Lead nurture sequences for B2B marketing

Introduction

Since 2012, I've built B2B marketing automation for my own agencies, for scale-ups, and for enterprise teams. It's one of the areas I know inside out.

Most leads are not ready to buy when they first find you, and that's completely fine. The problem is when you either ignore them or blast them with generic emails until they unsubscribe. Neither approach works. What works is a sequence of useful, timely messages that builds trust over time.

In this playbook, I'll show you the exact workflows I always build. A welcome flow that sets expectations, a nurture sequence that educates without overwhelming, and a re-engagement flow for leads that go quiet. These are not mass email blasts. They're designed to feel personal, arrive at the right moment, and move people closer to a conversation when they're ready.

Chapters

1

New lead sequences

Deliver what they asked for, then introduce yourself. Build trust over 3-5 emails before asking for anything. Different flows for different entry points.

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1

New subscriber welcome flow

Design the first emails a new contact receives to set expectations, deliver immediate value, and start building trust from day one.

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2

Nurture to booking

Move warm leads toward a discovery call. Share case studies, answer objections, drop booking links at the right moment. Fast track for hot leads, slower for warm.

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3

Re-engagement

Wake up cold leads who went quiet. Try a new angle, share fresh content, or ask directly if they are still interested. Remove after 3-4 touches with no response.

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4

Post-booking confirmation flow

Automate what happens between booking and the meeting itself so prospects show up prepared and excited rather than forgetting they booked.

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5

Review open and click rates monthly

Check how each email in your sequences is performing so you can identify the ones that need rewriting or replacing.

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6

Test subject lines and send times

Run A/B tests on email subject lines and delivery timing to improve open rates across your nurture flows.

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7

Add new content to sequences

Keep your nurture flows fresh by adding new case studies, articles, and insights as you publish them, so contacts always receive relevant material.

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8

Prune inactive contacts

Remove or re-segment contacts who have not engaged in 90 or more days to protect your sender reputation and keep your data clean.

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Lead nurture flows

tools

HubSpot

All in one CRM with marketing, sales and service, strong when you want one system that teams adopt.

Rating

From

€

per month

Explore tool

My review

ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign combines email marketing, CRM, and marketing automation with sophisticated workflows and lead scoring for B2B companies.

Rating

From

€

per month

Explore tool

My review

Customer.io

Customer.io sends targeted messages across email, SMS, and push notifications triggered by user behaviour and product data for SaaS companies.

Rating

From

€

100

per month

Explore tool

My review

Klaviyo

Klaviyo provides email and SMS marketing built specifically for e-commerce with deep Shopify integration and revenue attribution.

Rating

From

€

per month

Explore tool

My review

Mailchimp

Mailchimp provides email marketing with automation, landing pages, and basic CRM features designed for small businesses and beginners.

Rating

From

€

per month

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My review

Brevo

Brevo provides email marketing, SMS campaigns, and marketing automation with transactional email capabilities for growing businesses.

Rating

From

€

per month

Explore tool

My review

Books

Dotcom Secrets

Russel Brunson

Rating

Translate funnel templates into clean journeys. Focus on offers, sequences and pages that convert instead of tactics that age badly.

My review

Expert secrets

Russel Brunson

Rating

Position your expertise, tell stories that teach, and build simple offers that move buyers from interest to action.

My review

Wiki

Activation rate

The percentage of new leads who take a qualifying action and become marketing qualified leads.

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List hygiene

Regularly remove inactive and invalid email addresses to maintain deliverability and focus effort on engaged subscribers who actually read your content.

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Unsubscribe rate

Monitor how many recipients opt out of emails to catch list fatigue or irrelevant content before deliverability suffers from spam complaints that damage sender reputation.

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Click-through rate (email)

Measure what percentage of email recipients click links to assess content relevance and call-to-action effectiveness beyond whether people merely opened messages.

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Email open rate

Track what percentage of recipients open emails to evaluate subject line effectiveness and list engagement rather than sending to unengaged subscribers who hurt deliverability.

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Marketing Automation

Execute personalised, multi-touch campaigns at scale through software that triggers messages based on prospect behaviour and characteristics.

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Other playbooks

Data & dashboards

Build the dashboards and data pipelines that show your growth engines in one view so you can spot bottlenecks and make decisions in minutes, not meetings.

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Planning & project management

Set up project boards, sprint rhythms, and communication habits that keep growth work on track without endless status meetings or lost context.

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Increase pricing

Raise prices strategically through better packaging, value communication, and positioning so revenue grows without adding customers.

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Increase line items

Develop cross-sell and upsell motions that expand accounts by solving more problems for customers who already trust you.

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Increase contract length

Build retention strategies, success milestones, and renewal processes that keep customers committed for longer periods.

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Improve win rate

Strengthen your closing approach — objection handling, negotiation, and follow-through — so more proposals turn into signed contracts.

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Lead nurture flows

Introduction

Since 2012, I've built B2B marketing automation for my own agencies, for scale-ups, and for enterprise teams. It's one of the areas I know inside out.

Chapters

1

New lead sequences

1

New subscriber welcome flow

2

Nurture to booking

3

Re-engagement

4

Post-booking confirmation flow

5

Review open and click rates monthly

6

Test subject lines and send times

7

Add new content to sequences

8

Prune inactive contacts

Lead nurture flows

tools

HubSpot

ActiveCampaign

Customer.io

Klaviyo

Mailchimp

Brevo

Books

Dotcom Secrets

Expert secrets

Wiki

Activation rate

List hygiene

Unsubscribe rate

Click-through rate (email)

Email open rate

Marketing Automation

Related topic

Marketing funnel

Other playbooks

Data & dashboards

Planning & project management

Increase pricing

Increase line items

Increase contract length

Improve win rate

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