Lead Nurturing Emails: How to Nurture Leads With Relevant Emails

Your content worked — it was successful in generating several leads. But now what? Do you wait for your leads to contact you? Certainly not. Strike the iron while it’s hot: use email marketing to create a connection with your leads, nurture them, and take them further down the sales funnel.
This is where lead nurturing emails come into the picture. These email templates are used to deliver targeted content that educates leads, builds trust, and prepares them to make a purchase. It’s interesting to note that more than a quarter of marketers get 10% to 20% better response from lead nurture campaigns versus standard ones.
Let’s take a look at how you can nurture your leads with relevant email communication and shorten the sales cycle.

1. Segment your leads

Email is a powerful channel. Don’t abuse it by spamming your leads with irrelevant emails and wonder why your efforts aren’t materializing. If you want to compel people to take the desired action after reading your email newsletter, you need to make it relevant to them. How do you do that? By segmenting your leads.
According to a report, segmented and targeted emails generate 58% of all revenue.
Lead segmentation is the process of classifying leads into smaller groups based on a variety of parameters such as:

• Demographics
• Location
• Purchase behavior
• Company size, team, or industry
• Lead source
• Stage in the sales funnel
• Cart abandonment

This way your leads receive content that’s focused on their needs and is valuable to them, leading to increased engagement.
Let’s say you’re an international brand and are present in several countries. As part of your global marketing efforts, you should segment your leads based on country in order to send nurturing emails that are localized and relevant to them.
Here’s an example of a localized email that’s relevant to people living in Canada.

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2. Determine the email sender name

We don’t realize how important a role the sender name plays in driving email opens. In fact, 42% of recipients decide whether they should open an email after looking at the sender name — not the subject line.
The sender name needs to establish trust and build brand recognition. It’s also a good idea to use different sender names for different segmentation lists, making it easy for subscribers to categorize the emails.
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For instance, information about purchases and campaign-related newsletters should be sent under two different sender names.
Here are some common email sender name templates:
[Company name]

 
 
[Company name] Team

 
 
[Name of company representative]

 

[Name of company representative] from/at [Company]

 

3. Create an effective email nurture flow

50% of the leads you generate are not ready to buy.
The goal of lead nurturing emails is to engage them and persuade them to buy. The most effective way to approach that is by creating an email nurture flow.
A nurture flow or sequence refers to a series of automated emails subscribers are sent based on triggers over predetermined time intervals. The idea is to keep the relationship going and stay top of mind while delivering valuable content.
For instance, let’s say someone downloads a guide and becomes a lead. You can send them a ‘thank you for downloading email’, following it up with other types of content in line with their pain points. You can then introduce them to your product or service that might interest them over a course of a few weeks.
Use a timeline template to chalk out individual email flows and map them to the relevant content you plan to send.
Here’s an example of a lead nurturing email that’s meant to re-engage cart abandoners with a reminder of what they left in their shopping cart.

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4. Send personalized emails

Have you received emails that felt like a template? Chances are you ignored the email or sent it straight to the trash folder. That’s what happens when you send impersonal and umbrella emails.
The key to having your lead nurturing emails deliver results is to personalize them. Your leads need to feel like the email was specifically meant for them.
Here are some ways to personalize your lead nurturing emails:

• Address the contact by their name (in the subject line and email body)
• Use dynamic imagery and content offers
• Send content in line with their demographics, location, purchase behavior, etc.

Make sure you collect the relevant customer data and understand your target audience in order to segment your lists, personalize your emails, and make your subscribers feel valued.
Here’s an example of a personalized email by Goodreads. The email offers reading suggestions based on the recipient’s last read.

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5. Include a single call-to-action

The end goal of every email is to drive action. To achieve that, you need to place a prominent call-to-action that compels recipients to click and clearly tells them what to do.
What’s important is using a single CTA that grabs their attention and leaves no room for confusion. Make sure you use specific, action-oriented words for the call-to-action copy.
Here are some phrases you can use for your email call-to-action:

• Shop now
• Reserve today
• Download now
• Claim discount
• Watch video
• Upgrade account
• Learn more

In addition to the copy, the design and placement of the call-to-action button also play an important role. Use contrasting colors that make it stand out, and keep it above the fold to maximize views and clicks.
Here’s an example of a powerful and well-designed call-to-action button in an email newsletter.

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The takeaway

From educating new leads and re-engaging lost ones, to driving conversions and loyalty; lead nurturing emails are all about delivering the right content to the right person at the right time.
Don’t treat it as a one-time activity. It’s important to keep monitoring each lead and tracking email performance to increase engagement and optimize conversions.