5 Steps to Avoid When You Are Lead Nurturing

The lead nurturing process is the disciplined process of engagement with prospects through routine messaging in order to develop a relationship that leads to a purchase. Lead nurturing is more than drip marketing; it’s a process of deepening engagement with your prospects. And it can help more of your sales agents meet their quotas.

But there are some pitfalls to avoid in order to make your lead nurturing practices more effective.

Sending a Single Message to Everyone

One size does not fit all in marketing automation. Often this is the first mistake a new marketing automation user makes. Although the delivery process can be homogenized, your messaging should fit specific market segments. For instance, messaging to realtors may include real estate-specific terms like ‘days on market’ while messages sent to finance-related prospects might include ‘return on investment’. Segmenting your database then sending targeted messages improves the likelihood they will get open.

Not Advancing the Relationship

Broad, generalized messages may be somewhat effective in the early stages of the buying cycle but as B2B leads investigate purchase options they crave more meaningful information. Buyers do not regularly purchase after a single review of their solutions. Rarely does a lead purchase in the early engagement phase. Once a lead has advanced beyond the initial review of available options, they are seeking a deeper connection; therefore, messaging should be progressive.

Not Employing Agile Marketing

Lead nurturing isn’t a set-it-and-forget-it practice, it is a fluid process based on market response. Marketing automation software, like our Lead Management Automation™ platform, allows both small and large marketers to adjust strategies as they receive information from digital marketing campaigns. Marketing analytics are provided so that marketers can modify messaging, reorganize campaigns, and customize digital marketing tools for quick response to market conditions.

Scheduling Improperly

Leads do not want to hear from you every day. They probably don’t want to hear from you every other day. Fact is , B2B buying takes time in most industries so immediate repetition will likely harm your chances of landing a sale more than help. Though there is no magic formula for setting message scheduling, and scheduling intervals likely vary from industry to industry, the use of marketing automation (with its reporting capabilities) can help determine the optimal delivery schedule for your digital marketing assets.

Using Stale Messaging

This is similar to ‘not advancing the relationship’. Old school marketing would tell you to repeat your message over and over to gain mindspace. That practice no longer works in the consumer-driven marketing world. Leads receive messages dozens of times each day so filtering becomes commonplace. Once a lead has engaged with your brand initially, the next step is to move her along so messaging should change as engagements are increased.

Don’t forget that most prospects are often aware they have been contacted previously. Sending the same message with the expectation that the prior message may have been missed is risky. Your content should be fresh and provide value in order to be effective.

Lead nurturing has been shown to improve close rates in several categories. According to a recent DemandGen report, nurtured leads lead to a 20% increase in sales opportunities across multiple industries. That might be reason enough for you to drive more revenue through our marketing automation process.

Got questions? Call Lead Liaison at 888 895 3237 or info[at]leadliaison.com and we’ll give you answers.