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Lead Nurturing With Salesforce.com

March 19, 2008

Drip Marketing: more than an email and a phone call.

By Jason Kort.

Traditionally known as “drip marketing,” lead nurturing in its most general sense is “any sales activity that happens when you aren’t there.”  For most companies it’s a one or two-shot effort, consisting of sending a plain-text email, then making one follow-up call.

Effective lead nurturing is more than just emailing and “checking in.”  Successful lead nurturing follows a well-thought-out strategy that maps out communications and processes designed to gradually increase your potential’s understanding of-and trust in-you, your company, and your products and services. It requires planning far beyond the typical, “if you don’t close the sale by the second phone call, send the email.”

Lead nurturing campaigns integrated with Salesforce.com extend a company’s reach automatically. A typical strategy for SoftVu clients is to have a personal introductory video message, automatically generated and triggered the instant a prospect completes a lead form.  Next, unless the prospect converts immediately, the lead nurturing strategy begins.

SoftVu can dynamically add sender images, voice, video, contact information and other personalized content to humanize campaigns. Relationship building is improved when customers see the sales reps face or photo on a customized landing page.  Instant view notifications allow the sales team to know exactly when the customer is viewing their communications and when to call.   All message tracking integrates with Salesforce.com so that businesses get a full view of the sales cycle.

We found in a recent study of 100,000 aged lead survey responses across 38 different lending clients, that 60-70% of aged leads remain viable after the second contact-some beyond even six months after applying online.  The typical practice of not following up with leads after one or two contacts-not nurturing leads effectively-means you’re throwing away 60-70% of your total investment in leads.

Now more than ever before, lead nurturing practices can help companies get value from leads that companies may have never have touched. Businesses can stay in front of the customer from day one to purchase and be well positioned to continue to nurture customers for life.

Jason Kort, is Marketing Director of SoftVu, a leading provider of marketing automation software.  Founded in 1999, SoftVu has earned a reputation for engaging customers with personalized, relevant, and timely communications to help businesses close sales. The company creates automated campaigns for lead generation and incubation, sales follow-up, and client retention programs.  Jason is an advocate for marketing automation and his writings can be seen in a variety of business publications and blogs.  Read more about Jason on his blog.

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