In our blog two weeks ago, we shared why drip campaigns are important and why you should care. When you receive a lead, it takes roughly 8 follow ups (5 to 12) to nurture the lead and convert it to a customer. If you meet 20 new leads per week over 40 weeks, you will have 800 leads in a year times 8 follow ups per lead, that’s 6,400 follow ups! At 10 minutes per follow up, that is over 1,000 hours per year.
The key to follow up is to combine hi touch and hi tech and to separate the leads into categories based on their qualifications. Most leads will receive a blend depending upon whether they are an A lead or a C lead. As a salesperson, you want to spend 80% of your time on 20% of your leads. Automation is the key to follow up for the remaining 80% of your leads. Without automation, you will not have time for other work, family, or friends. With the automation of drip campaigns, you are nurturing the lead with less stress and making time to be more productive in a work and life balance.
Knowing that it takes approximately 8 follow ups, the success of your automated drip campaign’s first interaction is very crucial to lead nurturing. If you do not create that B2C bond with them during your first interaction, it will be an uphill struggle to convert them into a loyal customer.
The first interaction should be the Welcome email. What does that look like? Think of it this way. The contact form on your website or the call to action on your social media profiles is the door to your home. The lead knocks or rings your doorbell. You open the door and welcome them into your home. What will you say? How will you make them feel welcome and create the initial bond?
To help you strategically think about your Welcome email, we will use the example of the door to your home with four recommendations.
- Send the Welcome email immediatelyWhen a lead reaches out to you through a call-to-action, your first interaction in the drip campaign should be immediate. You do not want to make them wait, because they are contacting you for a reason whether it is an interest in a product purchase, a question, or another reason. The question is, do you wait to answer your door when someone knocks? If you don’t answer right away (or send the email right away), they leave and the opportunity is lost. Your drip campaign should trigger a Welcome email right away.
- Personalize a warm greetingWhen a lead enters their name in a contact form, they are introducing themselves to you. Just like at the door when you greet them by name and also introduce yourself, your email should be the same. You greet them by name, give them a warm welcome, and close the email with your name. Make it personal. Signing an email with Tech Support, Sales Team Member, or Customer Sales is not personal. That would be like answering your door and saying my name is Home Owner instead of your name. Personalize the email with a warm welcome and they will feel invited into your customer relationship.
- Give them a special offerHow many times have you gone to someone’s house and they offer you a drink? Your email should be similar. After you tell them how glad you are that they contacted you, give them a special offer. This could be a free resource or a discount on a first-time purchase. Show them that you care for their well-being.
- Let them know what to expect in the futureSince this is the beginning of your drip campaign, let them know what to expect over the coming weeks. Your drip campaign should be tailored to your lead/customer’s needs. The frequency and content of your automated emails should nurture them instead of being that “annoying neighbor” who has no boundaries and every conversation is about you. Let them know what you will be doing next and how you will help them. They will be more likely to build a relationship with you when they know the expectations and know their best interest is top of your mind.
If you have a drip campaign, are you welcoming them into “your home”? Is your welcome email sent immediately with a personalized message, offer and future expectation? If not, you will want to reconsider the entry point of customer sales cycle. If you have questions about drip campaigns or how to integrate a drip campaign into your CRM and sales cycle, let us know. We would be happy to talk with you.
