One of the most popular approaches to B2B marketing which has emerged recently is lead nurturing. For those new to the concept, lead nurturing is a method for using marketing to manage prospects across the whole customer journey and across multiple channels.
To find out how widespread the technique is in Southeast Asia, ClickInsights and Marketo Engage surveyed marketers in the region about lead nurturing and how they are using it.
We covered several regional results in the previous post, such as:
Lead nurturing is popular in the SEA region. 38% of respondents say that at least 1 in 3 of their competitors are using it.
Lead nurturing is well-established at Southeast Asian (SEA) companies. 72% say that their programme is at least 2 years old.
Marketing is the department most likely to be responsible for lead nurturing at their company.
For additional regional statistics, please download the full report here: Lead Nurturing - The Southeast Asia Perspective.
So that regional marketers can better understand where their peers are at, though, ClickInsights will run a 6 part series in which results from each country are compared with regional results. We will start with Indonesia.
1) Lead nurturing in Indonesia is more likely to be driven by the c-level than in other regional countries
Perhaps the most surprising difference between Indonesian companies who use lead nurturing and other SEA companies is that Indonesian programmes are significantly more likely to be driven by the c-level than companies elsewhere in the region (57% Indonesia vs. 45% in the rest of SEA).
What this could mean is that lead nurturing is more likely to have support from the top in Indonesia and, as a result, is better funded and more strategic than at companies in other SEA countries.
2) Indonesian B2B marketers are more likely to have a longer-running programme than others in SEA
While lead nurturing as a concept has been around for many years, it is not trivial to implement. Lead nurturing programmes require planning and investment to live up to their potential. For this reason, many companies in SEA have only launched lead nurturing in the past few years.
In Indonesia, however, a higher percentage of companies have been running lead nurturing for at least two years (83%) than others in the SEA region (69%).
This is possibly the case because lead nurturing projects has high-level backing in Indonesia (see point 1, above) and so it may have been easier for marketers to coordinate resources and get the approval necessary to get their programmes up and running quicker.
3) B2B marketers in Indonesia say their website delivers the best ROI for lead nurturing
While every respondent indicated that they use a variety of channels for lead nurturing, the survey pressed the point and asked each survey taker to say which one provided the best return on investment (ROI).
Region-wide, social media was the most popular pick for delivering ROI with more than 1 in 4 (28%) choosing this as their preferred channel.
Indonesian marketers, however, were much more enthusiastic about web and content marketing, with 1 in 3 (33%) choosing their website as the channel which delivered the best returns.
Email, too was more popular in Indonesia (19% Indonesia vs. 14% SEA) perhaps indicating that marketers in the country find that the traditional digital channels are more effective than the newer channels, such as social media.
4) Welcome emails are the most essential lead nurturing tactic in Indonesia
Another sharp difference between Indonesian marketers and their SEA counterparts is in the tactics they prefer.
When asked which single tactic is the most essential to their lead nurturing programme, nearly 3 in 10 (29%) of Indonesian marketers pointed to the 'welcome email'. Only 17% of SEA marketers outside of Indonesia said the same.
Indonesian respondents were also far less keen on 'personalised campaigns' with only 16% choosing this as the most effective tactic, compared to 21% region-wide. Again, marketers in Indonesia seem to be more interested in tried-and-tested
marketing methods than pushing the envelope with newer, more experimental techniques.
Overall, then, lead nurturing in Indonesia appears to have more senior buy-in than in other countries and, perhaps as a result, has been around longer. Longevity certainly has its benefits, but it may also have led to a reluctance to explore and implement more recent lead nurturing tactics and channels.
Marketers in the country are, therefore, encouraged to explore new lead nurturing approaches such as personalisation as they may find unique opportunities for engaging customers and driving them toward a sale.
To learn more about lead nurturing in the Southeast Asia region, please download the full report: Lead Nurturing - The Southeast Asia Perspective.