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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Activate more leads

tools

HubSpot

All-in-one CRM platform for marketing, sales, and customer service. Centralise contacts, automate workflows, and track every customer interaction in one place.

Rating

From

€

per month

Explore tool

My review

ActiveCampaign

A customer relationship management platform that automates marketing and sales workflows, enabling businesses to nurture leads and close deals faster through intelligent automation.

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

Explore tool

My review

Brevo

An all-in-one customer communication platform that unifies email, SMS and chat, enabling businesses to reach and engage customers across multiple channels.

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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Lead velocity rate

Measure the month-over-month growth in qualified leads to predict future revenue and catch pipeline problems before they impact revenue three months later.

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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

Win bigger deals

Increase the average value of your initial contracts through better packaging, value framing, anchoring, and negotiation.

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Convert more pipeline

The full journey from first meeting to signed contract. How to improve conversion at every stage of your sales pipeline so more opportunities become revenue.

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Sales sequences

Build and automate sales follow-up sequences that keep deals moving through your pipeline without manual chasing.

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Go-to-market strategy

Define your ideal customer profile, craft positioning that differentiates, and choose the channels that reach buyers when they are ready to act.

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Lead qualification

Build a scoring and qualification framework that separates genuine buying intent from casual interest, so sales invests time where it counts.

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Project delivery

The operational wrapper for every consulting engagement. Covers kickoff, communication rhythms, progress reviews, and handover so nothing falls through the cracks.

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Activate more leads

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

Activate more leads

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

Lead velocity rate

Marketing Automation

Related topic

Marketing funnel

Other playbooks

Win bigger deals

Convert more pipeline

Sales sequences

Go-to-market strategy

Lead qualification

Project delivery

Keep reading