7 Ways to Improve B2B Lead Nurturing

7 Ways to Improve B2B Lead Nurturing:

A great lead nurturing campaign can go a long way in moving your prospects further down the sales process. Based on our experience managing B2B lead nurturing campaigns over the past few years, here are 7 key tips to help you close more leads, faster.

1. Match Your Email Content According to Phases in the Sales Process

When a lead first gets added to your lead nurturing program, start the relationship—or courting process—by mailing them best practices information, quick tips—any kind of content that allows your subscribers to get to know and trust you. Then, once they start to engage with that content, deliver content that slowly introduces your prospects to your product or service. Finally, once they consistently show interest, send them product demos, sales call requests, consultant offers etc. I recommended creating a 3-phase map, with designed content for cold, warm, and hot leads. You can even include content that helps your prospects overcome obstacles in the buying process, such as getting budget approval or technical requirements. As always, it’s a good idea to run these emails by your sales team, to see if they have any recommendations that will make their job faster and easier.

2. Stay in Front of Your Leads

Frequency is a touchy subject. The more often you email your subscribers, the higher the chances they will unsubscribe. However, it’s important to find your frequency sweet spot—the ideal number of email touches required to stay in front of your leads while keeping them happy and engaged. I recommend monitoring your email response rates against your unsubscribes. Need a place to begin? Send emails once a week, and provide frequency options for subscribers who want to hear from your more (or less) often.

3. Use Progressive Profiling to Learn More About Your Leads

The fewer fields you require on your forms, the higher your conversion rate will be. When generating leads online, I recommend requiring the fewest fields possible. Then, once leads get added to your lead nurturing program, you can begin to learn more about them via progressive profiling. For example, on our PPC landing pages (see the LiveBall landing page), we only require leads to fill out their first name, last name, company name, and email address. Then, they get added to our lead nurturing program (we use Eloqua), and we ask them a few more questions in exchange for best practices content (see example 2 below). This allows us to cast a wide net at the top of our funnel, and then learn more about our prospects over time. It’s a win-win for both our leads and us.

An example progressive profile form.

4. Don’t Rush for the Close

While you may be tempted to mail product information or sales-focused messages early on in the nurture cycle, it’s important to hold those for when your subscribers consistently engage with your best practices content and show interest in your product or service by visiting product pages on your website or raising their hand.

5. Be Human and Personable

We’ve all heard the saying—people don’t buy from companies, they buy from people. So, add a human touch to your email campaigns, whether that means including a headshot of your sales team, a signature, or a personalized message. Use your lead nurturing as an opportunity to let your prospects get to know not only your company, but also the brains behind it. The more they get to know you, the more likely they will be to trust you, and ultimately, buy from you.

6. Add Humor to Your Campaigns

A little delight can go a long way. While it’s easy to get stuck in the rut of sending the same ol’ same ol’ week after week, mix in emails that that delight your subscribers with humor and personality, because whether you market to marketers or IT professionals, everyone likes to laugh, and humor can really set your campaigns apart from your competition.

7. Test Your Landing Pages

According to a recent MarketingSherpa study, the most effective element to test in email campaigns is the landing page. So, before you start testing subject lines or email body copy, run some A/B tests on your landing pages—and test the desired action you’d like your visitors to take.

Are you running lead nurturing programs now? What has your experience been like? Let us know in the comments below.