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How to Nurture Leads with Video
Ellie Mirman, VP Marketing, Toast
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First, what do we mean by “lead nurturing”?
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“Lead Nurturing” is all about identifying lost opportunities in the funnel.
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“Lead Nurturing” is the process of building relationships with your audience over time –
instead of losing them right out of the gate.
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What percentage of your contacts are moving from one step of the funnel to the next?
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If lead nurturing is effective, you’ll see more customers and revenue from the same top of the funnel marketing efforts.
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Therefore, measure the effectiveness of your lead nurturing by the lead-to-customer percentage.
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Nurturing Requires:
Content & Distribution• Email text• Images• Ebook offers• Case study videos• Presentations
• Retargeting display
or cpc ads
• Phone calls
• Events
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Nurturing Requires:
Content & Distribution
That’s a whole separate presentation.
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Nurturing How-to Playbook
1. Start with your goal
2. Identify message and desired action
3. Create and launch
4. Measure and analyze
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How to use video to nurture leads
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Start with your goalTARGET MARKET
PROSPECT
LEAD
OPPORTUNITY
CUSTOMER
EVANGELIST
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Start with your goal
• Where are you losing people?
• Why?
• What message will get them to the next stage?
• How will you communicate that message?
Goal
Message
Desired Action
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Industry Expert Interviews• Example: Toast
• Goal: Attract prospects
• Message: Thought Leadership
• Desired Action: Visit/View, Subscribe
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Educational Series
• Example: Shopify
• Goal: Attract leads
• Message: We are a resource for you
• Desired Action: View, request more info
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Campaign Promotion
• Example: JetBlue
• Goal: Attract prospects
• Message: Buzz and PR coverage
• Desired Action: Book a flight, customer loyalty
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Product Features
• Example: Toast
• Goal: Convert Leads
• Message: Superior product ease-of-use
• Desired Action: Get a demo, be a customer
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Demo Confirmation
• Example: Toast
• Goal: Demo show rate
• Message: Build personal connection with sales rep
• Desired Action: Follow through on demo
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Customer Case Studies
• Example: Toast
• Goal: Convert Leads
• Message: Customers like you are successful
• Desired Action: Get a demo, be a customer
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Brand Values
• Example: Yoh
• Goal: Attract prospects or win customers
• Message: This is how our brand is different
• Desired Action: View, choose this firm
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Recruiting Inside Peek
• Example: Acquia
• Goal: Attract and close new employees
• Message: Why it’s great to work here
• Desired Action: Apply, refer, accept offer
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A Brief Detour to Talk About Distribution…
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Distribution Channels
Email Marketing
Paid Media/Retargeting
Social Media
Website (Smart) Content
Offline Activities
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How targeted can you go?
• What actions have they taken?
• What actions have they NOT taken?
• What demographics better qualify them?
• What do you not know about them that you wish you did?
NOTE: Targeting increases relevancy but does not make sense if you don’t have a significantly sized target segment.
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When you measure a lead nurturing campaign,you’re measuring the effectiveness of the
Content & Distributioncombination
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Ultimately, you want to measureemail open rates
ad click through ratessocial media impressions
number of video viewslead-to-customer conversion rate
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Distribution Quick Tips• Use trigger-based email campaigns to automatically send
relevant nurture videos to segments of leads
• Test everything about your video ad creative – headlines, copy, video length, video subjects, video CTA
• Embed videos straight into social media to cut down out the extra step of the click to view
• Adapt website CTAs to segments of visitors to send them to relevant content
• Don’t underestimate the nurturing you can do 1:1 through your customer-facing teams
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How to measure your lead nurturing videos
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Two Simple Questions:
1. Did this increase my goal success rate?
2. Why or why not?
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Example 1: Industry Expert Interviews
Did this increase my goal success rate?
Goal: Attract prospects through thought leadership content, resulting in more views and prospects
Results: Choose a quantitative metric (pageviews, CTA clicks, etc.) and compare against other or non-video content
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Example 1: Industry Expert Interviews
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Example 1: Industry Expert Interviews
Why or why not?
• Small sample size (3 video posts out of 30 total) – will need to keep producing to see more consistent trend
• Top posts had a lot of social media traffic - sometimes LinkedIn, sometimes Facebook
• Could be tied to recognizable name, extra promotion by the expert, and/or tailored content
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Example 2: Customer Case Studies
Did this increase my goal success rate?
Goal: Convert more leads and opportunities into customers by showcasing successful customers like them
Results: Choose a quantitative metric (conversion rate to customer) and compare to similar groups of leads
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Example 2: Customer Case Studies
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Example 2: Customer Case Studies
Why or why not?
• Viewing a case study video shows you’re more engaged –could be selection bias, try comparing to other active leads who didn’t view case studies
• Viewing a case study validates customer success – try comparing to leads who read written case studies but didn’t view videos to determine if video is a more effective medium
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Where can video help YOUR lead funnel?
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Step 1: Identify Opportunities
• Start with your goal: customers, partners, candidates
• Outline the steps, e.g.:
• Visit – Lead – Opportunity – Customer
• Inquiry – Evaluation – Negotiation – Partnership
• Visit – Application – Interview – Hire
• Measure each stat over time and analyze
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It doesn’t have to be pretty…
It just needs to keep a pulse
on and identify areas
to improve
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Step 2: Brainstorm Solutions
Challenge Solutions
Low website conversion rate • A/B test landing pages – content, form, layout/design
• New offers• A/B test CTAs or change location or
replace CTAs with embedded forms
Website traffic not growing • Create unique, PR-worthy content• Newsjacking content• Test new referral sources
Opportunities not closing • Identify sales training gaps• Create content around top objections• Create nurture streams for old opps
Etc. • …
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Step 2: Brainstorm Solutions
Identify what’s lacking & brainstorm ways to fill the gaps
Talk to Sales Talk to Customers Analyze Success
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Step 3: Create and Launch
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Step 4: Measure & Analyze
• Bring it back to the GOAL, METRIC, and ACTION
• Two simple questions:
1. Did this increase my goal success rate?
2. Why or why not?
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Takeaways
1. Start with the goal. See where the leaks are in your funnel and develop a plan to improve those areas.
2. Consider the content and the distribution method. Determine the messaging and desired action, and remember that there are many channels to nurture leads: email, paid, social, website, offline.
3. Measure the lead-to-customer conversion rate. That’s ultimately what you’re aiming to affect.
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Thank You
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