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Businesses haven’t adopted lead nurturing to the extent that they have embraced other tools such as email marketing or social media. However, all industry research shows that nurturing your leads, keeping them engaged with your content on an ongoing basis, and gradually introducing them to more advanced stages of the sales cycle can only benefit your bottom line.
Consider the Facts...
- Only 25% of leads are legitimate and should advance to sales. Only 50% of leads are qualified but not ready to buy. [Gleanster Research]
- Lead nurturing emails get 4-10 times the response rate compared to standalone email blasts. [SilverPop/DemandGen Report]
- Research shows that 35-50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first. [InsideSales.com]
Recently, we did an analysis of the HubSpot customer database to compare the performance of key metrics in lead nurturing and email marketing. The sample we analyzed included 1,212 companies using general email marketing and 1,241 companies using lead nurturing. (Note: some companies may have been present in both groups.)
We looked at both the median and average click-through rate (CTR) and unsubscribe rate, and found that in both cases, lead nurturing emails have a significantly higher CTR than more generic email blasts. In fact, lead nurturing emails generated an 8% CTR compared to general email sends, which generated just a 3% CTR.
Interestingly enough, lead nurturing emails also had a slightly higher unsubscribe rate (1%) than individual email sends (0.5%). While this can be viewed as a seemingly negative performance, it's actually an indicator that lead nurturing is doing its job of qualifying leads and eliminating people who are not interested in your company. Only the most engaged leads will move down the sales funnel and can potentially turn into great new customers.
Marketing Takeaway
Effective implementation of lead nurturing works, and it's a far superior way to move your leads through the sales funnel than general email blasts. Why? Because it's personalized, catered to a prospect or lead's point in the sales cycle, and it keeps your business top of mind as they're evaluating a purchase. Start experimenting for yourself. The proof is in the pudding.
Want to get started with lead nurturing, but not sure where to start? Download our free ebook, An Introduction to Lead Nurturing.
