Lead nurturing zonder spam (wat wel converteert)

Lead download whitepaper. Komt in je nurture sequence.

Email 1: “Bedankt voor download!” Email 2: “Hier is gerelateerde content” Email 3: “Onze case studies” Email 4: “Boek een demo” Email 5-10: Variaties van hetzelfde

Lead denkt: “Dit is spam.” Unsubscribet.

Je hebt nurturing. Maar het werkt niet.

Het probleem met standard nurture sequences

Te generiek

Lead download whitepaper over “CRM voor SMB”.

Je stuurt:

• Content over enterprise solutions
• Case study van 10.000 FTE bedrijf
• Pricing voor enterprise tier

Lead is SMB. Content is not relevant. Lead ignoreert.

Te veel, te snel

Lead download content. Next day: email. Day after: email. Day after: email.

5 emails in 5 dagen. Lead denkt: “Ik wilde 1 whitepaper, niet daily emails.”

Geen context

Email zegt: “Boek een demo!”

Lead denkt: “Waarom? Ik heb nog niet genoeg info. Ik weet niet of dit past.”

Te vroeg. Te pushy.

No personalization

Email zegt: “Hi {first_name},”

Rest van email: generic. Geen referentie naar wat lead downloaded. Geen relevantie naar hun industry.

Lead ziet: dit is automated spam.

Wat werkt: nurturing gebaseerd op gedrag

Principe:

Nurture is niet “Send X emails over Y weken.”

Nurture is: “Als lead doet X, dan stuur Y.”

Voorbeeld:

Lead download “CRM Buying Guide”.

Don’t send: fixed sequence van 10 emails.

Do send: Next email depends on wat ze doen.

Scenario A: Lead opent email + clicks op link

→ High engagement → Next email: “Wil je zien hoe dit werkt? Boek demo” → Timing: 2 dagen later

Scenario B: Lead opent email, geen clicks

→ Medium engagement → Next email: More educational content (case study) → Timing: 5 dagen later

Scenario C: Lead opent niets

→ Low engagement → Next email: Different angle (video ipv text, different subject line) → Timing: 7 dagen later

Same lead, different paths based on gedrag.

De 3-stage nurture flow

Stage 1: Education (Week 1-2)

Doel: Probleem verdiepen. Not selling yet.

Content:

• Blog posts over hun pain point
• Industry insights
• How-to guides

Voorbeeld:

Lead downloaded: “Why your CRM data doesn’t match reality”

Email 1 (dag 1): “Thanks + here’s bonus: 3 common data quality mistakes” Email 2 (dag 5): “Case study: How [Company] fixed their CRM data in 2 weeks” Email 3 (dag 10): “Calculator: How much does bad data cost you?”

No sales pitch. Alleen value.

Stage 2: Solution awareness (Week 3-4)

Doel: Laten zien dat er oplossingen zijn (zonder hard te pushen voor jouw product).

Content:

• Comparison guides (“What to look for in CRM”)
• Buyer’s checklist
• ROI calculator

Voorbeeld:

Email 4 (dag 15): “5 things to check before choosing CRM consultant” Email 5 (dag 20): “ROI calculator: Calculate your potential savings” Email 6 (dag 25): “Mistakes to avoid when fixing CRM data”

Subtiel position jezelf als expert. Still no hard sell.

Stage 3: Consideration (Week 5+)

Doel: Als lead engaged is, offer next step.

Content:

• Product-specific content
• Customer stories
• Demo/trial offer

Voorbeeld:

Email 7 (dag 30): “See how we helped [Similar Company] solve this” Email 8 (dag 37): “Want to see if this fits your situation? Book 15-min call”

Als lead niet engaged is: terug naar stage 1 of pause nurturing.

Personalization die werkt

Level 1: Segment by firmographic

SMB leads get SMB content. Enterprise leads get enterprise content.

Setup:

Lead komt binnen → Tag based on company size → If 10-50 employees: “SMB nurture” → If 500+: “Enterprise nurture”

Different messaging. Different case studies. Different pricing refs.

Level 2: Segment by behavior

Lead downloaded “CRM implementation guide” → Tag: “Interested in implementation” → Nurture: focus on implementation process, timeline, support

Lead downloaded “Data quality checklist” → Tag: “Interested in data quality” → Nurture: focus on data cleaning, deduplication, governance

Level 3: Dynamic content

Email bevat blocks die veranderen based on lead attributes.

Hi {first_name},

As a {job_title} at a {company_size} company, you're probably dealing with {pain_point_for_that_segment}.

We worked with {case_study_from_same_industry} to solve this.

Want to see how? {CTA_based_on_stage}

Same email template. Different content per lead.

Timing: niet te veel, niet te weinig

Bad timing:

Email 1: Day 0 (download) Email 2: Day 1 Email 3: Day 2 Email 4: Day 3

Too much. Lead is overwhelmed.

Good timing:

Email 1: Day 0 (immediate thank you + delivery) Email 2: Day 3 (if opened email 1) Email 3: Day 7 (if engaged with content) Email 4: Day 14 Email 5: Day 21

Spacing geeft lead tijd to consume. Reduce inbox fatigue.

Best timing:

Triggered by behavior, not calendar.

Lead opent email + clicks link → Next email within 24 uur (high intent) Lead opent email, no clicks → Next email 5 dagen later Lead doesn’t open → Wait 10 dagen, try different subject line

Email content dat converteert

Subject lines:

❌ “Our product is amazing” ❌ “Special offer inside!” ❌ “{First_name}, check this out”

✅ “3 ways to fix CRM data in <1 hour/week” ✅ “How [Similar Company] reduced lead response time by 60%” ✅ “Made this mistake? (We did)”

Specifiek. Relevant. Curiosity without being clickbait.

