Are you spending time, energy, and resources on generating leads but still not seeing the results you expected? You're not alone. Many businesses only focus on driving traffic and lead generation but often overlook the critical next step: converting those leads into customers.
Businesses must engage in a strategic effort known as lead nurturing to convert these leads into customers. In this article, we'll explore six best practices to help you refine your lead nurturing process and effectively guide prospects toward a purchase decision.
What is B2B Lead Nurturing?
B2B lead nurturing is the process of cultivating and maintaining relationships with potential clients, with the ultimate aim of guiding them from initial interest to the point of making a purchase.
However, nurturing leads is not a quick process. The B2B funnel often involves a longer timeline and multiple stakeholders who influence the decision-making process. It's essential to qualify these leads, gain a deep understanding of their needs at each stage of the funnel, and deliver personalised content designed to encourage them to move to the next step in their buying journey.
6 Best Practices for B2B Lead Nurturing
Creating an effective lead nurturing workflow is more than just selecting the right channel and strategy. To enhance your lead nurturing process, consider these essential practices and tools:
1. Segmentation for Targeted Messaging
One of the major challenges in lead nurturing is delivering content that connects with your audience. By segmenting your contact lists, you can create targeted campaigns that address the needs and interests of different groups. Whether you segment based on lead source, job function, product interest, or sales cycle stage, this ensures that your messaging is relevant and compelling, making it more likely to drive action.
2. Customer Journey Mapping
To nurture leads effectively, it's essential to understand where they are in their buying journey. Developing detailed buyer personas and mapping out the customer journey allows your sales team to address the specific pain points and needs of each prospect. By aligning your communications with the stages of awareness, consideration, and decision-making, you can guide leads more effectively towards conversion.
3. Automated Follow-Up for Timely Engagement
Timely follow-ups are crucial for keeping leads engaged and interested. This might mean varying the message depending on whether a lead has just shown initial interest, is comparing options, or is close to making a decision. Automation should support this process by delivering the right message at the right time but always in a way that feels relevant and valuable to the lead. This not only saves time but also helps maintain the momentum of the lead nurturing process.
4. Multichannel Nurturing
A single email campaign is no longer sufficient for nurturing leads. Today, it's vital to adopt a multichannel approach where your messaging remains consistent across all touchpoints, from emails and social media to your website. Tailoring content to fit the lead's position in the sales funnel ensures that each interaction is relevant and helps move the lead closer to making a purchase.
5. Personalisation for Enhanced Engagement
Personalised communication can significantly boost engagement. Marketing technology (MarTech), like HubSpot's CRM, allows you to easily customise your outreach, making your messages more relevant to each individual. Personalised emails, for example, often achieve higher click-through rates and can lead to increased revenue. By addressing the specific interests and needs of each lead, you build stronger relationships and increase the likelihood of conversion.
6. Lead Scoring for Focused Outreach
Prioritising leads is essential for effective nurturing. Collaborate with your marketing and sales teams to create a lead-scoring model that reflects the unique characteristics of your business. Factors like engagement and the lead's position in the buying cycle should all be considered. Accurate lead scoring helps your team focus their efforts on prospects who are more likely to convert, improving overall efficiency and results.
B2B Lead Nurturing Strategies with Targeted Workflows
A single type of workflow may not be sufficient to address the diverse needs and behaviours of your leads as they move through your sales process. Here’s a closer look at several key workflows you can leverage to optimise your lead nurturing efforts:
1. Welcome Workflows
When a new prospect signs up for your email list or fills out a contact form, it's crucial to engage them immediately. Welcome workflows are designed to introduce these new contacts to your brand and offerings.
This series of emails not only welcomes them as subscribers but also provides valuable information about your products or services. You can include calls-to-action (CTAs) that encourage them to explore additional content on your website, helping to move them further down the funnel. Depending on how they interact with this content, they might transition into marketing-qualified leads (MQLs) or sales-qualified leads (SQLs).
2. Topic-Based Workflows
Topic-based workflows are used to gauge the specific interests of your contacts and provide tailored content that aligns with their preferences. This type of workflow is versatile, targeting leads at various stages of the buyer's journey. By sending content that matches the topics they initially engaged with, you can better score and segment your leads.
If a lead doesn’t engage with the first set of content, you can adjust by sending them related topics or different content to see what resonates best. This approach allows you to nurture leads by continuously offering relevant content that moves them closer to making a purchase.
3. Asset Offer Workflows
Asset offer workflows focus on delivering highly targeted content to leads that have already shown specific interests. Unlike topic workflows, which aim to identify interests, asset offer workflows are designed to push leads through the funnel by offering valuable resources at each stage.
For example, you might send an email with an awareness-stage offer, followed by emails with content tailored for the consideration and decision stages. The goal is to guide leads from initial interest to a final purchasing decision by offering exactly what they need at the right time without overwhelming them with too much information at once.
4. Engagement Workflows
Engagement workflows are targeted at leads who are in the final stages of the buyer’s journey and are close to making a purchase decision. These workflows are designed to keep your brand top-of-mind and to position your business as the ideal solution.
The first email in this workflow might highlight why your product or service is the best choice, often supported by case studies or testimonials. Subsequent emails could offer a free trial, demo, or consultation, allowing the lead to experience your solution firsthand. The final email in this sequence might provide pricing information or a compelling offer, encouraging the lead to make a purchase.
5. Re-Engagement Workflows
Not all leads convert right away—some may lose interest or get sidetracked during the buyer's journey. Re-engagement workflows are designed to rekindle interest in these cold leads. This could involve sending updates about new products or services, special offers, or even sharing your brand’s story to evoke a connection.
You might also consider interactive content, like surveys, to re-engage them and assess their current needs. By spacing out these emails and providing content that reignites their interest, you can bring cold leads back into the sales process and potentially convert them into customers.
6. Successful Customer Workflows
Once a lead has completed their journey and become a customer, the nurturing process doesn't end. Successful customer workflows aim to delight and retain your customers by maintaining ongoing engagement.
This could include thank-you emails, satisfaction surveys, or offers for additional products, upgrades, or discounts based on their purchase history. The goal is to keep the relationship strong and encourage repeat business, turning satisfied customers into loyal advocates for your brand.
Set up Your Next Lead Nurturing Process with gigCMO's Fractional CMO Service
Developing a successful lead nurturing process demands strategic planning, and expert execution. Even with an impressive campaign in place, success can be elusive if certain elements are missing—like the quality of your leads, which may not be sales-ready.
gigCMO's Fractional CMO Service offers the marketing leadership necessary to bridge these gaps. Our playbook-driven approach equips your business with the proven strategy needed to drive engagement, shorten conversion times, or boost your conversion rates. Concurrently, we are transferring our knowledge to improve the capability of your own team members Contact us today! Let us help you transform your marketing and sales investments into a powerful engine that drives results.
