Have you ever received repeated marketing from a single company just because you expressed the most trivial interest in them? The number of calls you receive is not as troublesome as how often you get them, and when the company contacts you too often, the typical response will be to choose not to do business with them at all.

This is a costly mistake when you try to nurture your leads. The challenge lies in figuring out how often is too often - finding the perfect timing for contacting your leads.

The Definitive Factors

While there is no single best schedule for contacting your leads, there are factors that dictate how you should plan the timing of your efforts. These definitive factors include your buying cycle and lead preferences. Depending on your business, other factors might be necessary, but when used in conjunction properly, these two factors can be more than enough to help nurture your leads.

• Your buying cycle - Take a look at your sales funnel and the ideal time frame in which a lead should be converted into a purchase. Keep in mind that over 50% of leads are not ready to purchase upon their first conversion, and if you push them the wrong way, you can push them straight out of your sales funnel. So keep an "instant sale" option within your funnel, but also conceptualize a realistic buying cycle upon which the frequency of your lead nurturing campaigns can correspond to.
• Lead preferences - When leads fill out an information capture form, you can add a couple of radio buttons or check boxes to help figure out their contact preferences. Your goal, however, is to nurture your leads, so try not to make it seem like all you care about is how much stuff you can send them through their email. Often, a single opt-in option is sufficient, because as you go along with a "Keep In Touch" campaign, you would typically be able to glean how your efforts are going through intelligent analytics and email metrics.

1. A follow-up and introductory email by day 1
2. An email update of content that is preferably related to first conversion, such as an informative blog post with a call to action on day 5
3. An email offering free resources, or an invite to an online event such as a webinar, on day 10
4. An email offering a discount coupon or a trial offer by day 15

Within half the span of your buying cycle, you would have already proven your value as well as pitched a trial offer.

Unintentionally Pushing Leads Away?

If you have somehow acquired frequency information regarding lead nurturing campaign timing, then honor your leads' preferences. If all you have to go on is your buying cycle, keep an eye on email metrics such as click-throughs, downloads, and engagement (time spent). If these data appear to be in your favor, then your leads are probably still interested. If fluctuations occur, do not hesitate to ask them directly what they prefer, and take this into consideration when you contact and nurture your leads. Your nurturing campaign be able to accommodate such adjustments.

Keep these in mind and you can effectively nurture your leads - without annoying and losing them in the process.

*cincinnati lead nurturing crm