Lead Nurturing Campaigns: Everything You Need to Know in 6 Easy Steps

Launch Your Online Business in Just 7 Days

Have you been spending all your time and effort generating new leads, but you’re still lacking the conversions?

Sounds like your leads may need some TLC!

With an effective lead nurturing strategy, you could see a 50% increase in sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost — you’ll be maximizing your conversions in no time!

Keep reading to learn everything there is to know about nurture campaigns, including how to build one, and discover the perfect tool that’ll help you achieve the results you’ve been working for!

1. What is a lead nurturing campaign?

Lead nurturing is the process of nurturing buying behavior and building solid, lasting relationships with your leads.

A lead nurturing campaign is an automated marketing campaign that targets current leads and takes them on a personalized journey through the buying process.

Unfortunately, not every lead you gain is ready to buy — in fact, 80% of new leads never convert to customers.

It may also be the case that a once fresh and lively lead has, after a period of neglect, withered and gone cold.

But don’t worry — this doesn’t have to be every lead’s fate!

To engage with your leads, you can use any channels at your disposal, but automated email campaigns and content marketing are the preferred methods.

Here are the main benefits you can gain from a powerful lead nurturing campaign:

Activate inactive leads — Revive your leads with personalized engagement
Shorten your sales process — Convert leads faster by guiding them through the buyer’s journey
Cut costs — Inbound leads cost you 39% less than outbound leads
Build a loyal fan base — Build lasting relationships that’ll keep your customers coming back for more
Automate the entire process — Save time and energy through marketing automation
Maximize conversions and increase sales — Scale your business faster by optimizing your conversions and sales

This is a marketing strategy you don’t want to miss out on!

Let’s dive a bit deeper into the nitty-gritty details of a lead nurturing strategy.

1.1. What is a nurture strategy?

A nurture strategy is your approach to engage inactive leads, establish relationships, and nurture the sales process.

These days, with offers being thrown at leads from every direction, leads no longer want to be “sold” to — they want to be heard.

Source: GIPHY

Speak directly to your leads in a personalized and meaningful way that’s relevant to where they are in the buying process.

To do this, you’re going to need to understand the concept of a sales funnel.

A sales funnel is the journey of new prospects from first becoming aware of your brand to converting to fully-fledged customers.

A sales funnel has 4 distinct stages — Awareness, Interest, Decision, and Action.

By identifying where each lead is in your sales funnel, you can provide the relevant content needed to nurture them through each stage.

Just doing this can already increase your conversion rates by 72%!

A successful nurture strategy takes it one step further.

By gathering personalized data on each lead, you can create a campaign that’s specific to each lead, making them feel heard and seen in a way they never have before.

Here’s a framework that shows you how to approach each stage in the buyer’s journey:

1. Educate — Interest your lead and gain authority by teaching them something new using educational content.

2. Inform — Provide answers to the specific problem or pain point they’re experiencing.

3. Engage — Use personalized data to address them directly.

4. Convert — Position your offer as the perfect solution.

Customize this process for each lead, and you’ll be nurturing leads through the sales process in no time!

However, not all potential customers can transform into paying customers.

So it’s important to identify the ones that have the most potential to become sales-ready leads — you can do this through lead scoring.

1.2. What is lead scoring?

Lead scoring is the process of assigning your leads numerical values depending on how they score on specific criteria.

Lead scoring allows you to differentiate between a lead with potential and a lead that’ll just waste your time and money.

Score each lead in 4 easy steps:

1. Define your criteria

Some useful ones to include are:

Demographic — Do they fit into your target audience?
Point of origin — From which channel did they first find you?
Behavior — What decisions have they made, and how have they interacted with your business?
Interest — How much time have they spent on your website and on what exactly?
Engagement — How and where have they actively engaged with your business?
Sales funnel stage — How far are they into the buyer’s journey?

Segment each criterion into individual categories for your leads — for example, categories for point of origin include referrals, social media, search results, blog, affiliates, and so on.

2. Value each category and criteria

To value each criterion fairly, you can calculate the conversion rates — divide the number of conversions by the total number of leads in that category, and multiply it by 100.

So if out of the 100 referral leads, 50 of them convert, you have a 50% conversion rate.

Compare this to social media, where maybe only 20 leads out of 100 convert, giving a 20% conversion rate.

3. Assign scores

Score each lead based on the criteria, usually on a scale of 1-10, but you can use a scale of 1-100 if you want to be more precise.

The categories that have higher conversion rates yield higher scores.

You can either just add the scores together and find an average, or, if you’re feeling fancy, you can give more important criteria some extra weight and include that in your calculations.

4. Compare leads

Compare the scores, and find the highest numbers — these are the ones you want to nurture.

After all, why spend time on an impossibly long list of leads when you can focus on a few incredibly qualified leads that are guaranteed sales with just a little nurturing?

Source: GIPHY

1.3. What’s the difference between drip and lead nurture campaigns?

Seeing as lead nurturing often takes the form of an email campaign, you may be wondering how a nurture campaign differs from a drip campaign.

