{"id":80576,"date":"2024-06-26T13:30:25","date_gmt":"2024-06-26T13:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/glossary\/lead-nurturing\/"},"modified":"2026-11-03T23:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-11-03T23:08:08","slug":"lead-nurturing","status":"publish","type":"glossary","link":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/lead-nurturing\/","title":{"rendered":"Lead nurturing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lead nurturing is the process of staying in touch with a lead who isn’t ready to buy yet, sending them useful information until they are.<\/strong> It’s mainly done with email: a series of messages that answer their questions at each stage and bring them closer to a purchase.<\/p>\n\n

In Spanish, it’s called nutrici\u00f3n de leads<\/strong> or maduraci\u00f3n de leads<\/strong>. A lead is a person who has given you their details, for example by subscribing to your newsletter or downloading a guide.<\/p>\n\n

What does lead nurturing mean?<\/h2>\n\n

A lead<\/em> is a contact interested in your product, and nurturing<\/em> means feeding or caring for something. The idea is to look after your relationship with that contact while they make up their mind.<\/p>\n\n

Most people who give you their details don’t buy right away. Some are comparing options, others don’t have the budget, and others only wanted the resource you offered. Lead nurturing keeps them from forgetting about you in the meantime.<\/p>\n\n

It’s often confused with two closely related terms:<\/p>\n\n

Term<\/th>What it does<\/th>Example<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Lead generation<\/a><\/td>Gets new contacts<\/td>A form offering a free guide<\/td><\/tr>
Lead nurturing<\/td>Educates and guides those contacts<\/td>A sequence of 5 emails after the download<\/td><\/tr>
Lead scoring<\/a><\/td>Scores each contact based on their interest<\/td>Adding points for every click or visit to the pricing page<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n

How does lead nurturing work?<\/h2>\n\n

Each lead is at a different stage of the sales funnel<\/a>. The content they receive should match that stage:<\/p>\n\n

Stage<\/th>What the lead needs<\/th>What to send them<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Awareness<\/td>Understand their problem<\/td>Guides, tips and blog articles<\/td><\/tr>
Consideration<\/td>Compare solutions<\/td>Customer case studies, comparisons and webinars<\/td><\/tr>
Decision<\/td>Clear up any remaining questions<\/td>Demos, free trials and offers<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n

Emails are sent automatically based on what each person does. If they open an email about pricing, they get the next step. If they don’t open anything for weeks, they enter a different sequence to re-engage them. This is managed with marketing automation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

\"Infographic<\/figure>\n\n

Types of lead nurturing campaigns<\/h2>\n\n

These are the most common flows:<\/p>\n\n

Welcome.<\/strong> Starts right after someone subscribes. It introduces the brand and delivers what was promised. More on the welcome email<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Educational.<\/strong> A series of emails that teaches something useful over several days or weeks.<\/p>\n\n

After a download or a webinar.<\/strong> Expands on the topic the lead was interested in and suggests the next step.<\/p>\n\n

Abandoned cart.<\/strong> Reminds people of the products they left without buying. More on the abandoned cart email<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

Re-engagement.<\/strong> Tries to win back people who haven’t opened your emails in a while. More on the winback campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

B2B.<\/strong> Longer cycles, with customer case studies and content for several people at the same company.<\/p>\n\n

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Automate your lead follow-up<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Create forms, organize your contacts into groups and send automated sequences with Mailrelay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Create a free account<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

How to create a lead nurturing strategy in 6 steps<\/h2>\n\n

1. Define who you’re targeting.<\/strong> Start with your buyer persona<\/a>: what problem they have and what’s stopping them from buying.<\/p>\n\n

2. Segment your list.<\/strong> Separate contacts by source, interest or stage. Segmentation<\/a> means each contact gets what’s useful to them.<\/p>\n\n

3. Prepare the content.<\/strong> Write one email for each major question, moving from general to specific.<\/p>\n\n

4. Decide on the frequency.<\/strong> At first, one email every 2 or 3 days. After that, one a week.<\/p>\n\n

5. Set up the triggers.<\/strong> A subscription, a click or a date starts each flow.<\/p>\n\n

6. Measure and adjust.<\/strong> Check which emails get opened, which ones generate clicks and where you lose the most people.<\/p>\n\n

How do you build lead nurturing automations step by step?<\/h2>\n\n

In summary: a lead nurturing automation has four parts: an entry point (the contact signing up), the emails, the waits between them and the conditions that decide what each contact receives based on what they do. In Mailrelay, you can build it in the visual automation editor, even on the free account.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

How to do it in Mailrelay<\/h3>\n\n
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  1. Go to Automations<\/strong>, click +Add<\/strong>, give it a name and click Create automation<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Under New entry point<\/strong>, choose when it starts. For new leads, use “When subscriber signs up using a signup form”<\/strong>: the automation starts when the contact confirms their subscription.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Add a Send email<\/strong> block with the first message: the welcome and, if you offered one, the lead magnet<\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Add a Wait<\/strong> block, for example of 2 days, followed by the next email. Repeat this for each question or objection you want to address.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Add a Condition<\/strong> block to separate those who show interest, for example “Subscriber opened campaign”.\n