B2B sales and marketing all too often neglect lead management: 15% of B2B organizations don’t include outreach in their marketing and sales process to keep leads warm, according to a Gartner survey (available to Gartner clients). Providing concise, relevant content along the buyer journey can ease purchase jitters and shorten time spent in the sales funnel, according to another Gartner survey on technology buying dynamics (full survey available to Gartner clients).

Efficient lead nurturing guides buyers through the sales process to their purchase decision. Sales closed from nurtured leads tend to have a higher purchase value compared to those closed from non-nurtured leads. I’ve worked with many different types of software companies, all trying to maximize lead generation and close as many leads as quickly as possible. I wanted to share the top four pieces of lead nurturing advice I’ve gathered through that work, to help you more effectively engage and nurture your own prospects throughout their purchase journey.

4 Tips to Build Successful Lead Nurture Tracks

Tip #1: Meet regularly with your sales and marketing teams.

Use meetings to detail and build out ideal buyer personas, lead scoring metrics, and set clear lead nurture track goals. 

Tip #2: Craft content and messaging that follows your buyer’s journey.

Content and messaging should follow your buyer's journey through your sales funnel. Build triggers for certain customer actions — such as calls to action within content or website forms — to guide marketing outreach and support sales conversations based on those interactions. 

Tip #3: Personalize nurture outreach.

Personalize outreach to increase response rates. Include the contact's or company name in the email subject line or include additional content resources based on past engagement. Treat every lead as a unique sale and prospect opportunity, and remember that not every lead sees the same challenges, needs, or falls within the same stage of the funnel.

Tip #4: Stay on top of buyer actions and feedback.

Use buyer actions and feedback to measure outreach effectiveness and ensure you're meeting prospects’ needs. Regularly review lead nurture track performance data and take note of stages that receive greater engagement or unsubscribe rates. Adjust your lead nurture tracks and messaging accordingly, as often as necessary to maximize results.

Evgeni Pavlov

Evgeni Pavlov is a Senior Business Development Executive for Gartner Digital Markets. He specializes in helping software vendors successfully optimize, develop, and grow their digital marketing efforts across all channels. In his free time, Evgeni loves traveling and being a crazy foodie and cooking enthusiast. Connect with Evgeni on LinkedIn.