How To Make The Most Of PPC Conversions Through Lead Nurturing

How To Make The Most Of PPC Conversions Through Lead Nurturing
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Successful PPC campaigns don't just drive clicks and landing page conversions -- they drive sales. So if you're ending your PPC marketing efforts after visitors convert on your website, you're leaving money on the table. In fact, the Annuitas Group reports that businesses that use marketing automation to nurture prospects experience a 451% increase in qualified leads and that nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads.

To capture more revenue from your PPC leads, you need to get the communication rolling. Here are four tips that can help you make the most of your PPC leads through an email nurturing campaign.

1. Show that you're legit: Build trust with social proof

Social proof is incredibly effective at converting leads into customers. Potential customers don't care what you have to say about your product; they care what other people are saying. In fact, Zendesk conducted a research study that discovered 88% of buyers make decisions based on customer reviews.

Social proof can help reassure your leads that your business is legitimate and that you'll follow through on your value proposition. For instance, Duolingo uses their number of users as well as customer reviews to earn trust:

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Leverage customer testimonials, endorsements, press and awards in your lead nurturing emails to build trust in your brand -- making it simple for leads to make the decision to do business with you.

2. Use videos to show your leads: Don't just tell them

Including video in an email leads to an impressive 200-300% increase in click-through rate, according to a report published by Forrester. That's extra traffic anyone would love to have to their site.

Your PPC leads aren't necessarily interested in diving into long-form content in an email or on your website. 80% of users will watch a video, yet only 20% will read your content in full. So tell your story with video.

For instance, Wistia used a video in an email to highlight a new feature, as in the image below.

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Wistia explained their decision to use video:

We imagine that most readers' inner-dialogues go something like this: "Looks like there's a new Wistia feature. Hmm. Do I have time? Wait. Is that guy going to do magic tricks?!" Click.

Link to a video your lead nurturing campaign, or even create a lead nurturing series centered around video to help drive leads down the path to conversion.

3. Be aggressive: Address your competition with confidence

Chances are, the last thing you want to do is talk about your competition in an email where you are trying to convert a lead to a customer, right?

Wrong.

When it comes to PPC, addressing the elephant in the room is a smart move. PPC leads are typically further down the sales funnel than, for instance, someone who has just subscribed to your email newsletter or found your blog through an organic search. PPC leads are in active research mode when they clicked on your ad, and are likely looking at your competitors as well. They're trying to determine whether you or your competition offers the better option.

Highlight your strengths as compared to the competition (regardless whether you mention them directly or not). For instance, if your competitor charges extra for support, highlight that support is included with every package.

Not only does addressing the competition give you an edge, but it also helps to attract the right type of customer -- whether they value the price, features, or value you offer over your competitors.

4. Get personal: No one likes automated robots

Every single email you send to a customer -- including your lead nurturing emails -- needs to be personal. No one likes getting emails that feel automated. Your leads want to feel as if someone from your business cared enough to take the time to reach out to them.

Use friendly, conversational language and messaging that appeals to your ideal buyer. To that end, make sure you're using merge fields wisely: for instance, if the company name isn't a required field on your PPC landing pages, don't use it in your email campaign.

Another key thing to keep in mind is the information in the "FROM" section of your email. You need to make sure there is a real name attached to the email you are sending your campaign emails from. If you just use a generic company account, it is going to be painfully obvious that there is no person on the other end of the email.

In that same vein, you also want to avoid using an email that doesn't give the lead an option to respond. Never include any lines of text telling the lead not to respond to the email. This is bad for business, and you are in essence telling the lead that you are not interested in any sort of human interaction.

The goal with any PPC email-nurturing campaign is to set it up, automate it, and reap the benefits. However, this doesn't mean you should just set it and forget it. You need to check on the performance of your campaign periodically and optimize as you go. Pay attention to what is and isn't working with your leads. You should be able to fine-tune settings to maximize how many of your leads convert if you take the time to monitor and tweak as you go.

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