Definition:
Lead nurturing is an inbound marketing technique aimed at converting a potential customer into an end customer or building loyalty to an existing one through cross-selling and up-selling processes. To do this, you are ‘nourished’ with personalized and quality content to accompany you throughout the process and get you to convert.
What is lead nurturing for?
The goal of lead nurturing, which translates as the cultivation of business opportunities, is to establish and strengthen a meaningful bond between the potential customer and the company. This is achieved by offering highly personalized treatment and exceptional quality service that resonates with the customer’s needs and expectations.
To achieve this goal, it is essential to contextualize the information provided to the customer, which can come in various forms, such as attractive promotions, useful shopping tips and personalized recommendations. In addition, this information must be carefully tailored and differentiated at each stage of the buying process, ensuring that the customer receives the most relevant and timely content at the right time. In this way, a closer and more lasting relationship between the customer and the company is fostered.
How to do lead nurturing
E-mail is the most effective channel to convert a lead into a purchase, since it allows constant communication and considered less invasive. However, the development of social networks allows new possibilities for personalized communication. The marketing team must previously define the entire lead nurturing process that will accompany the potential customer in the buyer journey to implement it and get the customer engaged before the final work of the sales managers.
Today, this process is automated thanks to customer relationship management (CRM) platforms and various marketing automation tools such as HubSpot, Marketo or Pardot.
Phases of lead nurturing
It is no longer enough to personalize the user’s name to attract their interest and create a feeling of exclusivity. The new inbound marketing strategies allow you to detect the interests and behaviors of potential customers and involve you in a tailor-made experience to convince you of the purchase.
Most marketers agree that there are six phases to turning a buyer persona into an end customer. They could be summarized as follows:
- Informar. It is the first contact of the potential customer with the product or service offered.
- Educar. In this phase, in-depth information is provided on what is sold and the full characteristics of the product.
- Involucrar. It is the time of the process in which the user is expected to already take some action to get involved in the purchase, such as completing a registration.
- Validar. It consists of making sure that the customer will continue the process and that he will not stay at the doors of the purchase despite having completed the previous step.
- Convertir. It is the main goal of the company, but it does not mean that it constitutes the end of the process. The customer must be satisfied with both the product and the purchase (payment facilities, personalized treatment, etc.) in order to maintain him and take him to the next step.
- Fidelizar. Once the customer is reached, you can start the process again if we want to offer a different product or service, or resume it in more advanced stages to encourage you to repeat a similar purchase.