How to Turn Leads Into Loyal Customers: A 5-Step Guide for Startups

Without an effective lead-nurturing strategy, a young startup will quickly find itself in dangerous territory. Leads are the lifeblood of any company. And without a steady, sustainable stream of new customers, cash reserves will dwindle, revenues will dry up, and bankruptcy will inevitably ensue. Lead generation is crucial.

That’s why it’s essential for startups to commit to continually improving their lead nurturing sequence. But operating a high-converting sales funnel when time and resources are scarce requires a nuanced approach.

In this post, we’re going to explore five proven ways that startups of all shapes and sizes can refine, test, and enhance their lead cycle.

Why Is Lead Nurturing Important?

As a startup, learning how to manage your leads is essential from the perspective of growth. Lead nurturing, which refers to the process by which customers are moved through a company’s funnel or “sales pipeline”, is essential because it is a company’s primary mechanism for generating revenue.

Startups can easily fall into the trap of building an unbalanced sales funnel. Young companies are often very good at generating new leads but falter when it comes to converting them. And this is a huge problem. Without consistent revenue streams, growth is virtually impossible, and a business’ attractiveness to investors quickly diminishes.

1.   Identify Your “Hottest” Lead Sources

Most businesses have a handful of top-performing lead sources. If you’re heading a cash-strapped startup, it’s important not to spread your resources too widely. Larger, more established enterprises can take on the cost of testing a large number of marketing channels. But you don’t have that luxury. It’s essential to identify your “traction” lead-sources as early as possible and then leverage them fully.

It’s also worth mentioning that the reasons a particular channel, whether it’s social media, paid ads, or search engines, outperforms another might not always be clear. Determining these underlying reasons can be useful, but keep in mind that it’s a secondary priority during the early stages of a startup.

2.   Test Different Follow-Up Sequences

Your follow-up sequence represents the series of stages through which a lead becomes more engaged with your brand. You are essentially cultivating a desire for your products and services. And an effective follow-up sequence can turn a cold, disinterested prospect into one that’s practically begging to hand over their credit card details.

Testing in lead generation is the key word here. Your follow up sequence will likely consist of an array of touchpoints, including email, phone calls, in-person meetings, retargeting ads, and so on. Finding the right mix requires a willingness to try different alternatives and a commitment to ongoing, incremental improvements.

3.   Provide Resources Your Leads Actually Need

Resources like white papers, blog posts, webinars, etc. are used to build trust and engagement with prospective leads and indirectly alert them to the benefits of your

While offering free resources is a time-tested and effective strategy, many startups (and even established companies) fall into a common trap: they don’t create content based on direct feedback from customers.

Before you commission your next white paper or record your weekly webinar, collect some qualitative data from your existing customer base, which will likely have the same shared buyer persona as your target market.

What’s more, collecting this kind of data is usually a straightforward process. You might send out a survey via email, for example, or ask for opinions on social media.

4.   Aggressively Qualify Leads

Lead qualification should occur early in your sales funnel. Qualification is essentially the process of separating leads that are likely to become customers from those that are not. A startup usually achieves this by determining how well a prospect fits with its ideal customer profile, often with the help of technology.

Lead qualification is essential for a startup because it is a good use of limited resources. “Colder” leads tend to cost more to convert, and the return-on-investment per lead is lower. By focusing largely on the most promising leads, startups can maximize short-term revenue without obliterating vital cash reserves.

5.   Gather Quantitative and Qualitative

Data is like rocket-fuel in your startup’s lead-nurturing cycle. A lead-nurturing strategy that is based on data is far superior to one that’s been conceived in a bubble, without any reference to client behaviors and preferences.

Big metrics, like cost-per-lead and overall conversion rate, are important in lead generation. But it’s equally crucial to account for other metrics and data-types as well. These include, among others, levels of engagement with free resources like blog posts, email open rates, ad click-through rates, customer satisfaction, and so on. Weaving numerous data-points into a complete picture will allow you to locate inefficiencies and opportunities at all stages of your sales funnel.

Collecting direct feedback from new customers, through qualitative data-collection methods like surveys, will also give you insights into your typical prospect’s psyche and experience with your nurturing cycle.

Conclusion

Running a startup is hard. There’s no reason to make it harder by relying on an ineffective lead nurturing cycle.

Implementing the tips outlined in this article will guarantee that your company isn’t needlessly throwing away customers, ensuring steady revenue and protecting essential cash reserves in the process.

What’s more, as your startup grows and you dedicate more resources to exploring new lead generation channels, you’ll have a well-oiled nurturing machine that will put you at a significant competitive advantage.