what they're looking for. In doing so, you'll guide the customer through the sales funnel and, ultimately, to conversion. No drama. No pestering.

That's why a lead nurturing campaign matters so much. A well-defined strategy anticipates the customer's needs, earning their trust over time.

The benefits of lead nurturing

There are so many options on the market today that customers struggle to work out what makes brand A better than brand B.

Among the various factors, we could mention the features of the product or service, the quality of after-sales support or value for money. All of this (and much more) shapes the customer's perception.

What can really make all the difference, though, is the brand's relationship with the customer. Let's look at the main advantages of lead nurturing.

• It lets you build relationships If you've read this far, you'll have gathered that the aim of lead nurturing is to build a relationship of trust with the customer. How? By helping the customer find the solution they need, giving them consistent information.
• Creating a personalised experience. According to a McKinsey study, 76% of consumers prefer brands that offer a personalised experience. Lead nurturing is one way of meeting customer expectations.
• It increases sales According to Hubspot, companies that look after their customer relationships increase sales by around 50%. What's more, according to the Annuitas Group, nurtured leads make purchases 47% larger than non-nurtured leads.
• It educates and informs GE Capital Retail Bank reported that around 81% of online customers research products and services before buying. Through lead nurturing, brands stand out from the competition by helping potential customers get to know their products and services and make an informed decision.
• It shortens sales cycles According to Marketo, nurtured leads have a sales cycle 23% shorter than non-nurtured leads. These results can be explained by an effective strategy that keeps brands front of mind by consistently putting relevant information in front of consumers.
• It reduces marketing costs Winning a new customer costs considerably more than retaining and building loyalty among existing ones. Lead nurturing is one way to achieve that. According to Forrester Research, brands that nurture leads generate 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost.

The main lead nurturing channels

Every customer is unique. So there's no foolproof formula for pleasing everyone. Ultimately, it all depends on the lead's characteristics and where they are in the customer journey. That's why brands use several channels (sometimes at the same time).

Email marketing

Sending emails is one of the most widely used tools for delivering consistent content, regularly, without ever bothering the customer. This method works best with leads that have already shown an interest in buying.

Offering a discount can be the nudge needed to convert a lead or to convince a potential customer that your brand is the best on the market.

By automating your emails, you can contact leads once a month or several times a week. The choice is yours. When it comes to lead nurturing, common sense rules!

Social media marketing

This is the best way to meet customers where they are. It's also a way to stay visible and introduce your brand to potential customers who don't yet know it. Source: Freepik. Content marketing

There are various ways to create and deliver relevant content. Blog posts and ebooks can encourage leads to explore your brand and what you sell, as well as boosting your credibility with customers.

Sales calls

Sales calls are rising from the ashes, because consumers are craving personal contact. For brands, this is a unique opportunity to work out where the lead is in the customer journey and plan the next step accordingly.

Direct mail

In a digital world, some people still prefer paper. Depending on your brand's products or services, as well as the audience you want to reach, sending a letter can be a successful lead nurturing strategy. It lets you personalise the contact, earn the customer's trust and increase sales.

Lead nurturing strategies

Once you've chosen the right channel, it's time to find the perfect strategy.

Automation

Automation in lead nurturing is a quick way to process potential customer data and deliver consistent information.

One example of automation is lead nurturing through artificial intelligence. As well as making it easier to create personalised content, it also allows you to analyse lead behaviour. With this strategy you can qualify leads and run predictive analysis to find the best route to conversion.

Another automation strategy is CRM (Customer Relationship Management) lead nurturing. With this type of software, marketing and sales teams can access lead information in real time, analyse interactions with the brand and define a response strategy.

Mapping the customer journey

Knowing every touchpoint between the customer and the brand lets you identify which stage of the customer journey the lead is at. This is the starting point for meeting the customer's wants and needs and offering them solutions that help them decide.

Multichannel nurturing

Leads get in touch with brands across various channels, at different points in their journey. Brands know this. And they also know that sending generic emails to every lead isn't good practice.

As well as delivering relevant information, it's important to be consistent across every channel: in other words, to convey the same message whether it's by email, on the website or on social media.

Lead scoring

Giving leads a score makes it easier to direct the brand's attention. After all, the chances of converting a lead who signed up to a newsletter are far lower than someone who has visited the website several times and even contacted the brand with questions.

Personalisation

By sending personalised messages, brands stand a better chance of converting. To achieve this, you can use CRM software to personalise campaigns and, in turn, increase click-through rates and revenue.

Segmentation

Sorting leads into groups is another way to make sure a potential customer receives relevant information at the right moment. Source: Freepik. How to create a lead nurturing campaign

There are several steps to consider when creating a lead nurturing campaign.

First, clean up your contact list. This stops you wasting time contacting leads who are already customers, who have changed email address or who are simply no longer interested. At this stage, CRM software can help you categorise leads and keep their data up to date.

Making sure sales and marketing teams are working towards the same goals is another important part of lead nurturing. By creating a protocol for handling leads at each stage of the journey, both teams can create a unified experience for the customer.

And of course, to measure the campaign's success, you need to set measurable goals. Use the SMART approach to define specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound objectives. That way, it's easier to see whether the campaign is on track.

One of the most commonly used evaluation criteria is audience engagement. But there are others, such as newsletter unsubscribe rates, click-through rates, conversion rates and sales cycle length.

Finally, always develop personalised content aimed at the potential customer. Remember that customers prefer brands that offer a personalised experience.