Marketing News
The top approaches that marketers are taking to convert their leads
Transforming a lead into a customer is what nurturing is all about. And with several new pieces of research of late, the key take home is that you need to spend more time courting your customers before they’re ready to make a purchase.
According to Hubspot, almost three quarters (74%) of companies say the top priority for any successful lead nurturing programme is a high conversation rate, and while targeted content is considered one of the most essential elements to achieve those conversions, it doesn’t mean that such campaigns are easy to create.
In fact, research shows that almost half of marketers (43%) say that creating targeted and engaging content is one of the most difficult aspects of a lead nurturing programme.
The new survey of B2B executives also found that more than half of marketers admit their nurturing initiatives need improvement. It also revealed that the last 18 months has been particularly tough with 8 in 10 marketers saying it has been challenging to get any responses from their nurturing programmes at all.
Wherever the customer might be in their purchasing journey, it’s widely understood that improving customer retention, increasing engagement and brand awareness, improving customer experiences and the quality of leads, are all instrumental to nurturing them.
However, aligning marketing and sales efforts continues to be challenging for organisations of all sizes while resources also pose a problem. Add to that the issue of shorter digital attention spans and people being pulled in multiple directions, companies need to get creative and enhance their approach to lead nurturing with highly customized targeted strategies.
A recipe for success
Improving conversion rates isn’t the only priority that marketers say makes lead nurturing programmes successful. Targeted content, timely follow-ups, and personalisation are also essential elements for success but just 29% of brands nurture their existing customers beyond initial purchase.
Warming up customers or businesses who have already bought your products is an obvious first step that many marketeers appear to overlook.
A separate study of more than 161 organisations reveals the new approaches that marketers are taking with their nurture campaigns. Half of those surveyed report they have seen a better response to campaigns or offers due to targeting and relevance (52%) as well as the ability to segment prospects based on interests and behaviours (51%).
Examples of targeting techniques include; email newsletters, thought leadership articles, case studies, product reviews as well as ‘traditional’ sales emails. In terms of segmentation of prospects, more than a third of marketers (37%) use ‘purchasing intent data’ such as industry classification or the prospect’s job role or function. This data allows marketers to produce targeted or even personalised ad content to help drive conversions.
With most organisations looking to bounce back after a challenging couple of years it’s worth remembering that a successful customer nurturing programme should deliver the following key benefits:
- Higher-quality leads
- Higher average order values
- Lower customer acquisition cost
- Improved customer retention
- Establish authority within your industry
Further Reading:
Marketers Say These Elements Make for Successful Lead Nurturing marketing charts
2021 Lead Nurturing & Acceleration Benchmark Survey: Moving Into The Modern Era With Highly Targeted, Account-Based Lead Nurturing Demand Gen Report
What New Approaches Are B2B Execs Taking with Their Nurture Programs? marketing charts
34 Lead Nurturing Statistics to Boost Your Sales smallbizgenius
The State of Lead Nurturing Ascend2
