25 Effective Lead Nurturing Strategies

Nurturing your leads and converting them into paying customers is the most rewarding journey for marketers and businesses. 

Everyone wants to pave their way to this road, but it is challenging to lead your subscribers toward convincing them to purchase from you. 

Email marketing is the key to quality lead nurturing as it offers avenues such as segmentation, personalization, and quality communication on a consistent basis. 

The only problem is it is hard to crack the audience and make customers out of them. 

Every audience, no matter how quality leads you to have, requires a significant amount of push to make an investment in the product. 

First, you aim to win their attention and time along with creating valuable engagements which they cherish. 

It is well-strategized laid-out planning but to begin with, here are some highly effective, most powerful strategies that worked for successful brands to nurture their leads. 

email marketing strategies for lead nurturing

Outline Your Lead Nurturing Strategy 

Before even getting started with your email marketing strategy or within the stage, you need to outline your lead nurturing strategy first. 

This is important because when you have a detailed step-by-step outline for your strategies, it becomes efficient and quick to streamline them. 

You will be able to launch, test, and make changes in a more systematic and sequential manner to get the best results. 

Know Your Sales Cycle 

The very first part of this outline has to be understanding your sales cycle. 

This is essential to know first because this is going to make an impact on all aspects of your campaign. 

You also need to acknowledge the fact all the tips, guidelines, or strategies you will read in this article require to be customized as per your requirement. 

For example, When it is recommended to set a regular or consistent email frequency, this will be different for a company with an average sales cycle of several months as compared to others. 

For those companies, daily emails won’t be appropriate as it will be too much. Similarly, if there is a company that tends to make their sales every week, for them, even daily emails are insufficient. 

It will be better for them to go for multiple emails throughout the day to grab their attention and generate more and more sales towards the week. 

Make Sure You Set Up A Clear & Measurable Goal 

One of the important and earliest steps in outlining your email lead nurturing strategy is setting up your goals. 

It comes after you understand what your sales cycle is, and now everything you adapt to improve your strategy will be accordingly. 

You need to set up reasonable, clear, and objective targets which are quantifiable and easy to be tracked. 

Make sure these goals must address the contribution of both front-end metrics of email marketing, that is – open rates and click-through rates. 

It also should address the back-end metrics which are the number of sales and conversion rate of your email campaign. 

Back-end Metrics Vs. Front-end Metrics 

Two front-end performance metrics, open rates, and click-through rates both, should be part of your goal setting. 

But with that, you also need to remember that both of these metrics vary depending upon the industry you are in, acquisition cost, lead source, and other different variables. 

Back-end metrics can be used to set up goals that are more detailed and play a crucial part in the latter half of your email marketing strategy. 

You can set up back-end goals such as consumer site engagement, overall sales growth, return on investment, return on ad spend, cost per store visit, etc., for your campaign. 

Looking for more? Read 20 Email Marketing Metrics That Every Marketer Should Know About

Setting Up The Expectation Through Opening Sequence 

The first point of contact through email marketing in the process of lead nurturing is essential, so much so that it determines the overall relationship between your brand and prospects. 

When a subscriber joins your email list, this is the first impression you’re going to make through your first email. 

This email is usually stated as a welcome email. The purpose of the welcome email is : 

  • Showing gratitude to the subscriber for signing up 
  • Setting up expectations as to what kind of content they can expect
  • Mention your frequency and timing 
  • What values can they gain in the long term through this? 
  • Help them get started. 

The welcome email you will send to your subscribers needs to be something simple as an introduction yet promising in its approach. 

You also have to somehow set the bar right here and show what kind of experience they can expect from this journey or relationship. 

Show Gratitude 

Your welcome email must include the fact of how grateful you’re to be getting the valuable time of the subscriber. 

It is important to register that even with hundreds of emails coming their way, they choose to be part of your subscription and engage with you. 

This is the jumpstart of this new relationship you propose here to build on, beginning from the one overwhelming emotion of gratitude you have for them. 

Do not be afraid to make it personalized and add elements that would be more relative to your particular targeted audience.  Be informal and casual yet responsible in your attitude. 

Reflect On Your Promise and Vision 

This is probably the most important part of the welcome email. To begin this, you have to give them a promise about what they are getting out of this. 

