Surely you’ve heard about the 4 phases of inbound marketing: attraction, conversion, closure and loyalty. Of all of them, when a marketing strategy of this type begins to be developed, the main efforts are focused on lead acquisition. However, when a large database of contacts is already available, many companies do not know what to do so that they advance through the sales funnel.
This is a common problem, since it is estimated that less than 20% of the people who enter a website are really prepared to make the purchase. Therefore, an essential strategy for the conversion and closing phases is lead nurturing. If you had not heard this term, lead nurturing is a technique aimed at maturing leads or, what is the same, advancing your users throughout the purchase process. For this it is necessary to understand the different stages of the sales funnel and the needs that buyer people have in each of them.
Lead nurturing is a complex process that requires a carefully prepared strategy and must be constantly updated. But as in everything, if the tactics you’ve tried so far have not worked, there are a number of tips that will help you advance your leads in the purchase process. There are some.
“Lead nurturing is a technique aimed at maturing leads or, what is the same, making them move along the purchase process”
7 recommendations for your contacts to advance in the sales funnel
Lead nurturing strategies must be adapted to the specific characteristics of each company and its buyer people, but there are a number of tips that can help any company improve this process.
#1 Design a content mapping
A content mapping or content map is an essential tool in any inbound marketing and sales strategy, but it can be especially useful in the conversion and closing phases. With this, content adapted to each stage of the funnel can be created with relevant information for the buyer person that the company will send via email. It is important not to rush when sending these emails, since the content of the entire sequence must be prepared before sending the first email.
#2 Create different campaigns for each phase of the sales funnel
The needs of a user who comes into contact with your brand for the first time are different from those of one who has already visited your website several times and has downloaded some of your content. Therefore, an essential aspect of lead nurturing is to create different campaigns for each phase of the sales funnel, since the contents that buyer people will need will be different.
#3 Segment campaigns based on your buyer person
Just as the needs of a buyer person are not the same at all stages of the sales funnel, they will not match in the case of those companies that have different buyer person profiles. Therefore, segmented campaigns will have to be designed according to the target audience and create appropriate content for each of them.
#4 Use an automation tool
The marketing tools automation will help you implement lead nurturing campaigns to be sent automatically and can optimize your time. When automating your campaigns, it is important to conduct a preliminary study of lead s to make the most of this option. It is also essential to control the periodicity and the amount of emails that are sent so as not to be considered as spam.
#5 Use lead scoring
If you have not heard of lead scoring, it is a technique that allows you to systematically rate the degree of interest a lead has in our services. Thanks to this qualification we will be able to detect business opportunities and pass on to the commercial team those contacts that we see more prepared for the purchase. Lead scoring must be perfectly aligned with the lead nurturing strategy so that the lead rating is adequate.
#6 Be multichannel
The biggest weight of the lead nurturing strategy lies in email marketing and automation tools. However, do not underestimate the power of other channels, as they can also be very useful when it comes to getting leads to advance in the buying process. The strategies of social media, direct selling or producing web content must also be involved in the nurturing lead to better results.
#7 Transmits proximity
People like to deal with other people, so we must try to make our emails as personalized as possible to prevent users from detecting that it is an automated process. Some tips in this regard are que mails are signed by actual members of the company, which in the figure emails the name of the person concerned and that a similar language that would be used in a real conversation is used.
As we have advanced, there is no secret that guarantees the success of your lead nurturing strategy one hundred percent, but with these tips and consulting a good inbound marketing book you will surely be able to optimize it and get a better lead to customer conversion rate.