Share this
Understanding the Value of Lead Nurturing
by Greg Lukach on Fri, Dec 13, 2019 @ 09:01
As humans, we're hardwired to demand storytelling. Traditional stories involve relatable characters achieving some degree of success or closure. We enjoy these stories because we can empathize with the plight of each main character and want them to be successful.
As professionals, we also want to succeed. This is why when researching solutions to our problems we demand case studies and testimonials that show and tell how organizations similar to ours have achieved success.
So it's no surprise that case studies (also known as customer success stories) are extremely effective at converting prospects into customers and one of the most powerful lead nurturing tools.
The value of lead nurturing is undeniable, but lead nurturing is much more than the creation and distribution of case studies. It's an important strategic process that closes a sale. Telling a compelling story about how your brand can help prospects and leads succeed is a big part of it, and keeping lead nurturing tactics top-of-mind when developing your overarching customer experience strategy is a must.
The Basics of Lead Nurturing Explained
You're probably familiar with the concept of lead generation, or, broadly, the identification and capture of new prospects that may become ideal customers in the future.
Lead nurturing is the next critical stage in a buyer's journey: It takes potential buyers who have expressed interest in some way—and, in effect, have provided you their contact information—and gradually pushes them to the sale.
In other words, lead nurturing advances a prospect's relationship with your organization from "someone seeking information" to "someone who sees your organization as the solution-provider they need." This is why lead nurturing is all about developing trust, authority and expertise—and why case studies are one tool that fits the bill (other effective lead nurturing tools include newsletters and other informational emails).
But regardless of tool or tactic, the end goal of each lead nurturing effort is the same:
- Increase the chance that highly qualified leads become customers
- Shorten their buyer's journeys to quicken the sale
- Create a positive digital marketing customer experience
This is why, throughout the lead nurturing process, your sales and marketing teams should be serving up content that tells a captivating story and helps prospects see your organization as the industry leader that can best resolve their pain points.
To do this, you should only create content that relates to the primary goals and objectives of your ideal buyer personas. Content should also be industry-relevant and distributed via channels where your buyer personas consume information in the format they want—determining this requires research and often the help of inbound marketing experts.
The Main Benefits of Lead Nurturing
The complexity and scope of your lead nurturing strategy will depend on your industry and your ideal buyer personas, and creating a successful strategy will take time and need to be continually refined based on what efforts are generating results.
But lead nurturing is worth the effort, and here are two reasons why.
You'll Improve the Quality of Your Leads and Spend Less Getting Them
There are a lot of impressive stats out there celebrating the effectiveness of lead nurturing, but one that drives the point home is that 79% of marketing leads never convert to sales due to a lack of lead nurturing efforts.
To put it another way: Nearly eight out of every 10 prospects aren't converting because companies haven't done the following prior to going in for the sale:
- Built enough trust
- Created personalized lead nurturing experiences and customer experience strategies
- Clearly explained the value of relevant products or service offerings
- Effectively told the organization's brand story
Related, 65% of B2B marketers don't use lead nurturing, which could help explain the overwhelming number of leads that never convert.
With lead nurturing, you're helping customers understand the relevance of your solutions and specifically how they relate to your prospects' businesses. At the same time, you're creating buyers journeys that allow them to opt out naturally and help you determine if a lead is worth pursuing at all. For example, a prospect may be nearing the sale, but it isn't until they try out your free demo that they determine the fit just isn't right. Or, based on the information a lead has provided via website form or by subscribing to your email newsletter, you may find that the lead's budget or company size doesn't make them an ideal prospect. In this instance, you'll likely decide not to pursue them.
Because well-crafted lead nurturing strategies thoroughly vet leads, the leads that get to your sales team will only be of the highest quality and closely match your ideal buyer personas. And because the lead nurturing process can be automated using customer relationship management (CRM) software and other tools, getting these high-quality leads comes at a much lower cost. In fact, Forrester Research found that companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost.
You'll Increase Your Average Order Value
Taking the time upfront to create a lead nurturing strategy that offers up the content your buyer personas want when they want it will produce leads that want to spend more.
This is because, throughout a well-thought-out lead nurturing process, prospects will realize exactly how your offerings can provide a return on their investment and help them overcome challenges.
This translates into leads wanting to spend more. According to research from Annuitas, leads that are nurtured generate a 47% higher average order value (AOV) compared to leads that aren't nurtured.
Lead Nurturing Offers Even More Benefits
From helping create loyal customers to further establishing industry authority, there are many other benefits proper lead nurturing can bring to your organization—especially when it's woven into a broader sales, marketing and customer experience strategies that leverage a suite of digital marketing solutions.