A drip campaign is an automated email sequence that sends out scheduled emails to segmented lists.

Drip marketing campaigns have a specific goal in mind, whether it’s to welcome new leads, onboard a new client, re-engage an inactive lead, or even nurture your existing customer base.

Drip marketing can be an incredibly powerful strategy — drip campaigns yield 80% higher open rates and 3x higher click-through rates (CTRs) than single-send emails.

Alternatively, a lead nurturing campaign takes a more personalized approach using specific behavioral data, and its main focus is to nurture leads towards conversion.

Many other channels, such as content and social media marketing, can be used to engage with and nurture leads.

While both drip campaigns and lead nurturing can be used independently to achieve different goals, there is an area of overlap where they can work together:

Drip campaigns vs Lead Nurturing Campaigns

1.4. Nurture campaign examples

While all nurture campaigns ultimately have the same goal of converting leads and building relationships, they may differ in focus and format.

Each campaign must have one clear goal, depending on the specific leads you want to focus on — this is often where drip email campaigns come in.

Some examples of email nurture campaigns include:

Welcome campaigns — Introduce brand new leads to your business and what you have to offer
Top-of-mind campaigns — Regularly check in with leads that aren’t quite sales-ready, building that friendly relationship and making sure they never forget about you
Re-engagement campaigns — Breathe life back into some cold leads by finding the perfect, personalized action to get them to re-engage
Product-focused campaigns — Highlight a product of yours that directly addresses the specific pain points of your leads
Competitive campaigns — Prove to leads in the decision-making stage that your product is the best of the best by comparing it with your competitors
Onboarding campaigns — Engage with existing customers even after they’ve bought from you, making sure they experienced a smooth purchase process
Educational campaigns — Educate your leads so that they can make an informed decision, and you become the go-to source of information

Now that you know what a nurture campaign is and all the nitty-gritty details, it’s time to learn how to build a nurture campaign that’ll send your conversions through the roof.

2. 6 Steps to creating lead nurturing campaigns

2.1. Step 1: Find, score, and segment your leads

Source: MindInventory.com

To make the lead nurturing process easier and more effective later on, you first need to find and organize your ideal leads:

1. Create a buyer persona

Finding the perfect lead can be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Creating a buyer persona of your ideal lead, which shows you the characteristics of a person that’s most likely to convert, is an excellent solution.

Sift through your existing leads, and target the ones that match the characteristics of your buyer persona.

2. Score your leads

This is where things get personal, and you need to start analyzing the individual behavior, interests, and engagement of each lead.

Use the lead scoring method to score each lead.

The ones that float to the top with the highest overall scores should become your main focus.

3. Segment your leads

Lastly, organize your leads into segmented groups, depending on the lead scoring criteria.

Once you’ve divided your leads into neatly defined groups, you can pick the group you want to focus on in your lead nurturing program.

2.2. Step 2: Segment your content

Source: DemandJump.com

Segmenting your content is just as important as segmenting your leads.

It lets you organize your content according to your segmented groups so that when it’s time to send out curated content in your nurture campaign, you already know what to send where.

Content comes in many different forms, including:

Blog posts
Webinars
Videos
Ebooks
Infographics
White papers
Industry news
Quizzes, surveys, and FAQ’s

Filter through your existing content, and segment it according to your leads’ interests, behaviors, engagement, pain points, position in the sales process, and so on.

You can also use the Educate, Inform, Engage, and Convert technique to guide you.

For example, for a lead at the top of the funnel interested in search engine optimization (SEO), you could use a blog post explaining the basics of SEO to catch their attention and draw them into your business.

Once the lead makes its way to the bottom of the funnel, an engaging webinar may do the trick to get them to convert.

And pay attention to top-quality, valuable content — you only want to send your leads the best of the best.

2.3. Step 3: Send out a personalized email campaign

Send a personalized email

Email marketing is an undeniably powerful strategy. Personalizing your campaign only makes it stronger — personalized lead nurture emails get 4-10 more responses than a standalone email blast.

Using the previously mentioned examples as inspiration, decide on the type of email nurture campaign that aligns with your goal.

Here are some important things to consider when creating your lead nurturing emails:

How long do you want your campaign to last?
How many emails should be sent and how often?
What are the first and final actions you want your lead to take?
How can you integrate your relevant, personalized content into your campaign?
How does each email nurture the lead further down the sales funnel?

Don’t forget to add a personal touch — your leads need to feel seen and not like they’re just another email address that’s receiving a blast email.

Some powerful personalizations include:

Addressing leads directly by using their first name
Trigger emails when the lead completes specific actions
Incorporate their specific individual lead behavior using dynamic content

Dynamic content allows you to design one email that switches images and content depending on the recipient’s interests and behaviors.

For example, if you’re running a product-focused campaign, you can send each lead an email that highlights the specific product they were recently viewing.

You only have to design one email with a bunch of options, and marketing automation can take care of the rest.

2.4. Step 4: Support your campaign from all channels

Different marketing channels for your campaigns

It can take up to 10 unique, consistent touchpoints for marketing leads to convert into customers.

