Lead Nurturing: Definition, Examples, And How To Do It Right

Lead nurturing improves your sales rate by 50% and can cost you 33% less than new or non-nurtured leads.

To learn how to nurture your leads and convert them into paying customers, you are in the right place. In this blog, we will explore what lead nurturing is and the strategies that will help you increase your conversion rate.

By the end, you will be ready to build and improve your lead list and ensure each prospect moves through your sales funnel smoothly.

What is Lead Nurturing?

Lead nurturing is all about sharing the right content at the right time to guide your potential customers through their buying journey. It improves customer engagement and educates them to make better decisions that ultimately end with them buying your products or services.

So, how does it work?

Through various strategies that we’ll discuss later. These can help you build stronger relationships with your prospects that result in increased revenue and long-term growth.

But how well it works depends on how effectively you:

• Educate: Understand customer pain points and use educational material, such as blogs, videos, etc., to guide them;
• Inform: Build meaningful relationships with them by showcasing your new products;
• Engage: Enhance your engagement with personalized interaction, e.g., special offers or customized emails.

For example, Slidebean uses all these three components as they are;

• Educating the leads through “Knowledge base, YouTube lessons, and Case Studies”;
• Informing potential users about their “Free Templates & Free Pitch Deck Reviews” also adds to providing free value to the lead;
• Keeping them engaged on “YouTube, Blogs & Newsletter” by regularly posting targeted content.

Once you have the potential buyer through the lead nurturing process, the next step is to make them a successful, loyal customer.

Make sure to add these 3 key elements to make an effective lead nurturing program;

1. Clarity of buyer’s persona to enhance personalized communication;
2. Marketing content strategy of lead nurturing campaigns to target  audience;
3. Timely follow-up to retarget them using lead magnets.

5 Successful Lead Nurturing Strategies

As you go through these strategies, take notes of points that can help convert your prospects into paying customers.

Adopt Hyper-Personalization

Use real-time data and AI to tailor your content, messages, or offers that personalize your marketing approach. This personalized interaction increases the conversion rate to 60%, resulting in a 3X ROI for 95% of the companies.

With this lead nurturing strategy, you can resolve the lead’s pain points, nurture them with your special or customized offers, and make them feel like you cater to their specific needs.

For example, let’s say you’re in the home improvement game, offering backyard structures. In this niche, hyper-personalization is key because every homeowner has unique needs and preferences based on their outdoor space, climate, and aesthetic preferences.

By digging into your customer data, you can spot trends and offer customization options that truly hit home. Since patio covers are a long-term investment, people want something that feels just right.

If your data shows that many leads lean toward modern, sleek designs, highlight these in your marketing. Show them how they can tweak materials, colors, and designs to create the perfect match for their space. With this, they’ll know your brand goes above and beyond to align your offers with their unique vision.

Here’s how to do it:

• Data collection: Gather important data like browsing history, gender, age, location, searches, and clicks. You can use CRM software like HubSpot and social media. Use interactive surveys or quizzes too. Kyleads can help you to build those to engage your leads and find out more about them;
• Data analysis: The tools you use to collect data will have reports for you to analyze. Look for patterns and trends that reveal your leads’ preferences, behaviors, and needs. You should also identify which content, offers, or channels drive the most engagement and conversions;
• Segmentation: Align your lead with a specific group, like demographics, interests, or where they are in the sales funnel. But if you use KyLeads, we already have a built-in segmentation feature, so it’ll only take you a few minutes to do this;
• Customized content creation: Based on your data, develop tailored messages, emails, and content to offer personalized recommendations according to their interest in building relationships.

Execute Targeted Content Marketing

56% of the marketers believe content marketing is the key to driving lead nurturing.

So develop content that revolves around your target audience’s interests and needs. With this, you can reach the right audience with the right message at the right time.

For example, Green Citizen attracts and nurtures eco-conscious leads using targeted content marketing that aligns with their brand values. They create content around the following:

• Environmental news;
• Eco-friendly product recommendation;
• Sustainable living-related educational content.

Here’s how to do it:

• Be ethical: Focus on delivering value, maintain transparency, respect your leads’ privacy, handle their data with care, and avoid exaggerated claims. With ethical marketing, you can make your leads trust you more, which increases the chances of them finally converting;
• Integrate CRM: Connect your CRM and marketing automation solutions so you can monitor the complete buyer’s journey and adjust your content accordingly;
• Analyze & optimize: Use tools like Google Analytics to get valuable insights about your content’s effectiveness. Track metrics like user behavior, conversion rates, and website traffic to help optimize your content strategy;
• Leverage social media: Share targeted content and engage with your leads in real-time through comments, messages, polls, and live sessions to build stronger relationships and move them through the sales funnel;
• Send personalized emails with targeted content: Use information from your CRM to build emails according to target customers and their specified lead groups.

