Lead Nurturing is the process of capturing a prospect’s interest in your business to develop a sales pipeline.

• ‌Inform
• Educate
• Convert

As everyone’s business is different, this is more of a guideline.

The most effective format we’ve seen is a 3-to-7-part series where you focus entirely on driving engagement (an open or a click). This series should not contain an offer, so you have the highest chance of reaching the inbox. Afterward, you can begin sending offers/incentives to drive conversion using a journey, not unlike one you would use for a new subscriber.

Email 1A: Focus on engagement 

• DO: Ensure your email is timely, relevant, and valuable insights about your product or service. You’ll know which products or services they are interested in from the data we provide.
• DO: For an open/click, put the first name in the subject line and send the most engaging content you have available for that list.
• DON’T: include an offer or affiliate link in the email. This can hurt your chances of reaching the inbox.

Email 2 (for Non-Openers/Non-Clickers)

If they don’t open Email 1A, send Email 1B: Focus on engagement again.

• Same strategy as Day 1: go for an open/click – you should see an incremental lift from this second send.
• If they don’t open this email, stop emailing them. Save your deliverability.

Email 3 (for Non-Openers/Non-Clickers)

If they don’t open Email 1B, send Email 1C: Focus on engagement again

• Same strategy as Day 1: go for an open/click – you should see an incremental lift from this second send.
• If they don’t open this email, stop emailing them. Save your deliverability.

Unsubscribe anyone who didn’t open after the third email to protect your deliverability.

Even though you may end up unsubscribing the majority of the email addresses, you can continue to nurture the engaged subscribers and move them down the sales funnel.

Email 2 through 7 (for Openers/Clickers)

If they open Emails 1A, 1B or 1C, then send Emails 4 through 10.

• The goal is to re-warm your audience!
• Create a sequence of up to 7 emails long, spaced out a day or two apart. This will vary from brand to brand, you know what’s best for your audience.
• Use content that you know is enticing and has performed well in the past or has missed since engaging last – think interesting blog posts, lead magnets, etc.
• Include first names in the subject line. Ex: “Have you seen this, FIRSTNAME?”
• Acknowledge that they haven’t opened or interacted with you in a while
• Remind them why your content is valuable and what they’re missing.
• Let them know what amazing things they can expect in the future and that you’d love to have them back on the list.

Email 8 and Beyond

• Now you can begin to include offers/incentives/affiliate links to drive conversion in your emails.
• Most marketers will do this by moving all re-engaged contacts back into their regular marketing funnel.
• This is where you can begin to measure ROI.

Helpful tips: 

• Consider leveraging Custom Audiences and Direct Mail directly to your identified visitors for additional impact.
• For most industries, it is best to skip a day or two between email sends. Most email marketing platforms support this.
• Remove anybody who has never opened or clicked. If the subscriber has never engaged, there is a low likelihood that they will engage in the future.
• Consider having a sequence that supports prospects that have already converted (become customers).
• Every list is different. But, if there’s a domain that tends to produce more complaints relative to others, removing those from your list is a good idea.
• Make sure you only have one call-to-action per email. Any more than one call-to-action and people will experience choice paralysis. This will hurt your conversion rate.
• Your email marketing platform will show you who opened or clicked.

Summary:

• There is no limit to how long and complex your customer journeys can be. 
• Some of our customers use a 2-step journey, while others set up 60 days or more of emails. 
• It all depends on your business and the types of journeys that do well with your prospects.