How To Nurture Customers Through Digital Comms – In Six Steps

The mission of a modern-day marketer has dramatically evolved – perhaps more so in the last 12 months where communication has been critical when building consumer trust and loyalty..

 

But when so much is being said online – by millions of global brands – how can industry professionals make sure they’re nailing the cut through that counts?

 

Adam Oldfield, managing director of marketing automation platform Force24 explains more...

 

 

There is a lot to think about when it comes to making sure you’re achieving the most from your online channels and ongoing communication. And when it takes an average of six touchpoints before your message truly lands – there is even more to consider!

As with anything, there is never a one size fits all approach, but there are ways in which you can utilise your messaging in a way that takes a customer all the way from a brand introduction to encouraging a purchase.

And it doesn’t always entail an oversized budget and hundreds of staff members to execute.

 

Where martech can offer something extra that manual processes can’t

 

What marketers today need to have in their toolkit is the knowledge to truly understand how hyper-personalised comms can be created and delivered via savvy technology such as marketing automation platforms.

Plugging in the right tool can further equip marketers with the capability to design an email ‘nurture sequence’ that tells customers about their latest news – in minutes rather than hours. Not only that, it must be able to decipher the information required so professionals can deliver killer content at the right time, via the right channels and when recipients are most engaged.

But even with the savviest of automation technology, it’s not an overnight process to create a fool-proof email, DM journey or SMS campaign that lands every single time – in fact, that’s pretty much impossible.

However, what martech should provide is more opportunities and insight to deliver strong sequences that achieve the cut through you need, engage your database and build customer loyalty.

 

Kickstarting your next conversion-rich campaign

 

Perhaps the easiest way to begin is to follow the below framework. This is the exact email journey process we’ve created – and live by – at Force24.

So, here are the six steps to consider when building your email nurture sequence:

1. Introduce who you are, why you’re getting in touch and how your company can help the customer
2. Social proof evidencing why your brand will assist the individual (testimonials work brilliantly here)
3. Gain is all about exactly that – what someone can receive if they were to buy into your product or service
4. Fear underlines why you don’t want to miss out
5. Logic focuses on the rationale as to why a consumer should buy from you
6. Urgency is simple – act now!

 

This type of personalised journey can enable marketers to take someone through each phase – and automation will assist in presenting back critical data so professionals can understand where more/less content is required on a case-by-case basis.

 

Evaluating the success of your campaign sequence

 

Most departments may look to email open rates to see how well their nurture comms are landing. But these don’t often tell the full story. For us, it’s all about the metrics that matter.

 

 

 

 

Introducing lead scoring

 

To best explain what is meant by this, imagine a person you’re trying to engage with. If they’re not that interested, you could perhaps place a ‘1’ above their head and keep digital copy to a minimum.

But if the individual you’re speaking to is really displaying interest – whether that’s by spending time on a particular web page or downloading a guide – it’s worth attaching a higher score to them such as an ‘8’ (if you’re scoring out of 10) or ‘90’ (if out of 100).

For those that are clocking up the larger numbers, automation can glean this information and it’s then down to the marketing and sales departments to work together as to when a trigger for a more ‘human’ touchpoint – such as a phone call – is required for that all-important personal touch.

 

Driving success with Marketing Automation

 

However, it’s not always solely about emails and calls to engage customers. Can your brand build and create a greater level of valuable comms such as landing pages and gated content?

That additional layer of tailored information goes a long way towards sustaining a customer’s interest online and can complement what’s already landed in their inbox or mobile phone. This too can provide the sales team with the critical information they need to deepen a consumer relationship.

Nurturing customers is all about being supportive and offering an all-round experience that is trusting and authentic, and delivers brand credibility.

 

Marketers have so much at their fingertips – now’s the time to make their technology count, and their digital comms convert like never before.