Emailing quality content to leads at key points in the sales cycle can make it easier for sales teams to convert them into paying customers. This is called lead nurturing, which shortens sales cycles by helping potential customers understand the value of the products or services you offer. For example, when you request an auto insurance quote on a website and supply your email address, this will result in an insurance sales rep emailing or calling you with a quote and an offer to purchase a policy.
Here are some of the methods that can be used to capture email addresses for lead generation:
- Downloadable content like a white paper or e-book
- Offers for coupons and savings
- Free trial of a product or service
- Webinar training or virtual conference registration.
Other sources of data collection that provide information on new leads include:
- Company website elements such as lightboxes and pop-ups
- Gated content that requires a person to fill out a form and provide an email address
- Social media as data collection points
- Partners and affiliates
- Sales and customer service reps
- Physical points of sale as data collection points
- Print and traditional media as data collection points
Only ever ask for data that you actually need and plan to use. Otherwise, people will find online forms and subscription options cumbersome, too time-consuming to complete, and you’ll end up collecting fewer email addresses because individuals will abandon before submitting.