Email body:

Short. Scannable. One CTA.

Bad:

Hi,

We're excited to tell you about our amazing platform with 47 features including lead scoring, automation, reporting, dashboards, integrations, and mobile apps.

Click here to learn more about feature A, or here for feature B, or here for case studies, or here to book demo, or here to download guide.

Thanks!

Overwhelming. Too much. No clear action.

Good:

Hi Jan,

Saw you downloaded our CRM data guide.

One thing that stood out to me: most teams spend 10+ hours/week fixing data manually.

We built a checklist that cuts that to <1 hour. Want it?

[Download checklist]

Yannick

Short. One point. One CTA. Personal.

Wanneer stoppen met nurturing

Signals to pause/stop:

❌ 5+ emails sent, 0 opens ❌ Unsubscribe from category ❌ Marked email as spam ❌ Job title changed to non-relevant (became student, retired, etc.)

Don’t keep sending to disengaged leads. Hurts deliverability.

Instead:

Move to “cold” segment. Try re-engagement in 3-6 maanden with fresh approach.

Re-engagement voor koude leads

Lead was engaged. Then stopped. No opens for 30 days.

Re-engagement email:

Subject: Should I stay or should I go?

Hi Jan,

I haven't heard from you in a while.

Two options:

1. You're still interested, just busy → [Click here, I'll send you our best resource]

2. Not relevant anymore → [Unsubscribe, no hard feelings]

Your call.

Yannick

Honest. Direct. Gives lead control.

~20% of “cold” leads re-engage with this approach.

Tools & setup

Email automation:

HubSpot (from €45/maand):

• Workflows
• Behavioral triggers
• A/B testing

ActiveCampaign (from €29/maand):

• Advanced automation
• Good for complex flows
• CRM included

Mailchimp (from €13/maand):

• Basic automation
• Good for startups
• Limited behavioral triggers

Advanced:

Marketo (enterprise):

• Complex scoring
• Multi-touch attribution
• €€€

Echt voorbeeld

B2B SaaS, 400 leads/month

Before (generic sequence):

• 10-email sequence
• Same for everyone
• Sent over 4 weeks
• Open rate: 22%
• Click rate: 3%
• Conversion to MQL: 8%

After (behavior-based):

3 segments:

• SMB (10-50 employees)
• Mid-market (50-500)
• Enterprise (500+)

Emails triggered by behavior:

• Opened + clicked → Demo offer binnen 48h
• Opened, no click → More educational content 5 dagen later
• No open → Different subject line 7 dagen later

Results after 3 months:

• Open rate: 41% (up from 22%)
• Click rate: 12% (up from 3%)
• Conversion to MQL: 23% (up from 8%)

Same leads. Better nurturing. 3x conversie.

Metrics om te tracken

Email level:

• Open rate (target: 30-40% for B2B)
• Click rate (target: 8-15%)
• Unsubscribe rate (target: <0.5%)

Sequence level:

• % leads that complete sequence
• % leads that convert to MQL
• Average time to conversion

By segment:

• SMB vs. Mid-market vs. Enterprise conversie
• Which content performs best per segment

Als unsubscribe rate >1%: je content is te frequent of niet relevant.

Veelgemaakte fouten

1. Nurturing te lang

12-email sequence over 6 maanden. Lead is cold by email 4.

Better: 5-7 emails over 4-6 weken. Als niet converted: pause.

2. Geen exit criteria

Lead books demo. Still in nurture sequence. Gets email: “Book a demo!”

Set exit criteria: if lead becomes MQL → exit nurture.

3. Same CTA elke email

Email 1: “Book demo” Email 2: “Book demo” Email 3: “Book demo”

Repetitive. Annoying.

Better: Vary CTAs: Download → Read → Calculate → Watch → Book

4. Niet testen

Je stuurt sequence. Kijkt niet naar metrics. Assumes het werkt.

Test:

• Subject lines (A/B test)
• Email length (short vs. long)
• CTA placement (top vs. bottom)

Snelle wins deze week

Dag 1: Segment je database

By company size, industry, of interest area.

Maakt targeted nurturing mogelijk.

Dag 2: Setup 1 behavior trigger

“If lead opens email + clicks → Send email B”

Start small. Test. Scale.

Dag 3: Review je emails

Per email: Subject line specific? Body <150 woorden? One clear CTA?

If no: rewrite.

Dag 4: Check unsubscribe rate

1%? Your emails zijn te frequent of not valuable.

Survey unsubscribers: “Why did you leave?” Use feedback to improve.

Gevorderd: Lead scoring in nurture

Basic scoring:

+10: Opens email +20: Clicks link +30: Downloads content +50: Visits pricing page +100: Books demo

Score >100 → Becomes MQL → Exits nurture → Goes to sales

Decay scoring:

Lead had 80 points. No activity for 30 dagen? Reduce to 40.

Ensures only active leads get high scores.

Behavior scoring:

Not all actions are equal.

Visits pricing page = high intent = +50 Opens email = low intent = +5

Weight actions by intent.

De realiteit

Perfect nurturing doesn’t exist. Some leads will unsubscribe. Some will ignore.

Maar:

15-25% MQL conversie from nurture is excellent. 30-40% email open rates is good. 8-15% click rates is solid.

Als je dit haalt: je nurturing werkt.

En vergeet niet: not everyone is ready to buy now. Some leads need 6 maanden. That’s OK.

Nurture is long game. Not every lead converts in 30 dagen.

Start hier: Pick je #1 lead source. Build a 5-email nurture for die leads. Launch. Meet conversie. Learn. Improve.