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How to Time Your Lead Nurture Emails to Better Match Your Sales Process

Lead nurture emails help your prospects convert to customers. Our content marketing technology partner HubSpot puts it this way: “Good lead nurturing emails engage, entice, and encourage your leads to continue interacting with your business.”

If you also know what lead nurture emails should be sent when, it can greatly improve how your marketing efforts convince people to decide to do business with you. That’s why we recommend you time your lead nurturing campaigns to support your sales process.

How Lead Nurture Email Campaigns Work

A lead nurture email campaign works by building a good relationship with each of your prospects. The series of messages gives them helpful information and relevant opportunities to connect with you.

That’s because you’re consistently providing them with resources like service tips, product how-tos, in-depth guides, discount codes, reminders to make a purchase, and other content that’s valuable to them. When the messages are well-timed to match each stage of the buyer’s sales process, they help keep your company top of mind when they’re searching for solutions or looking for answers to their queries.

A prospect can interact with your company in multiple ways. They could:

  • Subscribe to your blog or newsletter.
  • Say yes to your mailings.
  • Put something in their ecommerce cart.
  • Click a call-to-action link.
  • Set up a sales call.

The moment they make an agreement with you, they receive your personalized content based on where they are on the road to being a customer.

Email has proven to be an effective way to get this kind of content to them, especially when the sending is well-timed. Research shows that 99% of email users check their inbox daily, often many times in a day, which makes email a great tool to connect with your audience on a regular basis.

Use Lead Nurturing Email Sequences To Get The Timing Right

Most prospects need ongoing encouragement from you to make a purchase. A lead nurturing email sequence can help you provide it.

A sequence is a type of email series that is sent automatically after someone takes action and makes an agreement with you. The content helps keep a person engaged with the action until they are ready to move forward with a purchase.

A great example is when a shopper puts a product into their online cart. Once this happens, it triggers a lead nurture sequence to send an email with a limited-time offer, a purchase reminder, or a list of similar products they may also be interested in - to inspire them to go ahead and make that purchase.

7 Tips for Using Email to Nurture Your Relationship with Prospects

  1. Talk about one thing in each email.

When you give prospects one relevant topic to think about, it’s easier for them to focus on the specific call-to-action. The content should relate directly to whatever convinced them to become a customer. It should speak specifically to the problem they are trying to solve.

  1. Give them something meaningful.

HubSpot suggests that you think of lead nurturing emails like mini blog posts. Make sure they include information that teaches something new, gives ways to do things better, and always provides relevant insight. This is key to keeping your prospects ready, willing, and able to keep engaging with your business.

  1. Keep your messages concise.

Short and simple usually does the trick when it comes to the reader instantly knowing why they received the email. Within five seconds or so, you want them to understand its value. Experts say a 50- to 125-word count is all you need, as long as your message expresses everything you want your prospect to know. If it doesn’t, add what you need. But keep it short.

  1. Use a personalized touch.

Customize emails for different types of leads. Make sure to personalize the messages based on how leads interact with your company, whether agreeing to receive updates, subscribing to a blog, their purchases, abandoned carts, how long it’s been since they provided their contact information, and so on. Personalize the emails with first-name greetings.

  1. Make sure email content represents your brand.

Staying consistent with your brand is an axiom for good marketing. Use your company’s voice and tone in writing, only use images that will establish your business in the prospect’s mind. You want to build the relationship, gain trust, and inspire brand loyalty.

  1. Plan a natural message progression.

Build a flow to your email campaigns that enables natural, organic action. You’re guiding people through the sales funnel. Make sure they take the right steps at the right time. Work with your sales team to develop the pipeline stages that align sales and marketing to better qualify leads. Then plan your campaigns accordingly.

  1. Test emails and track key metrics.

Make improvements to campaigns with email testing. Then track key metrics for success, including click-through-rate and unsubscribe rate. If you’re not happy with the results, try:

11outof11 Knows Email Marketing Campaigns

When you’re ready to improve the timing of your lead nurturing email campaigns and sequences, connect with 11outof11. Request a complimentary call with an 11outof11 expert. Contact Us To Learn More

Topics: Marketing, Content Marketing, Digital Marketing, Email Marketing, sales leads