This means you need to increase brand awareness and constantly maintain contact with your lead throughout the entire sales process.

To keep things interesting and engaging, utilize a multi-channel lead nurturing strategy.

Here are some dominant channels to take your campaign to the next level:

Content marketing
Social media marketing
Pay-per-click (PPC) and retargeting ads
Dynamic website content
Direct outreach sales
Mobile marketing automation
Direct mail

Combining these channels with your automated email campaign should guarantee you marketing success!

2.5. Step 5: Analyze and optimize your strategy

Analyze and optimize your strategy

You’re never going to create the perfect campaign right off the bat.

If your first campaign has a poor performance, you must know why — how else are you going to ensure it never happens again?

Your sales team and marketing team will need to come together, analyze the data, and optimize the campaign.

Here are some key performance indicators (KPIs) to keep an eye on when measuring the success of your campaign:

Conversion rates — How many leads are completing the sales process?
Click-through rates — How many leads are clicking on the CTAs embedded in your emails?
Open rates — How many emails are being opened?
Bounce rates — How many emails didn’t reach an inbox?
Unsubscribe rates — How many leads unsubscribe from your list/campaign?
New leads per day — How many new leads are you getting each day? (This is a KPI you should always be aware of)

Once you understand where the weak points in your campaign lie, A/B testing is a great way to tweak your campaign and find what works.

You can test things like:

Email marketing campaigns, including the copy, CTAs, subject lines, and sending times
Lead scoring and segmentation, e.g. the criteria and categories you choose
Landing pages and CTAs
Nurturing content pieces — Test the length of your written content, and figure out which blog post to use where
Social media posts and PPC ads

Measure and test your campaigns regularly, and you’ll get closer and closer to perfection!

2.6. Step 6: Automate the process

Automation allows you to set up a sequence of events that automatically follow one another.

This may sound like it creates a generic, impersonal experience for your leads, but in reality, it can take your personalization to the next level.

As mentioned earlier, with automation, you can use a particular action to trigger the lead nurturing campaign.

If a lead performs the triggering action, they’ll automatically be tagged and segmented into a list under one of your lead nurturing programs.

This means:

No more spending hours sifting through all your leads and segmenting them yourself
You can create a more personalized experience based on their actions
You can use this behavioral data in your emails, dynamic website content, and PPC and retargeting ads — all through more automation

Using marketing automation just makes sense — there’s no reason not to.

And the only thing you’ll need is powerful automation software.

Fortunately for you, we have the perfect platform that covers not only your automation, but your entire lead nurturing program.

3. Use systeme.io to create a successful lead nurturing campaign

systeme.io logo

Lead nurturing requires every aspect of your digital marketing strategy to work effectively.

Finding a platform that doesn’t break the bank and has all these features on common ground is a must.

The good news is — you’ve found it!

Systeme.io is an all-in-one marketing platform that makes the process of launching and running your online business as effortless as possible.

Let’s see what systeme.io has to offer your lead nurturing strategy.

3.1. Systeme.io’s features

systeme.io’s features

Systeme.io caters to every facet of your lead nurturing strategy, simplifying each process to save you time and money.

Launch your lead nurture campaign with systeme.io using these features:

Email marketing — Send unlimited emails, set up automated sequences, and integrate your list with your sales funnels
Sales funnels — Map out each stage of your leads’ journey with our easy-to-use sales funnel builder
Evergreen webinars — Use webinars as a nurturing technique in the final stages of the buyer’s journey to get them to convert
Affiliate marketing — Gain exponentially more leads by building an army of affiliates
Blogging — Create valuable, targeted information to help educate your leads and build a trusting relationship
Marketing automation — Put your nurture campaign on autopilot while enhancing that personalized experience
Payment integrations — Make the last step of the sales process an easy one for your leads with seamless PayPal and Stripe integrations

With these features and more, you’ll be nurturing sales-ready leads in no time!

And the best part is — you can do it for free!

3.2. Systeme.io’s pricing

systeme.io’s pricing

Systeme.io offers 4 pricing plans, including a Free plan that’s free forever!

With all 4 plans, you get:

Unlimited emails, blog posts, file storage space, and members for your membership sites
No transaction fees and no hidden costs
Access to your own affiliate program
Expert 24/7 online support that responds in less than 2 hours

Our pricing plans scale perfectly with your business:

Free plan — $0/month for 2,000 contacts
Startup plan — $27/month for 5,000 contacts
Webinar plan — $47/month for 10,000 contacts
Enterprise plan — $97/month for 15,000 contacts

You really can’t get any better than systeme.io’s pricing, especially with our top-quality software.

4. Conclusion

Lead nurturing is essential for any business wanting to optimize its conversions and build long-lasting relationships with its leads.

Creating your first lead nurturing campaign can be a lot of work, but it doesn’t have to be — just follow these 6 easy steps, and watch your business soar to new heights.

Let systeme.io take the load from you, and share the love by nurturing your leads back to life.