Introducing SmartDreamers Nurture – A Candidate Centric Communication Engine

The context of the global pandemic has sparked innovations in how companies engage with their talent pool remotely. Since casting the widest net is not a viable option, recruiters today tap into strategies that help them focus on quality leads instead. Automated lead nurture platforms have taken center stage. And for a good reason.

 

Nurturing at scale comes along with some unique opportunities—both for candidates and Talent Acquisition teams alike. Higher candidate response rates and faster time to hire are top of mind. However, the most valuable outcome by far is building a genuine relationship with candidates that goes beyond one-off emails.

 

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So, if you’re searching for a more effective way to attract, engage and hire better talent, a modern lead nurturing platform can go a long way. Here’s how the magic happens.

 

At a basic level, lead nurturing in recruitment is like dropping bread crumbs along a path that leads to a final goal. The latest SmartDreamers release introduces the Nurture feature that speaks precisely to this journey. 

 

But, unlike standard emailing tools, SmartDreamers Nurture is designed to send email or text communications triggered by events in user behavior. The best part? 

 

- This type of functionality pays off when it comes to some of the trickiest audiences out there: 

- Applicants who stepped out of a hiring process but are suitable for future roles

- Technology-focused candidates who could enroll in your next talent community

- Contacts who are eligible for specific employer branding initiatives (events, surveys, contests)

- Inactive contacts with potential to become a hire 

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Now, you might be thinking—that’s great news, but do nurture campaigns bring a better response rate compared to other tactics? Will candidates read sequence emails once delivered? 

 

According to HubSpot, lead nurturing emails get 4 to 10 times the response rate compared to standalone email blasts.

Someone’s definitely going to read your emails. But it’s also true to say that when it comes to nurturing campaigns, one size doesn’t exactly fit all. For example, adding personalization to your emails improves click-through rates by 14% and conversion rates by 10%. 

 

To cover scenarios like this, SmartDreamers Nurture comes with a unique set of functionalities. Aside from making your work easier, they also draw attention to key elements within any successful nurture campaign.

 

Create audiences tailored to user behavior in the campaign builder

 

This is possible by looking at the data from users who have shown an interest in your company. They might have applied for a job, signed up for a talent community, or completed any call to action associated with a contact form. All this data can be used to create or update an audience profile in SmartDreamers. 

 

An alternative to this method is to upload any given contact list. For instance, if you own a particular database of candidates, you can upload it in bulk or add particular contacts individually. 

 

Once this process is complete, you can easily target your audiences with either email or text messaging sequences. This takes us to the next step in drafting your nurture before it goes live.

 

Personalize nurture campaigns at scale with custom templates

 

Before diving into this functionality, remember that the golden rule of personalization is first knowing who your audience is, rather than what message is suitable for them. Just like when you’re buying a gift for someone—you can only start to personalize it by keeping the person who will receive it in mind. 

The same goes for personalization in your nurture campaigns. Because when you’re personalizing at scale, segmentation is key. And this starts with finding answers to questions like:

 

- What does the candidate need?
- Are they passionate about something? 
- Do they have any opinions or attitudes towards your brand?
- Is your offer/message relevant to them?

 

Once clarified, this information is particularly powerful with a nurturing tool that allows you to sprinkle personalization tidbits at bulk. This is where custom email templates come in.

In SmartDreamers Nurture, these go beyond simply dragging and dropping design files to match your branding. You can also tailor predefined layouts to suit your audience’s particularities at a granular level. This way, you’ll be able to stay on message without using the same design over and over.

 

Send the right message at the right time with nurture automation flows

 

After you’ve defined your audiences and the message you want to send them, set up a timeline using SmartDreamers automation flows. 

If you’re going for recurring campaigns, you can opt for any custom formulas. Just keep in mind that different audiences mean different needs, which sums up in different timelines for your nurture programs.

 

Consider spacing out your emails. For example, if your nurture is running for 30 days, you might set up your emails to launch on the 1st, 10th and 20th day after a candidate has submitted their application. 

 

You can even couple this formula with the appropriate time zone. So, for communications targeted to multiple regions, tick the box marked contact time zone—this will guarantee everyone receives your email in a timely fashion.  

Bring it all together in reports

Last but not least, advanced reporting capabilities help you measure the impact of your nurture campaigns. This will bring valuable information like knowing what improvements are actionable and how well you’ve segmented your leads.

 

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To help you put data into context, we’ve compiled a list of relevant metrics that will paint a clear picture of your nurturing efforts, such as: 

 

- Email sent and delivered
- Opens
- Clicks
- Bounces
- Unsubscribes
- Spam reports
- Click through Rate

…and more.

 

However, given that nurturing happens over time, your reports will be more accurate when you analyze them on a long-term basis. So, even if your first email sequence performs on average, you may find that over time, better emails bring you quality leads rather than simple opens. 

 

But, if you want more detailed predictions of your ongoing nurtures, historical data shown in the SmartDreamers interface will come in handy. It displays all data on your campaign performance by each touchpoint. This makes it easy to browse through each campaign and its results.  

 

Finally, when it comes to return on investment, you can add custom reporting features like ATS integration to track the number of applicants you’ve generated – as well as the big-picture outcome of your campaigns.

 

To sum it all up, if you’re planning your next nurture strategy, the automation tool you’re using to run these campaigns can make a difference. At the end of the day, it should ensure the best possible candidate experience, all while erasing mundane work for Talent Acquisition teams. 

 

This way, you’ll find yourself enjoying the perks of real candidate engagement—and some much-needed time to focus on innovative nurturing tactics.