What is Lead Nurturing?
Sometimes referred to as drip marketing, lead nurturing is the practice of developing a series of communications (emails, social media messages, etc.) that seek to qualify a lead, keep it engaged, and gradually push it down the sales funnel. Inbound marketing is all about delivering valuable content to the right audience — and lead nurturing helps foster this by providing contextually relevant information to a lead during different stages of the buying lifecycle.
Example
Let’s consider an example of lead nurturing in the context of a B2B software company that offers a project management tool:
Scenario:
- Initial Contact: A lead named John signs up for a webinar hosted by the software company to learn more about project management best practices.
- Welcome Email: After signing up for the webinar, John receives a personalized welcome email thanking him for registering and providing details about the upcoming webinar.
- Webinar Attendance: John attends the webinar and learns about the benefits of effective project management and how the company’s software can help streamline workflows and improve productivity.
- Follow-Up Email: After the webinar, John receives a follow-up email with a recap of key points discussed during the webinar, along with additional resources such as case studies, whitepapers, and video tutorials.
- Educational Content: Over the following weeks, John continues to receive educational content via email, such as blog posts, articles, and infographics related to project management best practices, tips, and industry trends.
- Product Demo: Based on John’s engagement with the educational content, the software company offers to schedule a personalized product demo to showcase how their project management tool can address John’s specific needs and pain points.
- Sales Call: After the product demo, a sales representative from the software company follows up with John to answer any questions he may have and discuss pricing, implementation options, and next steps.
- Trial Activation: John decides to sign up for a free trial of the software to test its features and functionality firsthand.
- Customer Onboarding: Throughout the trial period, John receives guidance and support from the software company’s customer success team to ensure a smooth onboarding experience and maximize his success with the product.
- Conversion: Impressed by the software’s capabilities and the level of support received during the trial, John decides to purchase a subscription and become a paying customer.
In this example, lead nurturing involves providing John with relevant and valuable information at each stage of his decision-making process, addressing his needs and concerns, and ultimately guiding him toward purchasing. Through personalized communication and targeted content delivery, the software company effectively nurtures John from an initial lead to a satisfied customer.