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Email marketing5 content types to include in your lead nurturing emails

Lead nurturing emails have an essential function: to keep your audience engaged. But keeping engaged is hard–there are so many options out there that your customers will be distracted easily.

What can you do to make sure they don't get distracted? Here are five content types you should use in your lead nurturing emails to help your customers focus on your brand.

  • Product information sheets or catalogs
  • Videos and podcasts
  • Q&A articles or transcripts
  • Lists of case studies or testimonials
  • Relevant blog posts or eBooks

1. Product information sheets or one-pagers

You must supply the leads in your funnel with some information on the product or service you are selling. This information could be a one-page PDF document (though it doesn't need to be limited to a single page if you want it to be longer) that describes what your product does and why it's useful. You'll want to include:

  • A description of your product
  • A list of its features and benefits
  • Comparisons to similar products in your industry
  • Any relevant specifications (if applicable)
  • Pricing

2. Videos and podcasts

Videos and podcasts are a great way to engage your audience because they engage with something other than their inbox. They can also be shared across social media, bringing the message to spaces outside your email marketing program.

To produce videos and podcasts, you don't need to break the bank on fancy equipment or spend hours on editing software. A simple video camera or computer microphone is enough to get started.

As you're thinking about adding video or audio content into your lead nurturing emails, consider that they should be high quality. Poorly shot or recorded content will do more harm than good for your brand because it may make people frustrated.

3. Q&A articles or transcripts

Q&A articles and transcripts can answer common questions about your product, saving you time from repeatedly answering the same questions.

For example, if you're selling a SaaS product for small businesses to create marketing plans and budgets, you could create a Q&A article titled "How to Create an Annual Marketing Budget in 5 Steps." In it, you could address all of the common questions your customers have about how to use your software solution to create an annual marketing budget on their own.

If you have a webinar or podcast episode transcript, post it directly in your email as content subscribers can read quickly and easily. This way, they can get answers to their questions without clicking through links and navigating away from the email message itself.

4. Lists of case studies or testimonials

When you're trying to convert someone into a paying customer, a case study or testimonial can help because they create an emotional connection with the reader by showing how your product or service has benefited others in the past. An emotional connection is essential when pitching a new product or service to the market. Many people will be skeptical of anything that sounds too good to be true, but if you have evidence from satisfied customers, they'll be more inclined to try it.

To make your case studies and testimonials exciting and valuable for your readers, follow these steps:

  1. Pick one of your customers as the subject of your story.
  2. Explain how their experience with your product or service has changed their lives for the better.
  3. Focus on benefits and results rather than features since features can be covered elsewhere in your marketing materials (e.g., "We've seen our leads increase by 9X!").
  4. Be sure to include short bursts of text—too much copy can come across as self-promotional, while too little can leave people feeling like they're missing something important.

5. Relevant blog posts or eBooks

Blogging is a great way to keep your website up-to-date with relevant industry information and position yourself as an expert in your field. Sending blog posts or eBooks to your leads can help nurture them through the buying process by providing answers to questions they have about industry trends, solutions, or needs related to your product.

When you send blogs or eBooks, think about the stage of the buyer's journey and provide content that will help them move forward into the next step.

For example, if a lead is at the Awareness Phase of their buyer's journey (they realize there's a problem but don't know how to solve it), you could send blog posts addressing common issues related to their needs.

Suppose a lead is at the Consideration Phase of their buyer's journey (they know what types of solutions exist but aren't sure which one is right for them). In that case, you could send an eBook comparing different solutions and explaining why yours stands out from competitors.

Once you've defined your content types, you can start developing your emails

Now that you completely understand what types of content to include in your emails, it's time to develop them! Here are some things to keep in mind when writing:

  • Keep the tone conversational. Tone helps your emails stand out from others and establishes a more personal connection with the reader.
  • Use personalization. Personalization can help grab the reader's attention and make the email more relevant.
  • Avoid industry jargon. Not everyone is as familiar with industry terms as you are, so you should use easy-to-understand language instead. Removing jargon will ensure that all readers find your content engaging and informative.
  • If possible, try to include a call-to-action in each email. You can ask people to subscribe on social media or sign up for an upcoming webinar to continue education about your products or services without bombarding recipients with too many links at once.

Your email content should support the buying journey your leads are on

As you build your lead nurturing emails, keep in mind that you should be tailoring your content to the specific stage in the buying journey. If a lead isn't ready for a product demo, a "Book Your Demo" CTA will not work.

But aside from the overall objective of each stage, you should also keep other factors in mind when selecting content. Some of these factors include:

  • What are the person's interests and or business needs?
  • What kinds of questions will they have?
  • What kind of content format would be most helpful? (For example, an infographic instead of a blog post.)
  • Is there any outside information or third-party resources that will help them out?

Conclusion

For lead nurturing to work as a whole, you will have to consider your target audience and your goals for that audience. Once you've decided what type of content best suits your goals, determine how you want that content presented and how often you would like to send it to them. Then, be sure to utilize these five content types in your emails, and you'll be well on your way to superior lead nurturing.