Best Practices in Planning a B2B Lead

Nurture ProgramConverto

WH Questions• WHY: what’s the end game?• WHO #1: personas and segments• WHO #2: sender details• WHO #3: response handling chain• WHEN: entry & exit criteria, cadence• WHAT: flow & contents• WHAT HAPPENED: reports & KPIs

WHY?Always have an ‘end game’ in sight

Suggested ‘End Games’• Person requests a direct contact• Person signs up for the product or a trial• Inside sales receives ownership of the lead• Lead becomes Sales Qualified / converts to Contact

• Tip: implied intent signals (e.g. via scoring) should be handled with care. Digital footprints not enough.

Personas – keep things pragmatic• Most B2B marketers can speak of job titles, organization influence span,

decision making roles good, not enough• Strive for deeper understanding of your personas:• Professional challenges• Fears• Likely objections to listen

• Tip:• Go to online forums/groups where your personas interact and note the words and

phrases they use• Use Converto’s Lead Nurture Planner to document your personas

Who will messages go out from• Question may seem innocent, but

the ‘from’ labeling, as well as the signature, packs some serious power

• Tips:• Use the person with the most authority &

credibility vis-à-vis the message• Never use ‘no-reply’ as the reply-to

address

When do leads/contacts enter and exit nurturing?• Usually your answer to the ‘why’ question would determine this• Err, why exit?!• Lifecycle stages are your best friends• Organization politics often affect this decision

• Tip: in general, resist temptation to use implicit digital behavior signals (except form submissions) as lifecycle stage gateways

Breaking down interactions by lifecycle stages

Soft CTAs(educate to engage)

Soft CTAs(educate to qualify)

Auto Responders

PROSPECT

LEAD

MQL

SQL

CUSTOMER

‘Harder’ CTAs(make direct offers)

Who should be involved in handling responses• A nurture email could be:

• Ignored• Opened• Clicked• Out of office’d• Replied• Unsubscribed• Spammed

• Tip: make sure lead owners fully aware of emails going out in their names

Automated scoring + alert to lead owner (optional)Lead owner handlingLead owner handlingAutomated handlingAttention marketing

N/AN/A

CTA Follow-ups and Alerts• Use this simple table to note what happens when recipients respond

to lead nurture emails:Behavior Email Alert CRM Task Interesting MomentClicked main CTA in email

-- -- Yes

Achieved a threshold score

Marketing Ops -- No

Submitted CTA Form Lead Owner Yes Yes

Determining Content & Flows: by Persona1. Create a simple Content Asset/Persona inventory matrix

Persona Content #1 Content #2 Content #3 Content #4 Content #5A x x x x

B x x x

Determining Flows: by Persona2. Then, list your inventory in the order it should be used

Email # Email Topic Main CTA Notes1 Introduction, links to

educational resourcesSee video

2 5 things to consider when… Read blog post 3 Invitation to schedule a

demoSchedule a demo

4 Invitation to webinar Register to webinar

Anatomy of a successful lead nurture

email

Clean design

Identifiable

Contextual

Authority

CTA stands out

Helpful

Establishes credibility

Personal

KPIs• Decide how success will be defined, and benchmark your KPIs. Examples:

Tip: open rates and click-through rates are good stats for optimizing email performance, but program success should be determined by lifecycle stage throughputs.

KPI Metrics BenchmarkImprove rate of MQL>SQL conversions to 30%

# of MQLs

# of SQLs

Conversion rate in last 3 months prior to program launch was 22%

Generate 5 purchases per month of an up-sell offer to clients

# of purchase form fills by existing clients

In 6 months prior to nurture launch, 2 clients purchased the up-sell on average per month

Summary: Keep Asking Questions!• WHY: what’s the end game?• WHO #1: personas and segments• WHO #2: sender details• WHO #3: response handling chain• WHEN: entry & exit criteria, cadence• WHAT: flow & contents• WHAT HAPPENED: reports & KPIs

Got Questions? Feedback?Want our Lead Nurture

Planner™?Email us at helpmenurture@converto.co.il