It needs to be a bit abstract, ambitious, and emotionally driven. You set up what kind of experience they will have with this relationship. 

Make it concise and to the point. Again, don’t be constrained by formalities. Try to hit on the pain points of your targeted user and talk specifically about how this can be helpful. 

This is also the spot where you can tell yourself something about what makes your brand more relatable. 

For example, if you are a brand about fitness or diets, you can share how you lost 30 pounds in 3 months without making yourself starve. Connect on the pain points, the problems, the desires, etc. 

Then show up your vision as what you set out to do by integrating a mission statement that is based on your emotional journey and struggle. 

Setting Up Expectations

Setting up expectations is a more practical aspect of building this relationship, where you tell them exactly what they can expect in this particular subscription.  

You tell them what kind of content they will be receiving, at what time, and also how many emails roughly they can receive in a week or month. 

Give more details about what exactly you are going to help them with. How, through a few emails, can they change?  

Make it so detailed, valuable, and promising that they get hooked to your emails right here, back up with all the emotional journey, and promise you to set up. 

Get Them Started By Providing Value-Driven Content 

With all this, you also have to remember that this is the first email you’re sending to them, so this also needs to be valuable to prove your point. 

Make sure you’re giving your subscribers a taste of what is yet to come. You can add a few of your top blogs, or better will be the content that they need at this stage. 

You can share some cheat sheets or downloads that will be helpful to get them started or introduce them to this new concept, skill, or niche. 

This is to make sure that readers trust you and the promise you’re making to them in the welcome email. 

The content you attach should be so good that they get hooked to what you’re offering, and it must make them anticipate your next email. 

No CTAs 

This is your first email to your subscriber, don’t burden them by putting up links to your products through CTA in this email only. 

You first have to focus on developing a strong relationship with your subscribers. Aim to increase engagement. 

In fact, it is better not to add unnecessary call-to-action (CTAs) in the first few emails you send to your subscribers. 

Focus on providing value, not promoting your product. However, if you have offered exclusive discounts or coupon codes as a lead magnet, you must further provide them value to claim their offer. 

But make sure not to include more promotions. Once you build a relationship with them, you are going to have many opportunities to offer them products. 

Optimizing Onboard Experience 

You can always just send one welcome email, but if you think there is a lot to unpack and lead your subscriber into, it is okay to send a succession or series of welcome emails. 

These welcome emails basically follow the structure or contents of the usual welcome email but may be more elaborate. 

It can also infuse curiosity if you use this series of emails aiming to provide a great onboarding experience for your subscriber. 

For example, the first can be about just gratitude and setting up some mild expectations. 

Another can be a personal story about why you started this company building on relatability. Then you can send an email featuring some best content you have to offer to begin with. 

Using Multiple Lead Nurturing Email Types To Increase Engagement 

One of the primary aims of nurturing your leads is to first engage with them. If you are unable to do so, then they certainly are not going to buy from you. 

You have to create multiple touchpoints with your leads to get remembered in their mind. 

One email or two emails aren’t sufficient enough to nurture your lead toward sales. It hardly happens. 

So you must have multiple types of emails to provide value and engagement to your subscribers. 

The idea here is also to not be repetitive and boring. Also, you have to strike a balance between your value-driven emails and marketing emails. 

Don’t forget to read the 25 Email Marketing Strategies for Better Lead Nurturing

Different lead nurturing examples you should be focused on 

  • Welcome Email 
  • Informational Email 
  • Engagement Email
  • Webinar Announcement Email 
  • Promotional Email
  • Instructional Email 
  • FAQ Email 
  • Abandoned Cart Email 
  • Offer Email 

Personalizing Your Email Marketing Copy 

Personalization is an obvious step for email marketers now, especially in the coming year, it is shaping towards a much more advanced level. 

Modern marketing technologies such as AI algorithms, machine learning tools, and other advanced-level strategies are only leveling up personalization in emails. 

Hyper-personalization through micro-segmentation is one of the promising examples of what the future of email marketing is ahead. 

But how does it play a crucial role in nurturing your leads? 

The Role Of Personalization In Nurturing Leads

Nurturing leads is a step where you have already gained the interested users, the potential buyers, but they are still far away from purchasing from you. 

So personalizing plays an essential role in nurturing the lead as to communicate with the audience that you know them better than their competitors. 

