Why should you invest in having a lead nurturing program you ask? To get more prospects through your doors (and essentially grow your census)! That is, after all, what all business owners want, right?
Extend your prospect engagement (even when you already have their attention) and re-engage old prospects with new, relevant content in order to keep them coming back for more. Your company can’t be built upon one-time-only customers. It must be built on customers that will continue to come back to you for repeat business.
Now you may find yourself asking, how can I nurture leads and retain customers? Your answer is simple—and cost effective: email marketing.
Email is one of the most efficient and effective ways to reach both your prospects and your current customer base. These emails can range anywhere from “what’s next” links, “thank you” content, auto-responder emails, and the list goes on and on.
Don’t sit around waiting for your customers to come to you. Because let me tell you, they won’t. It is up to YOU and only you to lead nurture and retain your customers through the most effective tactics.
7 Things Your Lead Nurturing Emails Should Express to Your Leads
- You understand them and their pain points.
- You know what their needs are.
- You have a solution to their problem.
- You are able to express why your solution is valuable to them.
- They are able to trust you (and your brand).
- What they are losing by not taking advantage of what you have to offer.
- It’s not about you. It’s about THEM.
Number 7 may strike you by surprise, but it is the most important thing you need to understand and understand NOW. It is no longer about you and your business, but instead it is all about your customers and potential leads.
Fast forward...you’ve turned your lead into a sale—yeah! You have closed the deal and now you can move forward and onto new customers...WRONG.
While you should always be seeking new leads, you must also be retaining previous customers. Retaining more customers equals more money in YOUR pocket and assures the beds in your facility are always full. These retained customers are your most valuable customers because they can spread positive word-of-mouth! The data speaks for itself, folks: the probability of selling a product or service to an existing client is 60-70 percent while the probability of selling to a new client is only 5-20 percent.
Email Tactics to Keep Your Customers Engaged
Below are some quick and easy ways you can keep your customers engaged over the long run:
- Order confirmations, shipping confirmations, discount offers and thank you messages
- Service satisfaction survey
- Product/service review request
- Review posted notification email
- Cross-sell/recommendation product related to their recent purchase
- Replenish reminder
- Bounceback offers
- Anniversary for purchase date of product/service
Not only will lead nurturing and retention help you keep in contact with previous customers and potential leads, but it will also help build a bridge of trust with your audience. Let them get to know you and you will quickly be able to help guide them through the buying cycle and capture the leads!
Need help getting started with your lead nurturing program? Let the inbound strategists at Marketing Essentials help you drive revenue growth and build a positive lead nurturing program today! Give us a call at 419.629.0080 or contact us for more information.
