You’ve built your email list, but now, what to do with it? Quality Leads are an important part of the sales process. This responsive, interested list of email subscribers are the most likely to be your first customers. They have granted you permission to share and communicate with them, giving you the opportunity to keep in touch, share updates, new products and more. Cultivate these relationships and you’ll have an audience of loyal customers for years to come. Here are seven ways to nurture your leads for maximum success.
1. Immediate Contact Increases Conversions
Touching base with your new leads and establishing contact soon after they express interest is key. An estimated 35-50% of sales go to the vendor who responds first, while response rates decline as the age of a lead increases. Connecting with new leads as soon as they sign up can be easy with a winning marketing funnel.
2. Build A Loyal Audience
People tend to spend their money with brands they know and trust. The first time someone converts on your website, the likelihood that they really know who you are or understand why they should do business with you is relatively slim. Nurturing your contacts through email marketing is an opportunity to show what makes you unique and how your products or services can benefit them.
3. Consistent Communication Builds Business
Get off on the right foot and don’t let potential customers slip through the cracks, with a marketing funnel that keeps your audience regularly informed. A recent study found that 66% of buyers indicate that consistent and relevant communication is a key influence in their buying decision.
4. Identify Interests and Solve Challenges
Building a strategic marketing plan, scheduling regular emails, engaging your audience and gathering feedback are great ways to learn more about your audience. You’ll who they are, what they’re interested in, what buying challenges they face, and much more. Posing different questions and presenting different types of content allows you to see who responds to what, so you can qualify your leads and set yourself up for better sales conversations.
5. Segmentation Leads to Success
As you learn more about your audience, you can segment your emails going forward and nurture these leads based on their unique needs. Segmented emails get 50% more clicks, so take any opportunity you have to segment your leads.
6. Increase Engagement and Encourage Customer Loyalty
Lead nurturing is a great way to maintain engagement when a lead has already made a move to interact with you. Lead nurturing is a great way to remind people of your business and what you can offer. It’s an easy, cost effective way to announce new offers and promotions to previous clients, increasing customer loyalty and brand awareness. Market2Lead found that a nurtured email audience has a 23% shorter sales cycle and tend have a 9% higher sale average, showing that there is an opportunity to not only increase the number of sales but the size of sales as well.
7. Get More Referrals and Gain New Leads
Although you are emailing content to a list of existing contacts, lead nurturing can attract new website visitors and generate new leads. If you’re sharing valuable content, your audience is more likely to forward your email to friends and family, expanding your reach and attracting new people to your brand.
There are so many ways to keep your audience engaged without spamming and overwhelming their inboxes. Learning more about your audience and tailoring your message to meet their needs can lead to more sales and more opportunities. To find out more about setting up an effective marketing funnel for your business, contact us.