One of the biggest mistakes many companies make is looking at the marketing funnel and deciding that they only need to focus on delighting customers once a deal has been made.

This attitude is wrong.

Customers will begin judging you from the moment they first encounter your company, and if they don't have a pleasant experience the entire time, then chances are they won't recommend you to others no matter how much effort you put in later.

This is why you must nurture leads every step of the way. And one of the easiest ways to nurture leads is through email.

You'll hear this strategy referred to by several names: lead nurturing. workflows, email workflows, and various combinations. We use these phrases interchangeably.

Regardless of the terminology your company adopts, one thing is certain: the key to effective lead nurturing is automation. In other words, lead nurturing software is a must. 

Why You Need Lead Nurturing Software

There comes a point where a single human can no longer keep up with every task that's expected of them. For example, a normal company may send emails to customers for:

• Birthdays
• Holidays
• Anniversaries
• Renewals
• Promotions

If you have two or three thousand customers on a list, it's easy to see how quickly you could spend all of your time doing nothing except sending emails.

Lead nurturing software solves this by automating as much of the process as possible, using data customers provide to customize messages and offers that can be sent with no further effort on your part.

The beauty of lead nurturing software is that you'll get solid analytics that will allow you to refine your messages over time. Ditch the ones that don't resonate. Send more of the ones that do. 

Lead Nurturing Tips To Keep In Mind

You can select different options for when messages are sent. For example...

• A "successful sign-up" message may be sent immediately, then never used again.
• Birthday messages, if that data was provided, would be set to recur annually.
• Regular promotions could be sent out on a monthly basis, using A/B testing to see which is most effective.
• Workflows can be used to trigger other workflows based on the criteria you specify. Caveat: This can quickly get out of hand if you don't have a plan in place before you start adding these options. For the best results, try to minimize the complexity of each workflow. 
• Workflows should be edited and updated on a regular basis. Use A/B testing on every single part of the workflow, and continue to do so while the lead nurturing software remains in use.

At Proforma Durkee, we help our clients set up effective lead nurturing campaigns. Learn more about lead nurturing and our other digital marketing services.

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