Lead Nurturing: How It Works, Benefits, Measurements

Leads are potential customers that could become customers or clients down the road. Lead nurturing involves building relationships with these potential customers, spending time, energy, and resources to increase trust so when the time is right, they turn to you for your product or service.

Getting someone’s contact is “just the beginning,” says Lindsay Marty, founder and CEO of Above the Bar Marketing. “Lead nurturing is what really drives conversions. The challenge is helping that person feel understood, supported, and ready to take action. Every follow-up should make things clearer for the lead and move them closer to becoming a client.”

What Is Lead Nurturing?

Lead nurturing is the process of developing and maintaining relationships with potential customers, or leads, at every stage of the sales funnel, with the goal of guiding them toward making a purchase decision. Instead of pushing for an immediate sale, lead nurturing focuses on providing relevant information, maintaining visibility, and identifying when they’re ready to buy.

To cultivate those leads, it’s important for marketing teams to develop a concrete strategy for each stage. Here are the steps for doing it effectively.

How Lead Nurturing Works: Four Stages

From the first minute your business connects with a lead, to the moment they become a loyal customer, lead nurturing involves specific steps for success. By completing each of these, you will have a better conversion rate in time, and customers that trust you even more when they do convert.

“Acquiring leads is one thing,” confirms Nicolas De Resbecq, marketing expert and CRO specialist at Oppizi. “Engaging them and leading them to conversion is where the real battle lies. In B2B, the lead-nurturing process tends to be longer: Individuals are making a business decision, so there is more information and assurance that is needed.”

Here are the steps to convert your leads into loyal customers:

Step 1: Build Awareness of Your Brand

People can’t choose your business if they don’t know you exist. So, the first stage of lead nurturing is getting on their screens through ads, in their inboxes with newsletters or outreach emails, or physically in front of them. Only once a lead becomes aware of your business can they move to the next stage of becoming more interested in what you have to offer.

Step 2: Pique Interest

Now, it’s time to stand out against the competition by using multiple touchpoints to show leads just how beneficial your products or services can be to their business or life. This outreach doesn’t have to be direct or intense, but rather a process of trust-building as you pique the interest of your leads, nudging them towards a more serious consideration phase. You might achieve this through contests, engaging images or posts, ads that grab their attention, and other touchpoints that make them look twice and reconsider what you’re about, and what you have to offer.

Step 3: Be Valuable In the Consideration and Evaluation Phase

Leads may well look to you for advice in this stage, presenting you with an opportunity to add value, serving as a wayfinder or teacher as they make their decision. During the evaluation stage, you can provide helpful and in-depth information in the form of blog posts, whitepapers, video explainers, and more.

Step 4: Time to Convert

Make your final outreach to your leads by proposing a clear and irresistible offer that leads to conversion. During the conversion stage, you can be helpful by ensuring there are no hiccups that cause potential customers to reconsider as they’re onboarding or purchasing, e.g., due to technical or logistical issues with checkout.

“A good plan has to span the entire path from first contact to purchase,” says De Resbecq. “That involves defining what content or message aligns with each step, determining what group controls each piece, and having discernible measures to monitor effectiveness. If conversions are the desired end result, don’t monitor just opens or clicks, measure how each touch contributes to the point of purchase.”

So, instead of guessing what you need to further develop at each stage, look to the data — or hire additional resources and tools to generate the data — to figure out what touchpoints are working and which need to be improved.

Lead Nurturing Benefits

Higher Conversion Rates

You will see more leads converting with much less effort on your part if you have an effective lead-nurturing system and strategy. This ultimately leads to more profit and a more streamlined marketing system.

Increased Brand Loyalty

If you’re taking your time on initial touchpoints, you will have customers that trust you long before they even sign their first contract or make their first purchase. This pays off when they are still loyal customers a decade later because of the work you did up front.

More Referrals

Those loyal customers are also more likely to tell their friends about your product or service. They’ve learned to trust you in the initial stages of lead nurturing, and are more likely to mention you to others sooner.

Fewer Lost Leads Early In The Marketing Cycle

Some marketing teams depend too much on expensive touchpoints, and might lose their leads early in the process. Also, those who skip steps might lose potential customers before they have a chance to learn the potential benefits of your brand.

