Without email marketing, you’ll find it difficult nurturing leads to conversion. The reason is simple: most prospects aren’t usually ready to buy yet, though they may show interest.
Like B2B blogging, email marketing helps you build trust and gently guide prospects towards a sale. However, unlike blogging, email gives you direct access to individual leads, making it easy to segment them for effective targeting.
Lead generation statistics show that nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads. If you’re not using email marketing to move prospects down the funnel, then you’re missing out on significant revenue opportunities.
The Case for Lead Nurturing
B2B sales are long—and often complex. Compared to B2C where purchases mostly happen on impulse, B2B buyers take time to research, compare options, and secure buy-in from stakeholders.
During this period, the prospect might postpone the purchase, become disinterested, or even shift their focus to a competitor. But if you’re engaging them through email, you can address common questions and objections, increasing the likelihood of buying.
How Does Email Marketing Help With Lead Nurturing?
Email marketing has several advantages over other lead nurturing practices. Here are four ways in which email marketing helps you with lead nurturing.
- It’s personal – email lets you speak to prospects directly in a personalized way.
- It’s scalable – automated email sequences allow you to nurture thousands of leads simultaneously.
- It’s cost-effective – with an average ROI of $42 for every $1 spent, email marketing outperforms most other channels.
- It’s data-driven – every open, click, and reply provides valuable insights into leads’ level of interest and buying intent.
When sending lead nurturing emails, remember to provide value by prioritizing educational content. Sending salesy emails will very likely push your leads away.
Top Strategies for Effective Email Marketing
Effective email marketing requires strategy. Let’s look at some strategies you can implement to make your email marketing campaigns more effective.
1. Segmentation and Personalization
Segmenting your leads is central to the success of your email marketing efforts. This is because different stakeholders have different concerns. For instance, a sales manager has different concerns compared to a procurement manager.
You can segment your audience based on filters such as industry, job title, stage in the sales cycle, etc. Once you segment them, personalize the email to improve click-through and conversion rates.
2. Share Valuable Content
As long as you’re sharing relevant and valuable content, prospects will stay engaged. Since B2B buyers love data and solutions, your emails should educate them and provide tips to solve the problems they have.
To achieve this, you can incorporate blog posts in your emails, share case studies, or industry reports. The more valuable the content you share, the more engaged your prospects will be, and the more likely they’ll be to buy from you.
3. Embrace Drip Email Campaigns
Drip email campaigns are effective for guiding prospects down the sales funnel. These pre-written emails are triggered by an action such as downloading an ebook or a newsletter sign-up.
Drip campaigns perform well when combined with other strategies such as segmentation and personalization. For the best results, ensure you align your emails with the different stages of the buyer journey.
4. Set Up Lead Scoring
Setting up lead scoring will help you know which leads are ready for sales outreach. Lead scoring assigns points to leads based on the level of engagement, e.g. email opens, webinar attendance, etc.
Your sales team can engage high-scoring leads, while your marketing team continues nurturing those with lower scores.
5. Write Subject Lines That Grab Attention
Your subject lines determine whether prospects open and read your emails or not. While working to grab their attention and create curiosity, be careful not to appear spammy.
You can avoid this by reducing your use of words such as “cash”, “free”, “you’re a winner”, and the like. Since you may need to use words with the potential to trigger spam filters, e.g. “free”, avoid such words in the subject line of your first email.
6. Have Clear CTAs (Calls-to-Action)
Having a clear CTA is arguably the most important part of your email marketing campaigns. When designing your emails, decide on a single, clear CTA for each email. Whether you want leads to download a report or register for a webinar, ensure there’s only one action and it’s clear.
7. Test, Analyze, and Improve
Effective email marketing requires testing, analyzing, and improving. Check your analytics to track open, click-through, and conversion rates. You should also use A/B testing to experiment with different subject lines, email formats, CTAs, and even send times.
Conclusion
If you’re looking to boost conversions from your leads, then email marketing should be your go-to solution. Not only is it cost-effective, but also data-driven, meaning you can improve your strategy based on measurable results.
By sharing relevant and valuable content to segmented audiences, you can convert leads and turn them into loyal customers.
Want to transform your lead nurturing strategy with conversion-driven email marketing? Wezesha Marketing is here to help you create effective email campaigns that drive real business results. Get in touch today!
