Emailing is a popular form of communication, with around 4.3 billion email users worldwide. Tap into that potential customer base by building relationships with them through an email campaign.
A lead nurturing campaign enables you to move potential leads through your marketing funnel so that by the time they get to the end of it, they’re ready to make a purchase. Email lead nurturing campaigns are an effective way to turn a prospective customer into one that’s loyal for life.
This guide will discuss how to nurture leads via email to increase your bottom line and customer base.
What’s a Lead Nurturing Email?
When you send a message to a lead, encouraging them to make a purchase, that’s a lead nurturing email. A great lead nurturing email will follow the three E’s:
- Entice
- Engage
- Encourage
Your leads should want to continue interacting with your brand once they receive your emails. A potential customer can have a few different interactions with your business. Some of them include:
- Subscribing to your mailing list
- Adding an item to their shopping cart
- Setting up a meeting
- Using a promotional coupon
Contrary to popular belief, email isn’t dead. Around 99% of people check their inbox each day. They’ll check their email first thing in the morning or multiple times a day.
What’s a Lead Nurturing Campaign?
With a lead nurture email campaign, you’ll send out multiple emails designed to nurture your lead into converting into a customer. A lead nurture email campaign typically begins when a lead takes action on your website.
You’ll stay in contact with your lead during every step of their interaction with you with this email campaign. You can provide several things to your leads in your emails, such as reminders or resources.
As time goes on, the lead might not interact with your business, make a purchase, or click on your call-to-action. If they’re still showing interest in your business, they’ll need ongoing engagement to drive them through the sales funnel toward making a conversion.
Best Practices for Lead Nurturing Emails
Let’s talk about some of the best practices to keep in mind when creating a lead nurturing email campaign. It’s crucial that you build a relationship with your lead built on understanding, consistency, and trust.
Provide Content With Valuable Insights
All your emails to your leads should include valuable content. Think of the emails as small blog posts.
For example, imagine that you own a chiropractic business. Your first email might talk about the top things you should think about before picking a chiropractor.
You want to communicate to your leads that you’re an expert in your industry. As you teach your leads something new, they’ll look forward to receiving your emails. They’ll want to continue receiving emails from you.
Focus on a Single Topic
Each email in your lead nurturing email campaign should be centered around a single topic. It should also include a strong CTA.
Put yourself in the position of your lead as you craft your emails. They have to sift through countless emails all day long. Ensure the content of your message is directly tied to the topic that made the lead initially convert.
For example, say you sell IT software, and your lead inputted their email address to receive a FAQ document about your company. This lead is likely near the top of the sales funnel and is researching an upcoming purchase.
The first email in your campaign could be about “discussing with your management team the importance of IT software.” You want to directly talk about the problem your potential customer is trying to solve.
Get Straight to the Point
You don’t need to create custom graphics for your lead nurture emails. You want your lead to glance at your message and know what value they can pull from it within a few seconds.
Businesses tend to dump a lot of information into a single email. Adding unrelated links or secondary CTAs will decrease the effectiveness of your lead nurture campaign. Leads might also unsubscribe from your emails if your message is too lengthy.
It’s recommended to keep your emails around 50-125 words. You can extend your message to connect with your leads, but keep it concise.
Have a Natural Progression
Your lead nurture email campaign should have a natural flow to create a well-rounded campaign. After your initial “welcome” email with your lead, the following one might focus on educational materials. Subsequent emails can also provide educational materials while giving your lead the chance to convert.
There’s also an excellent opportunity to promote a demo or free trial of your product in the middle and latter half of your campaign. Speak with your sales team about what they consider a “sales-ready potential customer.” You can craft your campaigns accordingly.
Test Your Lead Nurture Emails
Testing your lead nurture emails allows you to fine-tune the campaign. You can track key metrics, such as:
- How many people clicked one of your links
- Unsubscribe rate
You want your unsubscribe rate to be under 5%. If it gets higher than that percentage, you’ll need to evaluate your campaigns.
Personalize Your Emails
The emails you send out should be personalized to your lead. The personalization depends upon how they’ve interacted with your brand and what type of consumer they are.
Think about things like:
- Have they purchased from you before?
- How much time has passed since you last contacted them?
- Did they receive their welcome email?
All of the above factors will influence the content of your emails.
Automate Your Lead Nurturing Email Campaigns
Your email campaigns should be automated and personalized. Manually sending out an email to each lead would take an excessive amount of time. Depending on how they interact with your brand, you can utilize email marketing software to send scheduled email blasts to your leads.
Partner With an Experienced Marketing Agency
A lead nurturing campaign is an excellent opportunity to provide value to your leads while nudging them along the sales funnel. The goal is conversion while creating a meaningful relationship with potential customers.
Schedule a marketing consultation with Fishhook Marketing to learn more about our services and how we can help with emails for lead nurturing.