34 Lead Nurturing Statistics to Boost Your Sales

By Julija A.

June 17, 2023

If the most recent lead nurturing statistics are anything to judge by, the digital era has made it impossible to deliver subpar service and stay in business. Unless you already have a well-established brand, missteps with consumers can be deadly. 

That’s why we created this list. Understanding the impact of lead nurturing can help you grow and expand your business. 

Want to know more? 

Keep reading.

Lead Nurturing Statistics—Top Picks

• 80% of new leads never translate into sales.
• 96% of visitors who come to your website aren’t ready to buy.
• Lead nurturing emails get 4-10 more responses than standalone email blasts.
• 80% of marketers using automation software manage to generate more leads.
• Organizations that use of marketing automation with prospects experience a 451% increase in qualified leads.

General Lead Generation Statistics

80% of new leads never translate into sales.

(Invespcro)

Most businesses seem to focus solely on lead generation. They want more people to see their products, but they don’t realize that not everyone will be interested in buying them. To get a potential lead to convert, more effort is required than simply showing them something.

65% of businesses say generating traffic and leads is their biggest marketing challenge.

(Hubspot)

Merely finding new leads can be a big challenge, let alone leading a full-blown nurture campaign. To increase traffic to your site, try paying more attention to on-page SEO and have a strong social media presence. Good word about your site will easily spread when you have a large following.

Companies that blog more than 11 times per month get more than 4 times as many leads as those that blog 4-5 times per month.

(Hubspot)

Blogging is another great way to generate more leads on your website. Find professional content writers to manage this for you, and you’re bound to increase your traffic.

96% of visitors who come to your website aren’t ready to buy.

(Marketo)

Not yet, at least. You need to know how to nurture leads if you want to turn these visitors into perspective customers before they bounce.

74% of companies say converting leads into customers is their top priority.

(Hubspot)

Taking a customer from a lead to a genuine conversion is what nurturing is all about. You need to spend some time courting your consumers before they’re ready to make a purchase. More and more companies are beginning to understand this.

Only 29% of brands nurture their existing customers beyond the initial purchase.

(Demand Gen)

Even when you do manage to get a customer to convert, the job isn’t over. Not unless you want to lose them, that is. This lead nurturing statistic shows more brands need to invest their time in keeping their existing customers happy. After all, they are usually the biggest source of steady revenue for a company.

Companies that excel at lead-nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost.

(Invespcro)

As you can clearly see, lead nurturing pays off. The most successful businesses that put effort into it see a huge increase in sales and have fewer costs. So, it’s not really just about the momentary advantage and making short-term conversions. It’s about long-term success.

Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads.

(Invespcro)

Lead nurturing trends show nurtured leads not only make more purchases – they buy bigger, too. Why does this happen? It’s simple. Consumers trust you more. They start liking the company and what it provides, and they’re ready to commit to more things. Any sales pitch works well, and the relationship between the brand and consumer improves.

Outbound leads cost 39% more than inbound leads.

(HubSpot)

At first glance, lead nurturing statistics indicate that inbound leads should be the only thing you focus on. However, inbound leads come to your business on their own, while outbound leads need to be outreached, usually through social media, email marketing, or cold calls. It’s only natural that they would cost more and require more effort. That being said, they are necessary if you want to generate more traffic. The trick here is to find balance and avoid an overly-aggressive, intrusive stance when approaching customers.

Businesses and Lead Generation Statistics

93% of B2B companies say content marketing generates more leads than traditional marketing strategies.

(Marketo)

Content marketing is one of the best ways for brands to engage with customers, and engaged customers always mean more future conversions. Blogs aren’t the only thing you can rely on, either. Videos, social media posts, infographics, e-books, and white papers are just some examples of content that’s interesting to consumers.

93% of B2B buying processes start with an online search.

(Pinpoint Market Research and Anderson Jones PR)

This B2B generation statistic shows having a wide-spread online presence is the first step to generating conversions. It’s obvious that you need to rank high in Google if you want people to get to your site when they search for a product. But how do you do that? Our suggestion is to invest more in on-page SEO optimization.

68% of B2B companies will use landing pages to nurture new sales leads for future conversion.

