Consider this: you open an account on Tinder, and someone right swipes your profile. Does that mean that this person is head over heels for you? Would the two of you go out for coffee next weekend? Probably not.
Let’s say Tinder is the event where you exhibited, and the right swipe is your lead. Just because you matched on Tinder, doesn’t mean that they’re hundred percent likely to go out with you. They’ve probably right-swiped a lot of people. Similarly, not all the leads you gathered at your event are going to convert.
In all probability, several other businesses are also talking to the same lead. The same leads aren’t going to buy from everyone, are they?
A study by Marketo showed that 50% of the leads are not likely to make any purchase at all.
According to MarketingSherpa, 80% of newly generated leads are likely never to make any purchase.
So how do you deal with the snags?
This is where lead nurturing comes in.
Lead nurturing essentially means developing close relationships with the buyer at each stage of the sales funnel, and helping the lead through their buying journey.
So how to effectively nurture leads after an event?
Here are some quick tips that will come in handy:
1. Segment Your Email List
What you have got to realize is that every lead is different. What works for X may not work for Y. Sending the same email to every lead is probably going to end up as a waste of time and effort. It may even backfire, since a lead may decide that your contents are not useful for them, and unsubscribe.
You need to separate the leads on the basis of factors like:
● Job description
● Age
● Location of business
● Business-specific domains and interests
Breaking down and segregating contacts on the basis of these factors ensure your emails target the right group of people with the actual need for what you are offering. This is a technique that has been executed by Hubspot with aplomb.
2. Send Personalised Emails
Developing a personal relationship with the lead can go a long way in closing a sale. Personalized emails are an essential first step towards doing that.
In a B2B scenarios, start out by categorizing your leads into segments according to firmographics (SIC, company size and location), technographics (hardware or software, marketing stack etc.), behavior (budget, funding, hiring and so on), and a lot more. Now try sending out personalized emails, which are bound to gain the attention of your prospects.
Don’t forget to address your lead by their respective names (personalization token). This will draw them more towards you, and help you close a sale. Most popular marketing automation softwares allow you to do that. Key is to capture your data correctly and accurately so that you have their first name, last name and company name.
3. Do Not Pester Your Leads
There have been many studies trying to determine the rate at which recipients unsubscribe to solicited or unsolicited emails.
A study has shown that the average unsubscribe rate is anywhere between 0.19% to 0.52% for every email notification sent.
That is something you can’t really do anything about.
What you can do, however, is to ensure that the rate doesn’t climb up higher. And you can do that by not sending emails every other day.
Too many mails might just cause the lead to think you are too salesy, and they may unsubscribe your mails.
Instead, settle for an optimal pre-determined frequency of sending emails. This doesn’t spam their inboxes, gives them time to digest information, and they can really think about your product.
4. Nurture Your Leads
Take the example of HubSpot. They don’t waste any time in starting with their lead nurturing process. The moment you’ve signed up for their blog, they will start nurturing you as potential buyers. And it’s something that can pay rich dividends when done right.
A recent study found that deals that closed on nurtured leads received a 47% higher order value than deals that closed on non-nurtured leads.
Once the lead is influenced and asks for further detailed information, this campaign can be turned into a more focused, product-oriented lead nurture. This process continues until the very end of the sales funnel.
5. Leverage modern technology
It’s the 21st century – everything is online. The list of your contacts and connections should be as well.
Businesses worldwide are leveraging the capabilities and power of Business card scanning apps like ScanBizCards. Such sales productivity apps provide you with a single platform where you can store all the information from every business card that you collected at your event, pooled together, ready for future reference.
These apps are very powerful, for instance, the ScanBizCards app not only lets you instantly snap and save contacts from conference badges, but also provides the contact’s email, company address and LinkedIn URL, wherever it’s available. The information is entirely stored in your phone’s address book, can be backed up in the cloud, or exported to any CRM or marketing automation system. A great advantage is that these allow you to access information on-the-go, from any device of your choice. You can scan and save multiple cards at once, cutting down on time and effort, simultaneously and enormously.
Using such technology for lead management can be especially useful in the post-event follow-up and lead nurturing process. It saves you the tremendous effort of rummaging through hundreds of cards physically. For instance, you can directly select and open a file on your device, and can even send it to a sales executive in the field, for immediate and on-spot lead nurturing. It helps business processes become more streamlined and facilitate more sales.
Moreover, you can effectively engage and guide your leads through the entire sales funnel after you complete your event:
● Creation of awareness: Sending blogs and articles showcasing the latest industry trends
● Consideration: Sending out invites to a webinar or a video conference about your product
● Decision making: Sharing customer reviews and product features
All these processes are made extremely easy for optimal lead management, by using a combination of business card reading apps, CRMs and marketing automation systems.
Final Thoughts!
Lead nurturing is all about bridging the gap between leads that are interested in your offering, and those that finally end up making a purchase. Lead nurturing enables you to create a need for your product in your prospects’ minds.
You must demonstrate to them the value in your offerings. In order to do that, it must be differentiated from the products of your competitors. Your leads must know how you are divergent, and why buying from you makes more sense.
And what better way to sell your product than by lead nurturing?