Have you implemented a nurturing sequence for your engaged leads? Studies show that lead nurturing emails get 4-10 times the response rate standalone email blasts do. If you haven’t, follow along with this three-part blog post series. By the end of it you will be in a position to generate 50% more sales ready leads at a 33% lower cost.
Our President, Kim Albee, along with our V.P. of Sales & Marketing, Margaret Johnson, have decided that it is time to share with everyone a level of depth and insight into how to plan, implement, and extend lead nurturing so that it will drive results for you. So let’s dig in and start with planning!
Let The Lead Nurturing Begin!
So you have a lead list, and you want to set up a nurturing sequence, but you just don’t know where to begin! Well, keep reading, and you’ll be a master by the end of this blog post series.
The first step is setting up a broadcast email. Easy! Right? Most companies already have some good broadcasts that they are sending out. However, this batch and blast is going to be different, it’s going to provide value to your audience that will allow you to segment your leads based on where they click in the email.
You’re going to want 2-3 click-able links to be tied to Attractors. Once sent, you can start dividing your leads into groups based on their interests. Segmenting is the main purpose of the broadcast email. If you can segment, you can create a path for specific leads to take, and nurture them into becoming a sales qualified lead.
What’s Your Attractor?
The next step is looking at your Attractor. The nurturing sequence is very dependent on Attractors. You can have a link to an eBook, Whitepaper, Checklist, Quickstart Guide, etc. But you NEED a continuous steam. This way your leads will have a reason to click to download your information, and enter your nurturing sequence.
We have a complete eBook on creating Content Pathways that includes looking at how to create great calls to action.
At Genoo, we have all different sorts of attractors. A couple of our most popular are the Scoops! The Single Biggest Reason Your Emails Don’t Get Read, Email Marketing: List or List-ening?, and When Batch-and-Blast Is Okay.
We also have an eBook on the Top Five Reasons Why Marketing Automation Fails that is worth checking out. Scroll down to the bottom of this post for the actual CTA’s to illustrate how they work (if you’re curious):
How To Promote Your Attractor:
After you come up with the attractor(s) that you are going to promote, you need to figure out how you will actually drive traffic to the Attractors. There are various ways to promote an attractor. Here are three ways to consider:
- Send out a broadcast email with one of those 2-3 links being a link to the attractor.
- Purchase a 3rd party list and send a broadcast email to them with a link to the attractor, or advertise in an Email Newsletter that goes to a list that matches your target audience profile.
- Promote your attractor through Social Media.
- For LinkedIn: post in groups/company pages;
- For Facebook: use paid advertisements.
- Retargeting – You place a pixel on your Website, and then can have an “Ad” for your Attractor. This allows you to follow those folks as they visit other sites – (more on this in future posts).
These are some of the ways we have found to be most successful. Please experiment with them and let us know which ones work best for you! We are always looking for new ways to make our marketing efforts more effective, and you should be too!
Now: Decide On A Theme For The Sequence
There are five themes that will give you a context to write your nurturing emails. You’ve got to decide which theme you will use, and carry that theme over for the entire sequence. I’ve outlined some common ones below:
- Goodwill
- The goodwill theme is a friendly set of nurturing emails that let your lead know that you’re there to help. It might be a series of informational emails, like our Helpful Tips & Tricks.
- Gain / Logic / Fear
- This theme starts by telling your lead something they will gain from an action you want them to take.
- Followed-up by a logic-based email appealing to the logical part of their brain, telling them “it is worth it to read this email”
- And finally, you close with the fear. This is more focused on urgency, and if they don’t keep up (or act now) they will fall behind.
- Limited Time / Closing
- This is saying, “Hey we have a special going on, we’d love for you to check it out while it lasts.”
- Sent it – Done it?
- The “Sent it – Done it?” theme is an email you send out to someone who downloads an eBook of yours, or a Whitepaper. “Hey John, I sent you this Whitepaper last week, have you gotten a chance to read through it? What did you think?”
- Sweeteners – Bonus Offers
- “Because you participated in this contest, I want you to have this extra piece of information.”
Finally, Think About Your Voice
The voice of the nurturing sequence is very important. Are you going to be friendly? “Hey John!” Formal? “Dear John,” Newsy? “Great News John!” Chatty? “Hi John, how have you been?” Informal? “Hey there,” for a few examples.
You are going to want to consider these options during your planning. Remember when you are thinking about this: formal emails aren’t being opened as much anymore, most people ignore those or unsubscribe right away. The key is to mix up your voice, while remaining consistent in your tone. This will give your recipient something they want to read and you will start to build a relationship with them. Building a relationship is really the main purpose of a nurturing sequence anyways.
So good luck with your planning, and continue to the next blog post on implementing this process!