(Marketo)

The landing page often introduces consumers to your business, so it must leave a good impression. B2B companies understand the importance of creating a good-looking landing page for an effective lead nurturing campaign.

49% of businesses say most of their leads require “long cycle” nurturing with many influencers.

(Ascend2)

This is especially true for B2B businesses, which generally have longer sales cycles. Sometimes, lead nurturing can take a very long time. To make sure all the effort pays off and results in a conversion, use marketing techniques like email campaigns, which are suitable for long cycles.

51% of email marketers say email list segmentation is the most effective way to personalize lead nurturing.

(Ascend2)

Speaking of emails, here’s a lead nurturing stat that could help you out. Personalization is an important aspect of nurturing leads, and list segmentation could help you achieve it at a higher level. Dividing your contacts into smaller segments based on their interests, location, opt-in frequency, purchase history, or website activity.

34.1% of businesses don’t use any attribution model to measure marketing performance.

(Bizible)

How can you even develop a lead nurturing strategy if you can’t attribute user actions to their place along the sales funnel? You need to measure your performance and figure out how consumers interact with your business in order to plan your next step.

35% of B2B marketers have established a lead nurturing strategy.

(Invespcro)

This is a shockingly small number. Lead nurturing can be particularly fruitful for B2B businesses because the sales process is longer and customers appreciate having the opportunity to build strong bonds with the company.

27% of B2B leads are sales ready when first generated.

(Active Marketing)

This means that more than two-thirds of your leads need to be nurtured. You can do this through an email nurturing campaign, phone calls, text messages, or even face-to-face conversations. Draw your customers in through personal investment and carefully-crafted strategies that will make them feel like they’re making a good decision. Most of them will enjoy being cajoled as long as you do it skillfully. For that to work, you need to figure out what each individual customer needs to do to cross the line and make a purchase.

56% of B2B companies do lead validation before passing the lead to the sales department.

(HubSpot)

When it comes to B2B lead generation, you have to validate leads to avoid overestimating the success of your marketing campaign. To begin with, you should qualify what a good lead looks like for your company. For example, non-sales leads include spam form submissions and spam phone calls, customer service communication, and phone misdials.

In contrast, valid leads result in a genuine interest in your company and an intent to buy. You can rely on tools like Google Analytics to get a clear picture of which companies actually want to do business with you.

53% of marketers say half or more of their budget goes to lead generation.

(BrightTalk)

B2B generation statistics show most businesses are already investing heavily in lead generation. 34% of businesses allocate less than half of their budget to lead generation, and only 14% aren’t sure how much money they spend. 58% intend to increase their lead generation spending in the upcoming year.

Consumer Lead Nurturing Statistics

54% of email marketers say increasing engagement rate is their number one priority.

(Ascend2)

For a lot of people, there are three broad types of email categories: personal, work-related, and brand promotions. The first two are important and likely to be opened, and the last one (which your emails fall under), is often considered spam. Increasing customer engagement through emails can be tough, but there are certain things you can do:

• Segment your email lists
• Personalize every single message you send
• Include CTA buttons
• Optimize for mobile

Targeting users with content relevant to their position along the sales funnel yields 73% higher conversion rates.

(Aberdeen)

Lead nurturing content statistics show you need to clearly define your consumers’ buying patterns and present them with suitable content. Rely on analytics to understand how buyers go about engaging with your product, then plan out and develop your content accordingly. Don’t get stuck on the awareness stage of the funnel. Follow them through the consideration and decision making stages as well.

59% of marketers agree that creating content is one of the top challenges of lead nurturing strategies.

(Invespcro)

In case you’re wondering how to nurture online leads, content should take first priority. Marketers agree it’s the most challenging part, but it’s absolutely crucial to create valid leads and improve consumer loyalty. So, what’s considered quality content?

Educational videos, interesting blog posts, whitepapers, and generally any kind of subject matter that provides useful information to the consumer and establishes you as an expert in your field. Go for quality over quantity, provide accurate data, and share it on social media to reach your audience.

Lead nurturing emails get 4-10 more responses than standalone email blasts.

(Active Marketing)

Email blasts are no longer among the lead nurturing best practices. To optimize your emails for nurturing, personalize the message behind them through market segmentation and include a useful piece of content your consumers can enjoy. The tone of the email should be friendly and open, and you’ll also need to pay attention to the timing and frequency. Sending emails too often will make you appear like a spammer and turn people away from the brand.