What Do You Need to Begin Nurturing Leads?

To begin nurturing leads, you need a system for finding and identifying the most optimal leads for your offers. This can be a technology tool or service that does it for you (more on that below), a skilled marketing team, or a DIY effort as a marketing manager. You will also likely need a budget for building meaningful touchpoints, whether it’s for a social media manager or new campaign, or to purchase new advertising.

What are Effective Lead Nurturing Strategies for B2B?

Education

Sometimes, leads don’t even know why they need your product or service. You can answer this for them through education. “Within the B2B space, I always aim to create value from the onset by providing educational materials, presenting case studies, and delivering a personal outreach for every lead,” says Kyle Sobko, CEO of SonderCare. “This helps create trust gradually as we guide our leads through the sales funnel.”

B2B marketing might involve more specialized educational materials than B2C, so investing in content strategy and high-quality content such as whitepapers helps build trust in the lead-nurturing stages.

Email Sequencing

A well-timed email campaign can convert leads at multiple points in the process. “Email sequences based upon where a person is in the funnel are effective,” says De Resbecq. “If a prospect viewed a whitepaper, the subsequent follow-ups should dive deeper into that same subject, not a generic product promotion. Timing also works in your favor: You don’t want to send too much, but you also don’t want to let the lead drop cold. A CRM (customer relationship management system) that includes automating based upon lead action will make this work.”

Personalization

Nobody wants to feel like they’re getting pushed through a generic process just for their money. So, don’t rush it, and personalize the touchpoints wherever possible. “In B2B, the time frame is longer, but the quantity is larger. The technique that works here is personalization at scale,” De Resbecq says. “Product suggestions based on browsing or retargeting with ads that feature abandoned items can push a person to do something. The key is to make them think that the message is personal.”

Lead Scoring

Don’t spend all of your time and resources on a lead that might not convert. De Resbecq calls this an “essential element” of lead nurturing. “You need to direct effort where there is actual potential,” he says. “A basic model would have points awarded based on email opens, clicks, visits to the site, and filled-in forms. You’ll have to refine it over time, based upon what actions actually result in conversions within your business.”

Marty adds that, “Clear actions are more important than flashy words. We use lead scoring like this: If they open emails, download a guide, or attend a webinar, they earn points. Once a lead hits a certain score, our intake team gets a message to call them. This system helps us focus on the most interested leads without wasting anyone’s time.”

Timing

Just like timing that perfect text to follow up after a first date, you have to pay attention to the ideal timing to reach out to leads for the next step. Keep in mind that B2B marketing can sometimes take months, or even years, compared to B2C, which can be days or even minutes in some cases. So, consider those longer sales cycles when you make plans.

“While many marketers rely on automated workflows, we have found that a more tailored approach to timing, based on lead behavior, is far more effective,” says Sean Clancy, managing director of SEO Gold Coast. “If a lead has interacted with specific content, we delay the follow-up and send them a more advanced piece of content, like a webinar, rather than an immediate sales offer. This strategy goes beyond typical lead scoring and dives deeper into understanding the mental state and readiness of each individual lead.”

What are Effective Lead Nurturing Strategies for B2C?

Unlike B2B marketing, lead nurturing in B2C can mean quicker cycles, more impulsive decision-making, and behavior-driven strategy. However, it differs based on industry and company. Here’s what to consider if you’re focusing on B2C:

Clue In to Shopping Behaviors

B2C consumers often respond to quicker, emotional, or entertainment-based marketing efforts to make their decisions, as opposed to some of the longer and more analytical aspects of B2B marketing. So, research and lean into those B2C consumer shopping behaviors.

Maggie Swift, co-founder and CEO of Unframed Digital, says that, “For B2C, we focus more on visual retargeting, interactive lookbooks, and personalized sequences tied to shopping behavior — like a cart view that leads to, ‘Which Pull Style Matches Your Cabinet Finish?’”

Use Your Graphics

It’s time to get visual. B2C consumers need something that will make them stop scrolling and look again. “It’s all about eye-catching visuals, just-right SMS timing, and tapping into emotion,” says Matt Bowman, CEO and founder of Thrive Local.

