Sales

How to Automate Your Lead Nurturing Strategy

Gary Serviss

Updated: Dec 13, 2023 · 7 min read

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lead nurturing strategy


Ever heard of the Rule of Seven in marketing? It’s an old saying — one that likely comes from the Golden Age of Advertising — but it’s one that still holds a lot of truth. Simply put, it states that any potential customer needs to see, hear, or interact with your brand at least seven times before deciding to make a purchase.

Already familiar with lead nurturing campaigns? Skip ahead to three automated lead nurturing strategies to try:

  1. Welcome Message
  2. Long-Term Nurture
  3. Targeted Promotions Nurture

The New Rule for Nurturing Customer Relationships

Now, we would argue that the number of required touch points likely increased in the Information Age and has continued to do so in whatever “age” we are in now (The Digital Age? The Experience Age? Someone coin a phrase, stat.). But you get the point: This is something to keep top of mind as you develop your lead nurturing strategies and lead nurturing campaigns.

Let’s take this line of logic one step further. While most of us aren’t ready to buy when we initially window shop a product, we tend to choose companies we know and trust when we’re ready. In fact, 85% of buyers said they like to receive monthly emails from companies they do business with. When we’re in the decision-gathering and -making phases, it’s helpful to have the reminders as well as the follow-up information that allows us to look deeper into the products and companies we’re considering.

What’s a Lead Nurturing Campaign?

Lead nurturing turns leads into customers through engagement and relationship building.

Now, let’s define how to create a lead nurturing campaign from a high level. A typical lead nurturing campaign runs for 60 days or so, though it can go longer if you have engaging content and a reason to be speaking with customers at length.

Lead nurturing example: Perhaps your product or service has a longer buy cycle, like real estate or some home goods, which increases the consideration time your customer takes.

Your campaign should include at least three emails, consisting of targeted content and attractive, highly visible calls-to-action (CTAs), so your leads can evaluate your offers, respond, and build a lasting relationship with your company.

In this blog, we’ll provide you with the best lead nurture strategies and step-by-step examples of how to automate them for greater conversion with less effort.

The Benefits of Lead Nurture Campaigns

The days of the in-your-face sales push are limited. Some would say they are done entirely, but let’s just settle on putting a shelf life on their influence. These days, most customers don’t want to deal with a salesperson if they can avoid it. Purchases are made when a customer has taken the time to feel confident, making it a buyer’s market. This is an incredibly encouraging trend, because savvy buyers are motivated by quality, value, and substance. This makes them predisposed to action or even purchase when you can offer them curated offerings that meet these requirements.

Targeting Leads with Customized Content

Effective lead nurture campaigns use contact data and behavior information to target leads and get them your most relevant content – content that meets them where they live and breathe in an authentic way. A single email has little to no effect on sales conversions, so you need to think long-term. A basic lead nurture campaign runs for about two months (again, sometimes more). Over that time, we recommend sending an email every week or two. Don’t badger your audience and overstay your welcome or they’ll unsubscribe or may mark you as spam.

Segmenting Your Contacts

Based on their engagement during your initial campaign, you can further segment your contacts so they receive regular, highly personalized, and relevant content. By staying top of mind, you ensure you’ll be there when the prospect is ready to purchase.

Don’t Forget to Automate

There are many types of lead nurture strategies. The good ones come from a clear understanding of who your customer is and how your product or service can benefit them. The best ones benefit from automation, so they reach the right customers at exactly the right time.

With that, let’s review just a few of the most effective campaigns you can start building today.

Strategy #1: Welcome Message Nurture Campaigns

Let’s start at the beginning. A customer has engaged with you or has made a purchase. You need to open the conversation in a way that invites them into a deeper, long-term relationship with you.

Here’s an example of a simple-yet-powerful welcome campaign that accomplishes this, one that’s already built into Keap’s Easy Automations. Note the cadence:

  • When a product is purchased
  • Then a welcome email is sent immediately
  • Then a week later an additional follow-up is sent

You can build this type of welcome strategy into any number of short of long-term campaigns. The initial email creates a friendly introduction. A follow-up email shortly afterward builds trust by letting your audience know that you won’t disappear on them. You also have the option of inviting them into other conversations in hopes of cross-selling them other products or services based on their initial interactions with you and your brand.

Strategy #2: Long-Term Nurture

You want client relationships that last years, not days or weeks. To accomplish this, you need to look at nurture channels, like email, as vital and living constants in your business plans.

Here’s an example of a long-term nurture campaign built with Keap’s Easy Automations and email templates, sent weekly to customers that have entered your pipeline. The follow-up series:

  • Customer stories
  • Inside info
  • Exclusive content
  • Product updates
  • FAQ digests

Following a welcome lead nurture, contacts need to be engaged by a long-term, scheduled nurture series. This can take the form of newsletters or other recurring offerings (extra points for finding ways to repurpose existing blog content). You can even share other things of value, like ongoing product or service updates, plus notable industry news. If you stay connected, you also stay top of mind.

Just keep in mind that you’re looking for valuable, relevant content delivered in short bursts — at least a week between messages. That’s what leads to the sort of ROI you want for your business. Don’t send endless emails or huge downloads. You’re providing value, not assigning homework.

Strategy #3: Targeted Promotions Nurture

This is where the best brands show their quality. They share informational — and even entertaining — content to the customers they know would welcome it. This starts the process of transforming your company from one that sometimes sends you emails to coveted “love brand” status.

Here’s an automation being built for a targeted promotions campaign based on identified customer interests. Note the cadence:

When you build trust with customers, you become a thought leader in their minds. And nothing helps build trust and long-term relationships better than tailored content. Not fluff, not generic email blasts, and certainly not content that misses the mark. It’s all about sending the right content to the right customers at the perfect time, all done automatically.

Some Final Notes for Your Lead Nurturing Strategies

The average person needs to be reminded about your product over and over before they get serious about buying. By building nurture strategies, you not only increase engagement and sales, but you reduce the chaos of short-notice, “whack-a-mole” marketing.

Also, remember that utilizing marketing automation for your lead nurture is a proven way of increasing conversions. By ensuring timely and relevant messages are getting to your audiences automatically, you eliminate the risk of these customers slipping through the cracks. Keap makes these automations quick and easy to build, as you can see above. No coding or strategic experience required.

Want to try Keap’s Easy Automations for yourself? Give Keap a chance with a 14-day free trial. No commitments necessary, no credit card needed, and absolutely no hassles.

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