If you want to learn more about the value of lead nurturing, reach out today.
Share this
- Inbound Marketing (126)
- Manufacturing (82)
- Lead Generation (70)
- Website Design & Development (58)
- Social Media (46)
- Online Brand Strategy (38)
- eCommerce (33)
- B2B Marketing (28)
- Expert Knowledge (28)
- Digital Marketing (26)
- Company Culture (22)
- Content Marketing (16)
- Customer Experience (15)
- Metrics & ROI (15)
- Search Engine Optimization (15)
- Marketing and Sales Alignment (12)
- Transportation and Logistics (10)
- Content Marketing Strategy (9)
- Email Marketing (9)
- SyncShow (9)
- Digital Sales (8)
- Lead Nurturing (8)
- Digital Content Marketing (7)
- Mobile (7)
- Brand Awareness (6)
- General (5)
- Digital Marketing Data (4)
- Video Marketing (4)
- LinkedIn (3)
- Professional Services (3)
- Transportation Insights (3)
- Demand Generation (2)
- News (2)
- PPC (2)
- SEO (2)
- SSI Delivers (2)
- Account-Based Marketing (1)
- Facebook (1)
- High Performing Teams (1)
- Instagram (1)
- KPI (1)
- Marketing Automation (1)
- Networking (1)
- Paid Media (1)
- Retargeting (1)
- StoryBrand (1)
- Storytelling (1)
- Synchronized Inbound (1)
- Value Proposition (1)
- October 2024 (2)
- September 2024 (4)
- August 2024 (4)
- July 2024 (1)
- June 2024 (1)
- May 2024 (4)
- April 2024 (1)
- March 2024 (3)
- January 2024 (2)
- December 2023 (4)
- November 2023 (3)
- October 2023 (1)
- September 2023 (4)
- August 2023 (3)
- July 2023 (2)
- June 2023 (2)
- August 2022 (2)
- July 2022 (2)
- June 2022 (1)
- March 2022 (2)
- February 2022 (1)
- January 2022 (2)
- October 2021 (1)
- June 2021 (1)
- May 2021 (1)
- March 2021 (1)
- December 2020 (1)
- October 2020 (2)
- September 2020 (1)
- August 2020 (3)
- July 2020 (3)
- June 2020 (4)
- May 2020 (2)
- April 2020 (3)
- March 2020 (9)
- February 2020 (5)
- January 2020 (6)
- December 2019 (5)
- November 2019 (7)
- October 2019 (6)
- September 2019 (8)
- August 2019 (5)
- July 2019 (5)
- June 2019 (3)
- May 2019 (2)
- April 2019 (1)
- March 2019 (2)
- February 2019 (1)
- January 2019 (2)
- November 2018 (1)
- October 2018 (1)
- September 2018 (1)
- August 2018 (1)
- May 2018 (2)
- March 2018 (1)
- November 2017 (1)
- October 2017 (1)
- September 2017 (1)
- August 2017 (2)
- July 2017 (2)
- May 2017 (1)
- April 2017 (1)
- February 2017 (1)
- January 2017 (1)
- December 2016 (1)
- November 2016 (8)
- October 2016 (7)
- September 2016 (2)
- August 2016 (2)
- July 2016 (6)
- June 2016 (3)
- May 2016 (4)
- April 2016 (6)
- March 2016 (6)
- February 2016 (7)
- January 2016 (7)
- December 2015 (6)
- November 2015 (2)
- October 2015 (3)
- September 2015 (2)
- August 2015 (4)
- July 2015 (9)
- June 2015 (9)
- May 2015 (8)
- April 2015 (8)
- March 2015 (9)
- February 2015 (7)
- January 2015 (8)
- December 2014 (7)
- November 2014 (7)
- October 2014 (5)
- September 2014 (4)
- August 2014 (4)
- July 2014 (5)
- June 2014 (4)
- May 2014 (5)
- April 2014 (4)
- March 2014 (7)
- February 2014 (9)
- January 2014 (7)
- August 2013 (2)
- July 2013 (4)
- June 2013 (6)
- May 2013 (7)
- April 2013 (7)
- March 2013 (8)
- February 2013 (5)
- January 2013 (7)
- December 2012 (4)
- November 2012 (4)
- October 2012 (2)
- September 2012 (1)
- July 2012 (1)
- April 2012 (4)
- March 2012 (5)
- February 2012 (2)
- January 2012 (3)
- November 2011 (1)
- May 2011 (3)
- April 2011 (1)
- March 2011 (1)
- February 2011 (1)
- December 2010 (2)
- November 2010 (3)
- August 2010 (1)
- July 2010 (1)
- May 2010 (2)
- April 2010 (1)
- January 2010 (1)