You need to ensure that your customers or potential buyers do not leave you for your competitors. 

Because since it is sure that they are going to make a purchase, the question is whether it will be from you or from your competitors. 

Nurturing leads is the only way to ensure that you don’t leave money on the table with these already buying-intent customers. 

How To Personalize Your Email Marketing Campaigns? 

91% of customers are more likely to buy from brands that provide them with relevant offers and quality recommendations. 

This ensures that you have to personalize your product offerings to get the maximum conversion at this stage. 

So how do you personalize your emails?  Well, here is your answer in simple pointers, which you need to go through : 

  • To start with, segment your contact list based on different buyer’s personas 
  • You can also segment your list with various factors, including age, demographics, gender, their previous buying habits, previous purchases, etc.
  • Once you segment your contact list, you now have different personas of your potential buyers or segmented lists based on a particular factor.
  • When you craft customized offers or emails depending upon these personas or segmented lists, you will be more likely to receive more engagement.
  • You can use advanced email marketing tools to perform segmentation or can hire a reputed marketing agency as well.
  • Focus on creating dynamic emails with custom and personalized offers sent out to each subscriber differently.
  • Make sure you encourage your subscribers to take action after reading the email. Put a clear CTA in the email as well.
  • Don’t forget to personalize the email subject lines to get more and more people to open their emails. 

Don’t forget to read the 15+ Best Successful Email Marketing Campaigns To Learn From.

Choosing The Right Email Cadence 

What kind of emails you’re sending to your subscribers in a sequence and what mixes you’re using determines whether they are going to be engaged or get bored. 

And you don’t want your subscribers to get bored of your emails. Because if you have the same rhythm or say cadence to your emails, they will start losing interest in your emails. 

After a while, it will become second nature to ignore your emails or not pay attention to them at all. 

You also must have some of these emails in your inbox that you know the sender and have interacted with earlier, but now it becomes too obvious or boring for you to even check them. 

So, choosing the right email cadence is one of the most important factors in keeping your subscribers engaged. 

This also depends upon the frequency in which you’re sending them and the time as well. If you send them too many and too often, they will stop paying attention to it. 

If you send too infrequently or randomly, they tend to forget you and might never open it at all. 

Now, you have to understand there is no one-size-fits-all rate for businesses to go for. You have to figure out your own email cadence to make it more engaging. 

Some brands focus on high-value newsletters that are sent only twice a week to the subscribers, whereas some brands send one email daily. 

You have to first know your audience and see how they respond to what kind of emails. There is a lot of testing and analysis required to find the right mix for your audience. 

Creating Drip Campaigns For Lead Nurturing 

You must have heard the saying “ out of sight, out of mind”. It is true for brands as well, and that’s also the reason why advertising works. 

Brands need to send consistent emails to their subscribers to remain top of their minds. 

To really be memorable, you need to engage more with prospects and become a resounding name in their mind. 

When you engage with customers in a systematic way, you slowly move them toward the bottom of the sales funnel. 

Have a look at the 15 Best Email Marketing Strategies To Drive Blog Traffic.

How do Drip Campaigns work? 

What is really challenging about drip campaigns is sending out different emails on a consistent basis and at different times. 

It takes a lot of effort and time as well. But thanks to advanced email marketing tools that allow you to use the automation form of drip campaigns. 

Drips campaigns are about setting up a series of emails based on different triggers or specific actions lined up to send out to a potential buyer in a sequential manner. 

The best part of the drip campaigns is – 

  • It allows you to send the right emails at the right time, nurturing the leads toward conversion without rushing them up.
  • Marketing emails reaching out with such consistency develops a brand image in the minds of subscribers.
  • Overall, if not anything, your brand name will be at the top of the mind of your users, also nurturing them alongside. 

Craft High-Valuable & Helpful Content For Subscribers 

This is one of the most criminally underrated email marketing methods to nurture your leads, perhaps because it seems just obvious. 

That’s also the reason why it is one of the most overlooked strategies for lead nurturing in email marketing. 

You have to combine the power of a content marketing plan and email marketing strategy into one. 

One thing that your subscriber definitely craves is highly valuable and helpful content- something you can exclusively offer to them.

The smartest way to do so is to compile the best blog post on a particular topic from your blog.website.com and share them on a consistent basis. 