Tell the Story

Clue your leads into the inner workings and results of your company, by getting better at storytelling. “In B2C, I’ve noticed trust taking center stage,” says Tomas Melian, SVP of marketing at DiabetesTeam. “People managing health conditions don’t respond to generic funnels. When we slowed things down and used email storytelling — patient voices, actionable advice, and light CTAs (calls to action) — we saw a 2.5x increase in sign-ups over our old, ‘faster’ funnel.”

Advanced Lead Nurturing Practices

Build a Genuine Relationship

Advanced B2B marketers know how to build genuine relationships, where you care about the client’s success even if, in the short-term, it doesn’t mean more money for you. “One area of lead nurturing that’s often overlooked is the emotional connection you build with leads,” Clancy says. “B2B sales are often viewed as purely transactional, but creating a genuine relationship through storytelling can be a powerful tool. We’ve found success by focusing on the journey behind our clients’ success stories.”

Focus on Long-Term Outcomes

Another advanced nurturing practice is to analyze data not just in the immediate months, but years down the road, to see how outcomes over time show your ability to play the long game. “Long-term, we stay in touch with simple monthly newsletters. We include helpful tips, short updates, and reminders for common legal questions,” says Marty. “One client sends a quarterly checklist — like what to update after a life event — and it keeps past customers engaged and even brings in referrals.”

Automating Lead-Nurturing Processes

Drive Cold Audiences to Discover Your Brand On Their Own

First, to automate lead generation, you can use performance software to get specific content in front of the right decision-makers, utilizing a performance AI based on years of first party data to target potential customers and optimize creative in real time.

Email Sequencing

Use email trigger tools to send emails at various cadences, depending on the client and based on the specific stage they’re at. Track your data — subscribes and unsubscribes, open rates, click through rates, conversion rates, etc. — and make adjustments from there.

Lead Segmentation

You want to stay organized with your cold and warm leads before starting the lead-nurturing process. You can choose an automated lead segmentation tool or do it yourself. Organize the leads by their size, potential budgets, behavior, touchpoints they’ve interacted with, job titles, industries, and other notable interests. Some tools allow you to automate assigning leads to these various categories for easier organization and engagement.

Retargeting

Once your leads have interacted with some of your content, you retarget warm leads that started to interact with a touchpoint but didn’t convert yet. Helping them through the consideration phase with retargeting, such as sharing lead magnets like webinars, case studies, eBooks, articles, and other content, can give them more information to make their decision.

Help Them Make It Over The Line

In the final stages of lead nurturing, you can help close the deal through automated SMS/email reminders for booking calls or making purchases. You can use calendar-based tools like Calendly to automate the process of reminding them and getting them booked, or ActiveCampaign for finalizing those last steps. You can also consider sending personalized materials such as a case study with clear results, to help make the decision. Finally, you can automate next-step triggers if someone downloads a rate sheet, pricing guide, or offer. You can also reengage them if they stall in the process through reminder emails or texts after a delay.

Personalization and Customization Tactics

Analyze the Behavior of B2B Leads in Your Industry

When and where are your clients most likely to engage with your material? What motivates them? If you aren’t sure, do some research and surveying before making expensive guesses. Consider what’s next with each missed touchpoint attempt — if they didn’t open an email, consider moving to SMS, changing the subject line, or going another route. If they check out your pricing information, send a follow-up, personalized proposal, quote, or email to see what questions they have or to share a competitor analysis to show your own competitive pricing.

Mix Behavior with Industry

“Mix what they do online (clicking links, visiting pages) with who they are (their job, their industry),” Bowman says. “Smart marketing includes sending messages when people take specific actions, using several communication channels together, asking for information bit by bit, and making different content for different audience groups.”

Use First-Party Data to Focus on Their Needs

You can use first-party data responsibly to help inform the lead-nurturing process. Integrate this data into your CRM for easier access and management. Ensure leads are seeing buyer stories and case studies that accurately show similar narratives to their own problem, and demonstrate the solution you provide.

How to Measure and Optimize Your Lead-Nurturing Process

So, what data should you be watching? To truly measure and optimize your lead-nurturing process, you need a strategy built from that data. Here are some common concerns to address:

How Do I Measure the ROI of My Lead Nurturing Efforts?