63% of consumers requesting info on your company today will not purchase for at least 3 months.

(Rikvin)

Lead nurturing metrics show converting leads is a long process that requires careful planning. A customer who requests info on your company is usually merely window shopping and trying to determine whether your business is trustworthy. This is particularly true for B2B purchases, and large consumer purchases such as cars, real estate, and home improvement purchases.

45% of marketers don’t know what role mobile marketing has in lead generation.

(Discoverorg)

Despite the hype about mobile marketing, most businesses don’t know how to include it in their lead nurturing tactic. It’s actually straightforward—simply make sure your website and your content can be easily viewed on mobile. As for promotional messages, send short, personalized texts that notify the consumer about upcoming sales or brand deals, and avoid doing it more than once a week.

The number of real estate leads increased by 65% from 2016 to 2017, but the number of conversions dipped by 10%.

(Carrot)

Real estate lead generation statistics can also serve to drive the point home—it’s not enough to get a lead. You have to nurture it if you want an actual conversion. If you focus solely on finding new customers without caring how you approach them, you’re unlikely to get the sales you need to grow your business and generate revenue.

Lead Nurturing and Automation

79% of most successful companies have been using marketing automation for 2 or more years.

(Pardot)

Marketing automation software is the key ingredient in your prize-winning dish. It enables you to automatically manage processes and multifunctional campaigns across multiple channels, reducing the time and effort needed to reach your consumers.

74% of marketers say the biggest benefit of automation is saving time.

(Adestra)

Statistics on lead nurturing indicate that most companies agree on time-saving automation benefits. 68% also think that automation increases customer engagement, and 58% that it enables timely communications. Another 58% claim it increases their opportunities for upselling.

Only 5% of marketers use a full-featured marketing automation solution to help with lead nurturing.

(Active Marketing)

A surprisingly small number of companies use marketing automation to its full potential. Email isn’t the only thing good tools can help you manage. Testing variables, analyzing conversion data, determining ROI, and streamlining other marketing processes are just some of the examples of what it’s useful for.

91% of users believe marketing automation is “very important” to successfully market across multiple channels.

(Marketo)

According to the latest stats, marketing automation lead nurturing is huge. Being able to target different customers across multiple channels is key to getting more valid leads. Catalogs, social media, websites, emails, text messages, and digital ads can all reach a consumer in a different way, but it takes a lot of time to manage so many channels. Fortunately, automation software is your solution.

80% of marketers using automation software manage to generate more leads.

(APSIS)

What’s more, lead nurturing examples show they also convert 77% more leads than before. So, automation isn’t really about laziness – it’s about effectiveness. Creating a multi-channel, data-driven strategy is just the thing you need to stay on top in this competitive market.

58% of best-in-class marketing automation users say the most useful metrics for measuring performance are generated revenue and conversion rate.

(Ascend2)

You can’t optimize your strategy if you don’t know what’s effective. In addition to generated revenue and conversion rate, you can improve your nurture marketing by measuring cost-per-conversion and overall profit.

Organizations that use marketing automation with prospects experience a 451% increase in qualified leads.

(Business 2 Community)

And what’s the end result? A mind-boggling increase in qualified leads. This could be you, and the results could be even better. The initial cost of obtaining the right software will be offset by the increase in revenue, so don’t hesitate when it comes to automation marketing. It’s the right choice for any company that wants to track its progress and get closer to its consumers.

73% of the best-in-class outsource all or part of marketing automation planning.

(The Deep Marketing)

Outsourcing could help you optimize your business to get more customer leads. It can reduce and control costs, maximize external resources, access new markets, and free up internal resources. Outsourcing your automation planning will streamline many time-consuming tasks.

Final Words

Hopefully, our article has inspired you to invest more time in your customers. They will repay the effort by becoming loyal to your brand.

If there’s one thing you take away from these lead nurturing statistics, let it be the fact that each potential lead needs attention if it’s to truly become a conversion. Simply generating leads is costly, and if you end up going nowhere with those customers, it’s just a waste of time and money.

Bottom line:

Invest in automation software to make the process more cost-effective, create a solid strategy, and be ready to experiment and adjust to the shifting trends.