The content here needs to be extremely valuable rather than just another blog on the internet. 

What Content Can You Offer? 

Now, it definitely varies from industry to industry and niche to niche. But you need to establish yourself as an industry leader and expert. 

Here are a few content ideas that you can share through emails to nurture your leads : 

Email Course 

Email courses are basically the content delivered to the inboxes of your subscribers over time and one by one. 

What you can do is either craft brand new or curate the best blog content from your website and put it into an email course. 

But you will send them one by one daily or weekly into their inbox as different modules or chapters. 

To make it interactive, you can also put some kind of exercise or homework with it. At the end of the email content, you can also integrate social media links or any other CTA to engage even more. 

Video Email Course 

Just like the email course, here you will send one video daily from a detailed video email course on a particular topic. 

For example, if you are a photography blog or store, you can start a video email course featuring one video sent to subscribers’ inboxes daily. 

For day one, the topic can be about “how to pick the right camera for you”, and the second day’s video can be about “ Shutter Speed.” And so on. 

Curated Content 

Don’t hesitate to curate content from all over the web if it means providing the best content for the subscriber. 

Curating content across the web to help the subscriber. 

Integrating Powerful Call-To-Actions (CTAs) In Your Email Marketing 

CTAs are an essential part of email marketing. It is important because it gives a sense of direction to take action for your recipients. 

When you’re nurturing leads, it is important that you end your email with an easy and clear call to action. 

Your subscribers need to know the purpose of the email and what they are supposed to do after reading it. 

In fact, the whole email design and copy of your email must be optimized according to the dedicated CTA of your email, and its purpose. 

For example, if you are crafting an email with the purpose of encouraging prospective buyers to purchase the recently added products, then the copy will be accordingly. 

The subject line will be also crafted in a way to pull them into the offer you make. You can encourage them by offering additional exclusive discounts. 

CTAs are essential anyway, whether you are selling or you want them to visit your website.

Pro Tips For Using CTAs In Your Email 

Here are a few things you need to remember while using CTAs in your emails 

  • Make sure that the CTAs you are integrating into your email is clear and accessible to the view of the reader.
  • Your CTA must align with the rest of your email copy and design.
  • Focus more on the text you’re using in the CTA. The hyperlinked text is what draws them in and attracts them to click on it.
  • Ensure that you’re using well-designed CTA buttons, which must pop from the rest of the email as it will be easier to spot prospects.
  • You also have to ensure the placement of the CTA button must be very convenient and easily spotted without any effort.
  • The hyperlinked text of the CTA button should clearly communicate the action that the user wants to take. 

Segment Your Contact List 

Segmentation is an essential and modern marketing practice where you focus on a precise interest or desire commonly categorized into their respective segments. 

It is basically creating a list within the list and striving to achieve more relevancy and personalization to your campaign. 

Segmentation can definitely help in nurturing your leads in the best way possible as utilizing this; you would know better about your targeted subscriber. 

Further, separating your contact list into groups based on a set of characteristics make you create content specifically suited for them. 

This makes their marketing message stronger and more focused on their specific desires and challenges. 

It has the power to boost your open rates, conversion, and basically every metric of email marketing tenfold. 

Request For Feedback 

Getting feedback from your prospects helps you to get engaged with them more, and get to know them. 

For lead nurturing, that’s perfect and exactly what you would want. 

Engaging more with subscribers and getting to know their feedback gives you insight into personalization. 

In fact, it can help you to improve your approach towards prospective buyers and lead generation. 

Not just that, if you are getting feedback from prospective buyers, you can ask for what they look for in an ideal product ( in your respective niche). 

And then, you can focus on developing the same in your product or services. 

Asking for feedback from your leads also makes you a more responsible and credible brand in the eyes of the prospective buyer. 

No marketing campaign is perfect. You need to make consistent improvements on the basis of feedback and analytics. 

Feedback also helps you get away from the dead-end and find out what went wrong with your previous effort. 

One of the effective methods to get feedback from your customers is requesting them to take your survey. 

Pro Tip: If you find some specific remarks or concerns from your leads, you can email them personally to mention how you heard them and fix the solution. 

This is going to increase engagement tenfold and your brand reputation hundreds fold, establishing your brand caring for the customers. 

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