In summary, the nutrition of Leads consists of sending, in an automated way, a series of emails with content related to the subject in which the user has been interested.
As the emails are sent and the Lead consumes the content, new emails are sent, always taking the user through the purchase process towards the BoFu (the bottom of the funnel). If he gets to this stage, he's probably mature enough to buy, and if he's really qualified, the salesperson will be able to approach him to make the sale.
These are the emails that will help the Lead to be informed and aware of the importance of your solution, increasing the opportunity for them to make the purchase. To get an idea, a Forrester Research survey suggests that investing in nutrition campaigns can increase a company's sales volume by 50%, from online contacts (at a 33% lower cost).
Therefore, it is easy to perceive the importance of lead nurturing emails. And, for all that, it is essential to create and send them very carefully, in order to avoid mistakes that can negatively affect your Inbound Marketing strategy . Next, see a checklist of which steps you should follow to create an efficient Lead nurturing campaign.
Do you want a practical version of that checklist?
Download here our checklist “Email Marketing Campaigns”.
1. Planning
Planning a nutrition email flow is usually a bit more complex than planning promotional emails and newsletters . This happens because a flow has more emails.
The first thing you should do is name the stream. Then, define for which person(s) it will be intended, at what stage of the purchase process are the people in the flow and what is their objective. Preferably, that information should be indicated in the name you chose.
At this stage, it is also important to define the trigger that will start the flow, that is, if it will be activated by downloading an eBook, by accessing the price page, etc.
Another point that must be defined in the planning is the number of emails that will be in the flow and what will be the interval between them. This is important so that the emails are not sent too frequently, overloading the Lead, nor in a small quantity, diminishing their interest.
Finally, determine what the purpose of the flow is. It can be, for example, making the Lead advance in the purchase process, recovering a lost sales opportunity, etc.
2. Content
Now is the time to produce the content of the emails. But first, create an outline, that is, the structure of the text. One suggestion is to place in a document all the topics and content that will be addressed in each email.
Then, you can develop the texts of each email. When you finish the texts, think about various email subjects and choose those that are most attractive to your buyer persona . Finally, review the texts to avoid grammatical errors.
3. Email Design
At this stage, you are going to think about the appearance of the emails. Since we are talking about nutrition emails, it is very common for these to be just text. But, depending on your market, emails with images may be a better option.
If you opt for emails with a more complex design, hire a professional or a freelancer to develop the design in HTML.
But you can also use tools that allow you to easily create designs, without the need for a professional. RD Station Marketing has this functionality, and you can easily choose a layout for your email (or even select a text-only option).
When the design is ready, it's time to review everything. Do a test send and check if 1) the email subject is fully displayed in the inbox (must not be longer than 50 characters), 2) the images have alt text and are not broken, 3) the links for the contents they work and 4) if there are grammar errors. Correct everything and go to the next step.
4. Assembly and flow activation
This is perhaps the step that requires the most attention, because an error in sending emails can harm the entire flow.
Therefore, it begins with the creation of the segmentation that includes the buyer persona and the trigger selected in the planning. Then, create the flow, respecting the interval between the emails that was determined in the planning and other configurations of your tool. Finally, activate the flow of nutrition.
5. Analysis
The job does not end when you activate the flow. Now you must analyze the results of the nutrition flow. See some important metrics:
- Open Rate (number of people who opened the message divided by the number of people who received it): did it go up or down compared to the last campaign? What to do next?
- Click-through rate (number of clicks on a link in the newsletter divided by the number of people who received it): did it go up or down compared to the last campaign? What to do next?
- Conversion Rate (people who made a conversion from the newsletter): how many people met the objective defined in the planning?
Bonus: Do you want a practical checklist to use in your company?
In summary, the process of creating a Leads nutrition campaign is made up of:
Planning
- Flow name.
- Buyer person.
- Stage of the purchase process.
- Trigger.
- Number of emails and interval.
- Aim.
Content
- Create an outline.
- Produce email texts.
- Think of 5 different subjects (email title) and select the most attractive ones.
- Revision.
Email Design
- Create design thinking about the structure of the content.
- Review the design with the final content.
- Make a test shipment and verify:
- Email subject.
- Images.
- links.
- Content.
Mounting and flow activation
- Create the segmentation according to the buyer persona and the trigger selected in the planning.
- Create the flow respecting the interval between emails and other settings of your tool.
- Activate the flow of nutrition.
Analysis
- Open Rate.
- Click Rate.
- Conversion rate.
If you fulfilled all these stages, your flow is ready. But to help you get it up and running in your company, we created a practical checklist that can be completed according to the progress of the campaign. The checklist also contemplates other types of email, promotional emails and newsletters, which have different processes.
Download your checklist here for free (or fill out the form below) and get optimal results!
