What You Need to Know About Customer Lifecycle Marketing

How do your customers interact with your business? Think about it. They might find your website homepage via google search. Or they might walk into your brick-and-mortar store to browse or ask a question. Maybe they follow you on Instagram.

There are various ways your audience will interact with you. Customer lifecycle marketing is how you choose to interact with your customer at each of those touchpoints.

One of the nuances of customer lifecycle marketing is knowing when to connect and when to sell. Before your customer becomes a customer by making a purchase, they’re simply a follower. As a follower, they might interact with you online through various digital marketing tactics.

When a new follower first meets you online, they’re looking to get to know who you are so they can decide if they relate to you. It’s best to be cultivating a relationship during this phase, rather than selling. A few things to consider when connecting with new followers include:

• Sharing behind the scenes content
• Explaining your brand values
• Identifying the problem your business solves
• Introducing the founder and key team members

Connecting with your followers should be fun and effortless. You get to talk about yourself and brag about your business. This should feel natural and authentic so you can attract followers that will eventually become paying customers.

As you’re connecting with engaged followers, invite them to get to know you even more. You might ask them to sign up for your newsletter or read a blog post. Perhaps you even offer a new customer discount. This is where the customer lifecycle becomes a selling point.

Many marketers choose to offer an email newsletter because of the tremendous value in email marketing. Did you know there are about 3.7 billion email users in the world today? An email marketing program is a great way to both connect and sell with your customers on their lifecycle journey. A typical email series should include content like:

• Welcome!
• Special Offers
• Weekly/Monthly Updates
• Thank You for Your Purchase
• Brand Stories
• Blog Posts

At this point, hopefully you’ve turned a follower into a customer. Now it’s important to make sure your customer is satisfied so they can become a lifelong loyal fan. This goes back to balancing nurturing and selling. Ask them how they liked their purchase or ask them to write a review or share their experience on social media. Perhaps you want them to join a loyalty program.

At the end of the day, happy and loyal fans tell their friends and eventually bring in new followers for you to convert to customers. And so it begins again!