Lead nurturing is an important part of any digital marketing strategy. It’s making targeted attempts to engage with potential customers to increase the chances that they’ll go from stopping for a look to staying for a purchase.
For the past few years, this has typically been done through email. If you’ve ever looked at a product at an online retailer’s site and then received an email reminding you that you may be interested in it, you’ve experienced lead nurturing first hand.
The problem, however, as many marketers have discovered, is that email is not always the best approach. A significant number of consumers delete these emails without even opening them, especially now that so many email clients send promotional emails to a separate inbox. And, even when these emails are opened, they convert to sales less than 5% of the time.
Clearly, this is not an entirely effective a strategy. Still an effective strategy is needed. According to a 2014 study conducted by Forrester Research, companies that are effective in lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads, and they do so at a 33% lower cost per lead.
How can you go beyond email to boost your lead nurturing? Here are five ideas.
1. Create dynamic, engaging content. It should inspire action on the part of your prospective customer! Lots of links, personalization, a strong call to action, and a design that is reader friendly on all devices are just some of the ways to boost the appeal of your lead nurturing content.
2. Understand the buyer’s journey, and target your content to it. Most purchases are impulse buys, especially not these days when consumers have so much access to information about the things they spend their money on. Where is your customer on his or her journey? Knowing how many times he or she has viewed a webpage or how long he or she has been researching can help you target content. It's beneficial to give your consumers content that is useful to them.
3. Pay for retargeting. Retargeted ads may seem a little startling to some users, but many are used to them. And, frankly, these little ads keep your product and website at the front of a consumer’s mind long after he or she has clicked away.
4. Give personalized attention via social media. When consumers like or follow your company on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media channels, you can make your business stand apart by taking the time to engage with these individuals. If you're business is tagged, like their photo. Respond directly to updates and tweets when appropriate. Taking the time to directly engage with them is a time consuming but often worthwhile lead nurturing technique.
5. Don’t quit email altogether. We’re not saying to stop using email as a marketing technique! However, make it count so you’ll rise above the dismal read and reply numbers quoted above.
Let Adeo Interactive Marketing, the Montreal web design and digital strategy experts, help your company with its lead nurturing, social media outreach, and much more. We’re a Montreal marketing agency, and we’re ready to put our talents and experience to work for you. Give us a call at (877) 841-5386, and let’s get started.