Implement A Multi-Channel Approach

Interact with your leads on several platforms and touchpoints, like email, social media, live chat, and SMS, to reduce the sales cycle. For example, a lead sees your Facebook ad, visits your website to chat, receives a personalized email offer, and gets SMS reminders. This consistent engagement across platforms keeps your brand top-of-mind.

Here’s how to do it:

• Create a landing page: Use platforms like Unbounce to build landing pages tailored for different channels, like social media, to collect lead data and guide potential customers through the sales process;
• Do SMS marketing: It costs less than running ads and there’s a 98% chance your leads will open the text messages. Tools like SlickText can automate SMS marketing and send customized text messages for timely offers, follow-ups, and reminders to leads;
• Retarget inactive leads: Use retargeting ads on sites like Google, Facebook, and LinkedIn to motivate potential leads to proceed and maintain your brand at the forefront of their minds.

Retargeting ads tag users who visit your website or enter your marketing funnel. Afterward, these leads automatically see your ads on other sites within networks like the Google Display Network to keep your brand visible as they continue browsing online.

• Automate processes: Guarantee consistent messaging and timely follow-ups across platforms. For example, you can set up Hootsuite to automate social media content posting. Meanwhile, you can use Mailchimp to send emails automatically. With this, you can have an easier time managing multiple platforms.

Reward Your Customers’ Loyalty

Show tokens of appreciation to build a stronger connection and turn casual interest into lasting loyalty. When they see that choosing your brand comes with rewarding perks, they’re much more likely to take the next step.

My favorite brand to demonstrate this with is infraredi since it offers a brand ambassadorship opportunity as a reward. With this, the ambassadors earn a lifetime percentage commission whenever someone shops using their affiliate link. The additional income opportunity can entice the leads to finally buy in and start their journey with the brand.

Once you turn the leads into loyal customers, it adds up to 95% of profits, even if just 5% of your customers are retained.

So, here are ways you can reward customer loyalty:

• Create a VIP loyalty program: Reward your frequent buyers or biggest spenders by implementing a VIP loyalty system, where they can earn extra rewards as they interact with your brand over time;
• Customize discounts: Provide special discounts based on the client’s interests or past purchases. For example, offer discount vouchers or special buyback discounts on their repeat purchases;
• Encourage referrals: Establish a program where loyal customers receive rewards for introducing new customers to your company. Give them giveaways, discounts, or cash prizes for each successful recommendation. Offer prizes to both the new customer and the referral;
• Milestone awards: Celebrate major events like their birthday, the anniversary of their first purchase, or when they achieve a particular amount of purchases. To mark the event, give out a special prize or discount;
• Points-based system: Establish a loyalty program where users earn points for every purchase or engagement.

For example, Main Clinic Supply has a Buy Back Program where they offer to buy back used Inogen oxygen machines, even covering the shipping costs. How does this help nurture leads?

It shows their commitment to long-term customer care. Plus, it provides a tangible incentive for potential customers to engage with the brand. Such added value helps build trust and confidence among leads so they can choose the brand when they’re ready to purchase.

How do you know if your loyalty programs work?

Use eCommerce metrics to assess how well your loyalty programs are nurturing leads. For example, if you see that leads who join your loyalty program convert 20% more often and cost 30% less to move through the sales funnel compared to other leads, it’s a strong indicator that your loyalty program is effectively nurturing them.

Employ Marketing Automation

Those who practice marketing automation see an increase of up to 77% in leads and conversion rates.

These marketing automation tools can effortlessly handle repetitive tasks, so you can focus on delivering personalized experiences that connect with your audience. You can do this in the following ways.

• Automate email campaigns: Set up automated emails for new leads to introduce your brand and share valuable resources like informative guides and case studies to start off their journey with your company. To do this, use tools like MailChimp.
• Automate lead scoring: Use Salesforce to combine lead scores to qualify leads for the sales stage automatically. A lead can be forwarded directly to your sales teams for follow-up when they meet a particular score level;
• Offer personalized recommendations: Suggest products, services, or content based on a lead’s past interactions with your brand, like items they browsed or purchased. One of the ways to do this is to use platforms like LandBot to have a website chatbot that can recommend products.

Another way is to turn the process into a mini quiz for prospects. My favorite example is how Escort Radar does this with their personalized radar detector recommendations. The quiz makes lead nurturing more interactive and guides prospects smoothly toward a purchase.

