5 Lead Nurturing Examples That Work
Forrester Research found that companies excelling at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales leads at 33% lower cost per lead.
I’m sharing five lead nurturing examples that, in my experience scaling e-commerce brands, will deliver results by providing your customers with value and enticing them to engage with your brand.
B2B Lead Nurturing Examples
Salesforce Webinars
Salesforce frequently hosts webinars targeting B2B businesses as a way to nurture leads.
They offer in-depth discussions on industry trends, insights, and product offerings. By providing credible, relevant information to leads and existing clients, they're positioning themselves as a thought leader and authority in their sector.
Takeaways:
- Salesforce's frequent webinars help them build brand authority.
- Webinars also offer an excellent way to engage with your leads interactively and personally, showcasing your problem-solving expertise.
B2C Lead Nurturing Examples
Skillshare Upgrade Emails
Skillshare captures customer engagement through a simple, yet highly effective, email reminder strategy.
They kindly and consistently remind their customers of the impending expiration of the trial session, creating a sense of urgency that motivates customers to renew their subscriptions and gives them options to continue their Skillshare journey.
Takeaways:
- Elevate nurture campaigns with valuable, relevant content that guides leads or customers to the next stage in the funnel.
- Balance urgency and value to improve the customer experience and prompt action.
Airbnb Nurture and Cross-Sell Emails
Airbnb leverages visual storytelling to build FOMO and present other opportunities that can be booked through the platform.
The striking images do most of the work for them, instilling a sense of wanderlust in readers and helping them envision their next vacation — with the bonus of cross-selling activities that can also be booked on their site.
Takeaways:
- A picture's worth a thousand words — use imagery to your advantage.
- Create nurture campaigns that spark an emotional reaction.
- Showcase related offerings when possible.
Nike Loyalty Program
Loyalty rewards programs are a great way to boost word-of-mouth and referrals — trusted 83% more than any other type of marketing.
Nike’s Loyalty Program emails are an excellent example of how a B2C brand can use a loyalty program to send exclusive offers, early access, and other personalized content to reduce friction in the customer journey and nurture leads.
Takeaways:
- Loyalty programs foster exclusivity, brand loyalty, and community
- Special member offers make customers feel valued
- To translate this to B2B, give your most engaged customers early access to a new feature, early renewal discounts, or a referral bonus
La Croix Organic Social Media
La Croix uses a distinctive visual style, consistent tone of voice, and trendy posts on Instagram to effectively target their ideal customer.
Looking through their social media pages, you'll often come across flowery emojis, puns, and colourful aesthetics representing their brand. La Croix doesn't shy away from trends, leaning into slang and viral moments to build an engaged community that translates into offline sales.
Takeaways:
- Social media is the place to show off your brand and engage with customers.
- Speak the same language as your ideal customer and be in the online spaces where they spend their time.
- Have a clear and consistent brand identity online.
Now that you’re inspired, let’s dig a little deeper into lead nurturing strategies, tools, and software.
The Basics Of Lead Nurturing
At its core, lead nurturing involves the implementation of strategically timed marketing campaigns to inform users about special offers, guiding them through the sales funnel. Through personalized communication, businesses can make their audience feel valued and connected, fostering loyalty and driving sales conversions.
But, nurture campaigns aren’t just for acquiring new customers. Often, a brand’s customer base is its biggest untapped resource, and it fails to implement effective lead-nurturing strategies that drive sales.
In fact, the cost of acquiring a new customer is five times more than retaining an existing one. Any of the strategies in the examples above can be applied to your existing customer base to drive growth through expansion, upsells, or cross-sells.
Other Lead Nurturing Strategies
Content Marketing
Content marketing is one lead nurture strategy I haven't mentioned yet. I’ve found the most success using blog posts, articles, whitepapers, and videos in lead nurture campaigns.
Content marketing is known to generate 3x as many leads as traditional marketing tactics and plays a crucial role in lead nurturing by delivering valuable and relevant content to potential customers.
However, this doesn't mean pumping out content without a goal in mind. Instead, it's important to create content that addresses leads' pain points at different stages of their buying journey.
I follow these three tips when planning content:
- Understand your target audience: Speak with existing clients, evaluate competitors, or research online in the forums where your ideal customer spends their time.
- Data-backed content: Ensure your content is accurate and backed by credible data to help you gain trust with your customers and leads.
- Hyper-personalization: Content that is personalized to your potential customers makes them feel valued and cared for and is more likely to compel them to take action.
Lead Nurturing Tools
CRM Systems
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are necessary to lead nurturing campaigns, helping to personalize interactions and gain insights into customer needs while ensuring a smooth buyer's journey. Integrating a CRM with a lead management system closes the gap in lead information and tracks the entire customer lifecycle.
Perhaps the most popular CRM systems being actively used today are Salesforce and HubSpot. In comparing these two, HubSpot is more budget-friendly and user-friendly than Salesforce but doesn’t offer the same extensive range of features. If budget is your top concern, there are several free lead management software out there.
Email Marketing Platforms
Email marketing platforms are vital for executing effective lead-nurturing campaigns using targeted and personalized email sequences. A good email platform will offer the creation, automation, and analysis of your brand's email campaigns.
To up your game, look for features like segmentation, A/B testing, and analytics for targeting specific audience segments. Marketing automation is especially crucial — it can increase the number of qualified leads you generate by as much as 451%, according to APSIS. Examples of email marketing platforms include Mailchimp, HubSpot, ConvertKit, and Constant Contact.
Analytics Tools
Analytics tools like Google Analytics or Adobe Analytics can be used to measure the effectiveness of lead nurturing efforts and help build a deeper understanding of user behaviour.
They provide insights into key performance indicators (KPIs), such as open, click-through, and conversion rates. Use these metrics to refine your strategies, identify successful tactics, and make data-driven decisions to enhance overall campaign performance.
Lead Nurturing Next Steps
Remember your customers are often flooded with marketing messages and cold calls. The persistent, but gentle, reminders of a nurture campaign can keep your product top of mind without the pressure, letting them get to know your brand and your offerings on their own time.
If you take anything away from these examples of lead nurturing campaigns, let it be to provide your prospects (and current customers) value at every touch point. Do this, and you’ll convert your leads into loyal customers.
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