How to Convert Leads into Paying Customers
Learn how to convert anyone interested in your brand, products, or services into a client.
Hey there, today, let's have a quick-chat about lead generation.
There's no surprise that so many business professionals still ask themselves, "What's a lead?". Well, it turns out, especially now, as we have moved into an age of marketing automation that we need to learn about them.
- A lead is a prospective consumer of a product/service created as soon as they show interest by providing contact information.
Now that we are all crystal clear in what's a lead, let's move on to:
What's a lead funnel & how it works?
How many types of leads are out there?
How can I convert them into paying customers?
Lead Funnel
A lead funnel is a sales funnel. Here's an example of how it works:
> You click someone's ad (awareness)
> You fill a form with your name & email (lead capture)
> You become a lead - now you're part of a specific list that target's your behavior/interests (prospect)
> You ask to sign up for a free trial or you ask for a quote (marketing qualified lead)
> You start receiving discount coupons (opportunity)
> You reach the final stage of the funnel & you purchase the product/service (customer).
Types of Leads
(Awareness phase) Cold leads are people that click on your ad but are not interested in buying your product or service; they are just getting to know you & your brand.
(Consideration phase) Warm leads are people that follow you on social media; it's subscribed to your email marketing; they are interested but not convinced.
(Decision phase) Hot leads are people looking for a specific product or service like yours, they just need a trigger to purchase.
What Is Lead Nurturing?
Lead nurturing is the process of driving your potential customer at every stage of the sales funnel. It's marketing automation technique-oriented to educate our clients & keep building the loyalty of current clients to achieve a defined objective. To make it you need to focus on providing an effective marketing communication strategy.
How to nurture cold leads? > Get them to know you by introducing your brand & value. You can use the latest trends & industry stats.
How to nurture warm leads? > Get them to understand your brand, build relationships, provide a sample of your product/service. Invite them to a webinar about your product, perhaps a demo.
How to nurture hot leads? > Build trust. A great way is showing proof (testimonials); we all love authenticity; this is key to sell anything. Share success stories & product reviews.
Best Practices to Develop an Effective Lead Nurturing Campaign
Personalize your emails. Use list segmentation.
Educate according to your customer's journey. Take into consideration the stage where your customer is.
Do not send emails every day. Send your emails accordingly to their profiles.
Re-engage when necessary. Give them incentives, discounts, free trials, among others.