Once users complete the quiz, the site suggests the most relevant radar models for them within seconds. They can easily click on the products to dive into the official product page, where they’ll discover more about its benefits and any special offers.

8 Steps To Design Lead Nurturing Campaign Successfully

As you read through this, review how each step can streamline your lead nurturing process and set up a successful campaign.

Understand Your Buyer Persona

The first step in lead nurturing is understanding your consumer journey before creating your next campaign.

For example, let’s say you see that sales barely moved following your welcome campaign’s initial push. To get your leads’ attention, you can launch a re-engagement campaign or use content marketing.

Here’s how you can do this:

• Develop buyer personas to organize what you know about your leads. This makes it easier to identify your prospects’ needs and tailor your marketing efforts to nurture them effectively;
• Make sure to include information about the lead’s location, requirements, habits, and preferred internet channels;
• Find a free template, like the one below, to simplify the process of creating your buyer personas. A good template helps you systematically organize key information about your leads, like their pain points.

Segment Your Leads

This approach aims to group your leads according to specific standards. You can use this to customize marketing campaigns that align with each customer’s needs and interests.

Here’s how to create your lists and segments if you’re using HubSpot:

Include Personalized CTAs

Create personalized content and CTAs that hit the mark for each lead’s needs. These tailored CTAs make your lead nurturing tactics more effective since they keep your audience engaged and move them smoothly through the sales funnel.

• Use personalized content to make your emails, landing pages, and call-to-actions more relevant to the lead based on their traits. For instance, calling customers by name or making product recommendations based on their online browsing activity;
• Employ behavior-based triggers and create CTAs that correspond with the lead’s level in the buyer’s journey. For example, if a lead just subscribed to your email newsletter, use a specified CTA to invite them to try your products. Meanwhile, if a lead shows interest already by downloading a whitepaper, your CTA should encourage them to schedule a demo or request a personalized quote;
• Do A/B testing and analyze the data. For example, test 2 versions of a landing page where the only difference is the CTA—one might say ‘Get Your Free Quote,’ while the other says ‘Start Saving Today.’ Analyze which CTA drives higher conversion rates to determine the most effective wording for your audience.

Use Email Marketing

55% of the marketers said that email marketing delivers the highest ROI than other digital marketing strategies.

So, how do you leverage it to nurture leads?

• Kick off with a personalized welcome email that introduces your brand and sets expectations for what they’ll receive next;
• Segment leads based on their actions, like which products they’ve browsed or content they’ve downloaded, to tailor future emails;
• Send specific, valuable content—like product demos, how-to guides, or case studies—that directly addresses their interests;
• Trigger follow-up emails based on actions, like when they click a link or attend a webinar, to keep the momentum going;
• Engage leads further with special discounts, early access to new products, or invitations to exclusive events.

To do all this, use an email automation tool like Mailchimp or HubSpot, as we mentioned earlier.

Plan Content With Marketing & Sales Teams

Boost your lead nurturing efforts by being on the same page as your marketing and sales teams. Use this as an opportunity to ensure your marketing strategies align with sales goals, and conduct a comparison of marketing and sales funnels to identify areas for optimization. This results in more relevant content that addresses the specific needs of your leads at each stage or their pain points.

Tools such as a shared office management tool can also assist in streamlining collaboration and planning between teams.

How do you do this?

• Set clear goals: Agree on clear, ambitious campaign objectives—whether it’s boosting conversions or tackling specific client pain points—so everyone’s on the same page and ready to make an impact. Use the SMART framework to help you with this step;
• Understand your audience: Get to the heart of who your clients are. You should use your existing lead data or buyer personas to dive into their interests, challenges, and desires;
• Create tailored content: Brainstorm together to develop content that offers innovative solutions and informative content that elevate lead quality and solve your audience’s problems;
• Create a content calendar: Schedule each piece thoughtfully to align with your audience’s needs at each stage to guarantee smooth lead nurturing.

What does all this planning result in?

You can show your understanding of their problems and position your company as the best possible solution. A great example of this is the Medical Alert Buyers Guide. Through careful planning, they crafted content that directly addresses the unique challenges faced by senior citizens.

Their detailed guides and comparison articles on medical devices and technologies educate their audience, which helps them build trust and credibility. Plus, the planning lets them anticipate the needs of their target audience to make sure their site becomes the go-to resource for seniors seeking reliable information and solutions.

Set Up Lead-Scoring

Lead scoring gives point values to leads depending on their behaviors. It helps identify which leads require more nurturing and which are ready to close.

