6 Steps to Capturing & Nurturing Leads to Conversion
Every user has their pain point, and they’re looking for products or services that can help them address that pain point. Make the right first impression, and you have a chance to convert your potential customer into an actual customer. But your efforts to build relationships with your leads don’t stop there. That’s how you begin to nurture your leads, so they buy from you when they are ready. I call this your lead generation strategy.
A lead generation strategy is crucial for any level of business. Why? Because, without one, you’ll rely on your ICA to find you, and in a noisy world, leaving your marketing to fate just won’t cut it. And, as we all know, without capturing leads, it’s downright hard to maximize your growth and revenue.
Luckily, there’s a tremendous opportunity for savvy marketers and business owners (like you) to implement effective lead capture and nurturing strategies. Below, let’s look at six of the most common that will work for any stage of business.
The Opt-In
Your buyer persona is the key to nurturing new leads. One of the best ways to capture leads on your website is by providing opt-in opportunities, like on OptinMonster or LeadPages. To build trust and learn about your perfect customer, pepper different options for their email on your website. If it is repeated correctly, potential customers will be more open to this strategy.
Below are a few examples of ways to capture your clients’ information. Ask specific questions that will help you understand what they want and need to help you further your connection.
- Top of the Fold: At the top of your website, include a header opt-in of the most recent content. This could be the most recent of your own podcast or newsletter.
- The Original Sidebar: Sidebars are excellent for engaging site visitors. You can use them to promote your latest freebie or newsletter. As visitors scroll, the sidebar will stay with them, giving them an easy way to subscribe to your email newsletter.
- Prime Real Estate – Homepage & Blog: These two pages are the most visited pages on your site. For those who don’t have a blog, now is the time to get one! Recent statistics from Hubspot show that businesses with regular blogs capture 67% more leads than those without them. HUZZAH!
- The Pop-up Window: Not sure what a pop-up window is? Lucky you! The pop-up opt-in forms are those subscription forms that appear after some time on a site. I am sure you have seen them before. Some will pop up after a few seconds, and others show up when you attempt to exit the site. Arguably, they can annoy the user; however, ConvertKit has found that these have proven to be 3.09% effective, which is worth paying attention to.
The Lead Generation Bot Bandwagon
The new best friend of marketers everywhere is lead bots. Lead bots are simply chatbots set up to capture contact information and qualify leads. They take lead generation forms one step further by engaging in an interactive conversation with your site visitor. There’s no need for a real person to be present, and the end result is a more efficient form of lead generation.
A few other benefits to lead bots are:
- Two – Way Communication: A lead generation bot with conversations is an excellent way to scale your business without sacrificing personalization. You can enter the conversation yourself or let the bot handle it for you, and it’s all up to you.
- Faster Follow Up: In a world full of convenience and instant gratification, it’s no surprise that lead conversion has become a quick and easy process. Lead bots can pre-qualify prospects and segment them for you. This will streamline your conversion process and offer the ability to personalize the journey for your prospects.
- Efficient: One way to generate more leads is to automate it. By qualifying leads before following up, you’re not only saving time but also ensuring that you’re targeting the right people with the right message.
- Open 24 hours: No more frustrating waiting for responses to FAQs or dealing with high bounce rates due to shopper abandonment. Best of all, it doesn’t matter what time zone you hail from, which is perfect for those seeking customer service online.
Lead Magnets: The Unsung Hero of Email Lists
In today’s world, incentives are necessary, which is just what a lead magnet is. In the era of spam and unwanted emails, people are more reluctant than ever to give out their email address, and that’s why you have to make it worth their while!
Creating a lead magnet that will work needs to align with your core message and entice people into exchanging their email for it. I always ask my clients what questions they get asked all the time by their customers and prospects? That’s your lead magnet.
Now that you can see the many benefits of creating an ecosystem, it’s time to get your customers to feel like they are at home. As long as you help them with their questions and challenges, they’ll trust you enough to buy from you. All it takes is nurturing them with your experience and answering their concerns.
How do you do that?
Email Marketing – You’re #1 Asset
A mailbag of unwanted email clogs our inboxes daily. You know the drill. You open your inbox only to be bombarded with advertisements and notifications about sales. It never fails. Every time you check your email, you’ll have dozens of messages sitting in your inbox telling you that “Psst. Don’t miss out on this” or “Take $10 off on your next order!”
Understandably, people are wary of giving out their email address to a random site. After all, spam has ruined email. However, email marketing is where the gold’s at. This is the #1 asset that you own entirely. Think about it. If Facebook crashed again tomorrow – all your “friends” and group members would be lost. Don’t get me wrong, multi-channel nurturing has its place, but email marketing will always be a front runner.
You might think you know exactly what your leads are after, but I’m here to give you the 411. The first tip I have for you is to stop assuming what your leads want. They are the ones who know what they need, so let them select their own journey. What do I mean by that? Here’s a great example from Hubspot:
This is an excellent example of how to handle topic-based marketing. It offers the reader different buttons for topics they may be interested in and sends them off on a tailored journey. You not only let the reader choose their path, but you have segmented them upfront to ensure you speak to them 100% authentically about what they want to hear.
Lead Scoring
When you’re hunting for new business, lead scoring is an effective way to rank their interest in your company. It’s also a way of determining how valuable they are to your organization. For example, someone with a fancy job title, many friends on social media, or a large company could be a lead, scoring nine out of 10 for you.
First, ask yourself if your business would benefit from lead scoring. The truth is not all companies need it, but for those who do, it is a necessity. A couple of questions to ask yourself are:
- Am I collecting enough leads?
- Am I collecting enough data?
If you answered “yes” to both questions, then lead scoring may be a good fit for you. First, identify the demographics and details best to include in your lead scoring system. Then, finally, create a numerical scoring system based on the information you found and what actions the leads take. For example, did they open an email recently? Did they visit a specific landing page? Have they not opened an email in x amount of days, etc.? I think you get the point.
Focus on Multiple Touches
What does it take to turn a lead into a customer? It takes a lot of work. The process is not straightforward, and it is best to nurture leads through the entire sales funnel. Let’s say, for example, how many touches does it take to convert leads?
A prospect typically needs ten touches to turn into a customer in today’s market. A little more effort on your part can go a long way. One of the best ways to get your prospect’s attention is through multi-channel marketing. You could send them a mix of content types, such as social media posts, blog posts, downloadable content, interactive quizzes, or even a direct mailing.
So What Did We Learn?
- Different opt-ins: To build trust and learn about your perfect customer, pepper different options for their email on your website.
- Lead generation bots: The new best friend to marketers everywhere are lead bots. They are simply chatbots set up to capture contact information and qualify leads.
- Lead Magnets: A lead magnet that will work needs to align with your core message and entice people into exchanging their email for it.
- Email Marketing: Email marketing is where the gold’s at. This is the #1 asset that you own entirely.
- Lead Scoring: Lead scoring is an effective way to rank your prospects’ interest in your offers. It’s also a way of determining how valuable they are to your organization.
- Multiple Touches: A prospect typically needs ten touches to turn into a customer in today’s market. A little more effort on your part can go a long way.
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