The days when you could just send generic emails to hundreds and thousands of unknown recipients , cold call people and expect them to buy your product are gone. Back in the day, all you had to do was come up with a good product, devise a marketing strategy, and start advertising as much as you could. Provided that you had enough resources to do so, of course. Now it’s completely different. Sure, you still have to craft a clear marketing plan. You still need to advertise. You need to do this and much more in an ever-changing, competitive digital environment, though. People now have complete control in what they look for in a product, and what they buy eventually. While they have control in what they decide to buy, you have control in what you offer to them. If what you offer is of great value to people, they will notice you. The thing is, many companies may offer the same product, at a similar price, with more or less the same features. How can you stand apart? What makes your company unique?

Unlike the old days where people were generally sold to, now its the customer who has the final say. People take their time to research before deciding whether a certain product is worth buying or not. They may look at online reviews, ask friends, acquaintances or even strangers about their experience with a specific product. After all, customers have plenty of choices. It’s your task to grab their attention, it’s your job to make them listen to your message. It goes both ways; you should also listen to what people have to say. Many companies pride themselves in being great listeners. They claim that their customer service is second to none. If that was really the case, then few companies would struggle to convert prospects into customers, let alone turn them into brand advocates. The reality is more, much more different that it seems.

How can you turn someone who has not the slightest idea about your company into a customer? How do you convert attention into loyalty? That’s what lead nurturing is all about. It is a long and continuous  process of communication with prospects, and the final aim is to turn prospects into customers. That’s easier said than done, though. Before people buy from you, they need to trust you. You have to earn their trust through constant nurturing, which may take a lot of time. That’s where lead nurturing comes into play. While there are a lot of tactics you can use to make your lead nurturing process more effective, below are the top 5.

Add a personal touch to your emails

Here’s a short quiz: do you prefer reading an email from your long-time friend whom you haven’t heard from in a long time, or an email from some faceless corporation? If you’re like most people, you’d most certainly prefer reading the first email. It’s the most rational choice because it’s personal, friendly and it makes you feel good. When it comes to sending personal emails, striking a balance is key. Neither too personal, nor too distant. Done the right way, email marketing can yield great results. What if you have to send a lot of emails, based on dynamic conditions? That’s where Flexie CRM comes into play. For example, you can send follow-up emails automatically any time a lead visits your page, clicks a link in your email, submits a form, etc. You can easily do this and much more by building a workflow.

Multi channel lead nurturing

Your leads may come from different channels, and you need not only catch ’em all, but you also need to nurture them throughout the whole cycle. Thanks to marketing automation, you can track all leads and start nurturing them with personalized and relevant content – no matter where they come from. You may be doing email marketing, social media marketing, paid marketing, etc. Tracking leads is necessary, nurturing them is essential. In Flexie CRM, you can easily use marketing automation tools to carry out your multi channel lead nurturing tactics, as well as your overall marketing strategy. In a world where consumers have so many choices, you need to have online omnipresence. Once you do so, you need the right tools to track and measure the performance of your campaigns, be it through email, social media, dynamic website content, re-targeting ads, etc. By using Flexie’s marketing automation tools, you can nurture leads coming from each channel, from the time they show some kind of interest in your product until they become loyal customers.

Make sure to follow-up leads immediately

Automating the process of lead nurturing is crucial, and so is sending prompt follow-up emails and making phone calls. Responding to leads in due time is essential. Ask yourself “Would I want to buy from a company that replies back after one day?” Of course not. You need to follow-up leads with emails, phone calls, or sms text messages as soon you can. In Flexie CRM, you can build a workflow to send follow-up emails, make phone calls, or even send tracked emails to your leads, so you know whether the lead has opened the email or not. The more you know about your leads, and the quicker you follow-up your lead, the better your chances of turning them into customers. When you make a timely follow-up, you know exactly what to offer to leads based on their browsing behavior.

Lead scoring

It goes without saying that not all leads have the same perceived value to your company. Some leads have a higher value, and some have a lower one.  But how do you know which one is which? That’s where lead scoring comes into play. By assigning numeric values to your leads based on their online behavior, and how they respond to your tailored content, you can make an accurate estimation of the potential value offered by each and single lead. In Flexie CRM, you can easily adjust leads points based on dynamic conditions. By looking at the score, you get a clear idea of where you leads stand. You know which leads needs to be followed up by a sales rep, and which leads needs to be further qualified. Done the right way, leads scoring can help you turn prospects into satisfied customers.

Targeted content

Do you know that wonderful feeling when you receive an email from someone you don’t know, and it screams SPAM? Neither do we. If you want to really engage people, you need to offer targeted content. Everyone is different, so why should you content be the same? You know better, though. When it comes to offering targeted content, automation can make the difference. You don’t want to lose time by manually sending tailored content to hundreds and thousands of leads, though. With Flexie CRM, you don’t have to. You can easily create a workflow, and let it do the work for you. For example, you can use listeners for specific events like a lead submitting a form, visiting your page, click on a specific link in your email, and so on. Sending personalized and targeted content is one of the most effective tactics in lead nurturing.

Aligning your sales and marketing lead nurturing efforts is also important. Tracking, measuring and analyzing how your campaigns are doing is essential. Lead nurturing may take a lot of time, but it’s totally worth it. Ready to take it to another level?

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