To do this, apply the following:

• Identify the behavior and actions of your lead, like engagement on posts, downloading ebooks, or subscribing to newsletters;
• Assign points to each lead based on their action. For example, if they download an ebook, give them 15 points. If they browsed the homepage, you can give them only 5 points. The points per action depend on your company’s specific criteria and sales process. So, evaluate which behaviors most strongly indicate purchase intent and assign points accordingly;
• Use negative scores to give you accurate lead score results. For example, any lead that unsubscribes to your emails can get a -20;
• Build a lead score system that is specific to your approach and that you can continually modify to account for the activities that potential customers really do.

Here’s an example:

Lead A downloads a home lawn care handbook, while Lead B calls a sales rep to discuss hiring maintenance workers for three golf courses.

So, who gets a higher lead score?

Lead B gets a better score since there’s a higher business value involving larger operations and transaction values. This also requires a more complex sales process, which means there is more need for a direct follow-up from a sales representative.

Set Up Automation Software

Pick the best automation software to supercharge your campaign; don’t worry—it doesn’t have to be just one. There are plenty of tools with different features that can round out your toolbox and make your lead-nurturing efforts more effective. With this step, you can guarantee consistent and timely engagement with your leads.

So, here are the best lead nurturing software you should dive into and their purpose:

Want to see one of those tools in action for a real company?

A great example is how Ovaeda incorporates Trustpilot, an automated feedback platform, to build trust with its audience. They smartly feature their Trustpilot ratings right at the top of their website, making it easy for visitors to see real customer experiences. If they click on it, they’ll be redirected to Ovaeda’s Trustpilot profile, where they can see all the reviews.

This kind of social proof is gold for outdoor structures like fence panels, where purchases aren’t frequent and require significant investment. With their social proof presented upfront, the brand can instantly reassure potential buyers of their quality, making them more likely to take the next step.

Measure The Campaign’s Results

To measure your campaign’s efficiency, monitor and assess its results regularly. Use this to gather data about what’s working, what isn’t, and where you can improve.

Here are the 5 KPIs that should be your main priorities:

• Conversion Rate: This is the percentage of leads in the sales funnel. Use Google Analytics to monitor and determine conversions as a percentage of total leads;
• Lead-to-Customer Conversion Rate: It indicates the proportion of leads that become paying clients. A CRM software makes it easier to determine this conversion rate and follow the progress of leads;
• Email engagement metrics: To evaluate your email marketing’s success, check their open rate, click-through rate, and conversion rate. Mailchimp and Klaviyo are two tools that offer comprehensive data on these criteria;
• SQLs (sales qualified leads): These are leads the sales team identified as ready for direct engagement, usually because they’ve shown clear signs they’re ready to buy;
• MQLs (marketing qualified leads): They’re the ones who’ve shown interest through actions like downloading a resource or subscribing to a newsletter, but they still need more nurturing before they’re ready for the sales team;
• CLV (Customer Lifetime Value): This represents the long-term value your customers bring to your business over time. Observe CLV trends to comprehend better the long-term value produced by your lead nurturing activities.

To further help evaluate your campaign’s success, use an assessment platform where your sales and marketing teams can give their feedback. They’re at the frontline so they have first-hand insights as to what needs to continue and what should be improved.

Conclusion

So, it’s time to jumpstart into action. Gather your teams, review each strategy mentioned here, and decide which ones can help you create more meaningful interactions right now based on your business needs. Use the tactics in this guide to build your lead-nurturing campaign and start seeing your conversion rates increase.

In the symphony of lead nurturing, SMS marketing emerges as the staccato beat that punctuates the melody of your campaign. This rapid-fire communication channel slices through the noise of overflowing inboxes and cluttered social feeds, delivering your message with laser precision.

With a staggering 98% open rate, SMS transforms your leads’ smartphones into personal billboards for your brand. It’s the digital equivalent of a tap on the shoulder, a whisper in the ear that can trigger immediate action. By crafting messages that are as concise as they are compelling, SMS marketing becomes the secret sauce in your lead nurturing recipe, capable of turning tepid interest into white-hot intent in 160 characters or less.

When harmonized with your broader nurturing symphony, these text-based micro-interactions can create a crescendo of engagement, propelling leads through your funnel at breakneck speed.

But make sure you consistently review the results of the strategies you apply. This lets you spot trends to capitalize on or stop small issues from becoming bigger.

So, are you ready to nurture your leads?

Kyleads is here to help. Use our interactive quizzes and popups to get data or your lead nurturing campaigns. Start your free trial now and see how our tools can help you!

Author Bio:

Burkhard Berger is the founder of Novum™. He helps innovative B2B companies implement modern SEO strategies to scale their organic traffic to 1,000,000+ visitors per month. Curious about what your true traffic potential is?

Gravatar: [email protected]