DemandGen Report

A new research study is adding fire to the debate over the amount of communication necessary for lead nurturing. The study, commissioned by lead management provider SmartLead, makes the controversial claim that “two” is the magic number for prospect communications, and says any further touches may result in diminishing returns.

“The lesson here is that no nurturing at all is unwise. One nurturing touch is good. Two are the best. Three communications won’t produce that much more in sales. Four or more touches may actually hurt you. It’s not worth the expense; it hurts your ROI; and could potentially alienate your prospect,” says SmartLead CEO Dan Rogers.

The study actually runs counter to standard industry thinking, which says that lead nurturing depends on progressive and productive communications, as well as the offer and content being communicated. SmartLead bases its claims on a case study from one of its clients that
manufactures home relaxation products sold through a large dealer network. The company’s average sale per dealer is $5,000. The SmartLead analysis showed that communicating with prospects just once converted 32.4% more prospects than no nurturing at all. Two nurturing communications boosted conversion rates another 16.6%. Two touches produced 54.2% more conversions than no nurturing at all.

But using more than two nurturing communications did not significantly raise conversions, according to SmartLead, generating less than a ¼ percent increase in buyers.  SmartLead says the third touch generated only 20 additional buyers and $100,000 in additional revenue. Four nurturing communications produced diminishing returns, reducing conversions nearly 10%.

Other industry thought leaders suggest the SmartLead approach may be over-simplifying the “touch” strategy. For example, Market2Lead’s approach, as published on its blog, espouses a four-level approach to lead generation based on contact level analysis, step level analysis, campaign level analysis and then a campaign comparison analysis. This would require several levels of touch-based communications.

PointClear CEO Dan McDade agrees with a multi-touch approach. “Our statistics show that the number of cycles (with several touches in each cycle) is 3 – 4 and that depends on the size of the company, the level of contact, the size of the deal and whether or not the product or service is well understood or one that needs missionary work to sell,” he says.  
The SmartLead study can be accessed at http://www.smartleadplus.com/.