Lead Nurturing Best Practices Practical Strategies to Automate Customer Engagement Derek Grant, Vice President Pardot Marketing Automation

What is Prospect Nurturing? Prospect Nurturing is the concept of delivering relevant content to prospects Nurturing moves the recipient forward in the sales process Concept – Push v. Pull content Aberdeen Group – 80% of Best Class Companies will nurture.

The Sales Paradigm Is Shifting Would You Buy From This Person?

The Sales Paradigm Is Shifting The Buying Paradigm has shifted Buyers perform research prior to engagement Forrester Research – 80% of all leads passed to sales are mis-handled 70% of mis-handled leads buy from a competitor

The Sales Paradigm Is Shifting Don’t Just Throw Prospects Over the Fence

The ROI is Staggering Nurturing Delivers demonstrable ROI: 9% higher average deal size for nurtured leads vs. non-nurtured leads 23% shorter deal time for nurtured than non-nurtured leads. Your Lead Database is Valuable Each Lead in your DB has a Cost (e.g., $50) Time erodes the value of the Lead DB

Rule 1 – Know Your Audience Segments, Personas & Stated Interest There is no such thing as “One Size Fits All” content. Prospect v. Customer-Focused Content Granular segmentation is key  Product Need – FEA v. PDM  Explicit Segmentation – Engineer v. Engineering Manager v. Chief  Personas - Technology buyer vs. Economic buyer If the message “fits” everyone, it probably isn’t specific enough for any one prospect.

Rule 1a – Specifically Address Your Audience Personalization is Key Personalized, relevant content results in higher response rates Mail Merge Personalization Relevant Subject Lines These techniques make it seem more like a conversation than a broadcast

Rule 2 – Start With the End In Mind What Are You Trying to Accomplish? Covey Had it right…Begin at the end for successful campaigns What’s Your Mission Statement (e.g., Define “Success”)  Education  Green Leads to MQL  Brand Building / Top of Mind Example: Nurturing during a 30 day evaluation should convert prospect to customer  Educational & Functional Content

Rule 3 – Be Mindful of Timing Make it Appear Authentic Suppress content over weekends or after hours. Business Hours only improve response rates Frequency Often enough to be expected Not so often it is a nuisance Rule of Thumb – Every 7-10 days

Rule 4 – Know When to Stop and Start Start Not Yet an MQL Non Responsive to Sales Stop How was “Success” defined?  Once Achieved, terminate program…even if there is more content available Transition Stop one program and start another (more specific) one

Rule 5 – Send Meaningful Content Go Green with Content Develop multi-use content Dust off old content Blog Posts General to Specific Don’t get too specific too soon.  Whitepapers = General, Broad  Webinars = Feature Specific  Case Studies = Specific, Pain points, ROI  Opportunities = Eliminate Risk

Rule 6 – Mix It (Content) Up Heavy HTML Appears to be Marketing collateral Appropriate for Whitepapers. Text Only / Light HTML With “From Address” branding, it appears to have come from the Sales rep Brian Carroll – Nurturing with the “Human Touch” Appropriate for Case Studies and “Personal Notes”

Examples of Nurturing Educate non sales-ready leads Retain early stage leads as marketing assets Deliver relevant content that will “put the pebble in the shoe” or develop awareness of the need This is the primary area where nurturing shortens sales cycles Content: Heavy HTML addressed from Whitepapers, Broad Webinars Goal: To Create an MQL

Examples of Nurturing Re-Engage Stale / Un-contacted Leads Sales can recycle / reject non-qualified leads Marketing can automatically reclaim un- contacted leads This is how nurturing keeps the CPQL low Content: Depends on how engaged the prospect was Mix of Heavy HTML and Text Only Whitepapers, Webinars, Personal Notes Goal: Re-qualify as an MQL

Examples of Nurturing Standardize Sales Communication Perfect for a Product Trial Also delivers Marketing content that you suspect sales doesn’t send. Content: HTML from for trial how to’s Text Only from the Sales Rep (for sales reconnects) How To’s, Case Studies, Advanced Webinars, Analysts Reviews Goal: To turn them into a paying customer

Examples of Nurturing Stay Top of Mind Stay in touch campaigns for responsive leads Fire and Forget campaigns for non- responsive leads Goal of Reacquainting the prospect with key features / differentiators Content: Text Only from the Sales Rep Goal: Faking Sincerity Until Reengagement

Examples of Nurturing Reconnect After a Loss Sometimes this happens If it was a close loss, the rep may still be considered an advisor to the prospect Consider starting around 50-60% of the contract term with their vendor Content: Text Only from the Sales Rep Goal: Ask for another chance Confirm that you should be their trusted vendor.

Do’s and Don’ts DO Do Use Segmentation & Personas Start with the End in Mind Be Mindful of Timing General to Specific Know When to Stop Send the Same Content Multiple Times Don’t “Nurture” your entire database Send “one size fits all” content Assume that Newsletters nurture Do it Manually

Questions?

Thank You For Your Time Today Pardot 950 East Paces Ferry Rd Suite 3300 Atlanta, Georgia B2B.ROI Derek Grant VP of Sales