First, determine what types of leads you will be measuring. For example, you may want to distinguish between your ROI for marketing qualified leads (MQL) versus sales qualified leads (SQL) rather than mixing results together. You also might consider measurements around the average time to conversion rate, the size and impact of the closed deals, and the resources necessary to complete the strategy versus what you are getting in return.

What Are Common KPIs for Lead Nurturing Campaigns?

The KPIs you need to measure are your click rates, email unsubscribe and subscription rates, total costs with each stage of the nurturing process, advertisement costs versus return on investment, and resources spent on lead nurturing content, such as eBooks or newsletters, compared to their engagement rates. You can look at other common KPIs, too, such as bounce rates, to determine where you might be losing opportunities with leads.

How Can I A/B Test My Lead Nurturing Strategies?

A/B strategies involve testing two different processes against each other to determine which leads to a higher conversion rate. Don’t introduce too many different variables in each test so you can more easily understand what’s working and what’s not. Also, conduct A/B tests over a reasonable period of time.

Lead-Nurturing Tools and Technologies

You don’t have to go through the lead-nurturing process alone — smart marketing teams rely on tools and technology to make it easier. Consider these:

HubSpot

Swift uses Hubspot for lead segmentation and scoring. Sobko also likes how the platform helps him watch the lead journey while he navigates a variety of conversations: “I can simply automate an email, track for opened and unopened emails, and complete all of this in a matter of seconds,” he says.

Klaviyo

For e-commerce automations, Swift uses Klaviyo paired with Hubspot. Other marketers appreciate Klaviyo’s lead-nurturing tools, which are focused on segmentation and targeting, as well as their automated workflows, real-time tracking of behavioral triggers, and other tools.

Hotjar

Along with UTM-tagged click data, Swift says Hotjar helps “optimize which mid-funnel pieces actually move leads forward.”

Realize

Performance advertising platforms can help you create meaningful touchpoints at various phases of lead nurturing, via tools like its GenAI Admaker and Social Importer. It also allows you to ensure you show ads to the right audience at the right stage, thanks to its unique matchmaking AI that targets potential customers based on their online behavior.

ActiveCampaign

Some B2B marketers turn to this tool for email marketing and automation along with CRM integration, site tracking data, and other metrics.

Key Takeaways

Creating an effective lead-nurturing strategy helps to build relationships that convert leads to customers. Use high-quality content and other touchpoints to provide assistance with their decision, focusing on what differentiates you from the competition. “At the end of the day, the best lead-nurturing strategy is simple: Be helpful, stay consistent, and watch the data,” Marty says. “You don’t need fancy language or over-the-top designs. Just offer real value, respond quickly, and show that your firm is ready to help. That’s what turns leads into loyal clients.”

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

What is the difference between lead nurturing and lead generation?

Lead generation is largely about identifying the people you want to reach out to, while lead nurturing is beginning to engage with those leads. “I’ve run campaigns that drove hundreds of leads in a week, and honestly, most of them went nowhere,” Melian says. “I’ve discovered that lead generation is the invitation, whereas nurturing is the actual conversation.”

What is a lead-nurturing CRM?

A lead-nurturing CRM is a customer relationship management system that helps you track, manage, improve, and build relationships with your leads, throughout the entire lead-nurturing process. This starts as soon as you identify a potential lead, and carries through until they are a fully engaged and consistent buyer. CRMs help with lead scoring, segmentation, tracking a lead’s spot in the pipeline, automating messaging and touchpoints, and producing the data that is necessary for decision-making.

What is lead scoring?

Lead scoring is a process by which you assign value to certain leads, based on how important they are to your business, how likely they are to convert, and how much they will lead to significant sales or engagements with your company if they do convert. The lead-scoring process helps marketing teams identify where to focus their resources.

How can I create a lead-nurturing plan that drives conversions?

Follow each step of the lead-nurturing process, utilizing technology to ensure you’re focusing on the most important aspects and looking for gaps in your lead-nurturing plan. With consistency, patience, and a concrete strategy, you will see the fruits of your efforts in the loyalty of long-term clients and customers who are happy to refer others.