Marketing is moving away from the traditional funnel towards a more holistic view of the customer journey. Customer experience is viewed as a cycle with more focus being paid attention to encouraging customers to buy again and again from your company.
For eCommerce businesses to thrive in 2021 and beyond, it’s no longer enough to bring new leads into your funnel – instead, your focus should be on your existing customers in an effort to get them to make repeat purchases.
That doesn’t mean new customers aren’t important, but we know that repeat customers spend 67% times more than single purchase customers. According to research by Gartner, 80% of a company’s future profits come from 20% of its existing customer base, so that’s a huge reason to invest in your repeat customers.
Instead of your goal being to lead a customer to purchase and then stop, your goal should be to lead him or her through all the stages of the customer lifecycle.
What is Customer Lifecycle Marketing?
Customer Lifecycle Marketing (CLM) is defined as:
“The term that defines all strategies that businesses use to attract clients, convert, retain, and leverage with the purpose to boost revenue and grow their brands. All such strategies engage customers throughout their buying journey.” – Marketo
Customer Lifecycle Marketing for eCommerce businesses is the alternative to the single-purchase view of the customer, and the best brands engage their customers throughout the journey with them.
CLM is the journey that the audience takes with your brand, and it’s the different stages customers go through when they interact with you, from initial awareness through to purchase and advocacy.
CLM attempts to stop the customer from reaching the end of their journey with your brand, and instead bring them back around to become a repeat purchaser.
No two businesses have a customer lifecycle that is identical. Companies like Starbucks have a short customer lifecycle where it doesn’t take long for a customer to purchase again, compared to auto dealerships and real estate agents where the focus is on creating word-of-mouth advocates.
- The journey begins when customers first hear about your business (awareness) and become aware of what you could offer them.
- Later, customers move through the engagement stage as they further connect with your brand.
- In the evaluation stage, customers are researching your offerings and comparing them with competitors to see if they want to buy.
- The purchase stage is when the customer buys, moving into the post-purchase stage where the cycle uses re-engagement campaigns, and finally to the advocacy stage.
Customer Movement Around the Lifecycle
Customers are most likely to leave during the post-purchase stage, exiting the customer lifecycle never to be heard from again. Without a lifecycle marketing effort, you will lose these valuable customers instead of re-engaging them and bringing them back to purchase again.
It’s also possible for customers to move around the lifecycle, so a post-purchase customer can move back to the evaluation stage again, for example.
What Are the Benefits of Customer Lifecycle Marketing?
Improved Customer Retention and Customer Loyalty Rates
CLM helps with creating a more personalized experience and a better overall customer experience. By having a better understanding at what stage a customer is at, you’ll be able to provide better-personalized communications that are more relevant to your customers and provide them with more value. In turn, this improves their overall experience which can lead to better customer retention and loyalty.
In fact, 73% of consumers say having a positive experience is a key factor in influencing their brand loyalties. Furthermore, loyal customers are five times more likely to purchase from your business again.
Improved Marketing ROI
Building relationships with your customers allows for better ROI. Because you’re focusing on delivering relevant communication to your customers, you’re able to get customers coming back for more and more. This in turn allows you to get better value from your various marketing efforts resulting in a better overall ROI.
Building Word-Of-Mouth Advocates
CLM means you can develop more loyal customers who have the potential to become vocal advocates for your brand. They recommend you to other potential customers through word-of-mouth advocacy.
Customer Lifecycle Stages
Now we’re going to look at the Customer Lifecycle Marketing stages in more detail.
Awareness Stage
During the awareness stage, customers first enter your lifecycle. This is the most difficult part to market since customers tend to have no knowledge of your brand and products. Your goal here is to attract new leads into the customer lifecycle without being overly sales-oriented.
This is the stage where companies often spend the most money trying to attract new customers. It’s very important, but don’t spend so long on this stage that customers are left floundering after they move past the awareness stage.
Marketing Strategies
Marketers are keen to attract new audiences through top-of-the-funnel strategies such as:
- Advertising via social media and search as well as display ads and sponsored posts
- Making use of micro-influencers to attract new customers that align with your target audience
- SEO optimized blog posts along with highly shareable content pieces (such as original research, PowerPoint slides, whitepapers, expert round-ups, infographics, etc.)
Engagement Stage
The engagement stage is where prospective customers become more active and want to learn about the products you offer. Engaged leads will consider buying from you – but not before they have gathered more information.
For example, an engaged customer might know that you sell lamps. But they still want to know how much the lamp costs, estimated delivery times, and return policies. It’s your job to educate your customers in your products so they will move towards the purchase stage.
Marketing Strategies
During this stage, nurture your customers and provide value. Engage with your customers through digital channels such as social media, your email newsletter, or through the company blog.
Your customers may be comparing your products to competitors so make sure to:
- Provide educational content such as explainer videos as well as comparison style blog posts
- Automate and scale your ability to engage with prospects via chatbots and conversational landing pages
- Offer a first-time discount, promotional code, or e-book to get users to sign up for your email list.
Evaluation Stage
The evaluation stage is where your customer is almost ready to buy from you. Customers are actively evaluating your products, using review sites, and comparing you with your competitors. The goal here is to tip customers that little bit further into their decision to choose your products.
Shoppers could be comparing two different hi-fi systems, checking that a clothing retailer’s products conform to the size stated on the website, or whether the pair of shoes they want to buy will be waterproof.
Marketing Strategies
Don’t make customers work hard to find the information they need. Your goal is to give them that final nudge they need to purchase your product which is why you should consider some of the following strategies:
- Create landing pages with detailed comparisons to help customers evaluate your products against your competitors
- Make use of video tutorials to show customers how your products can be used
- Work with third-party blogs to help endorse your products and highlight their benefits, so customers have another trusted source to go to when evaluating your products
- Create blog posts that target purchase-intent keywords – the content should be helpful for customers in the evaluation stage.
- Use remarketing and retargeting campaigns for customers who leave your website to help stay at the top of their minds as well as cart-abandonment and browser-abandonment emails and SMS notifications. For this group, you’ll want to consider some type of promo offer or discount.
Purchase Stage
The purchase stage is where you need to do the least marketing since customers are ready to buy. Customers are active and you need to make it easy for them to convert. Customers are taking advantage of self-service support such as a customer knowledge base, chatbot, or live chat.
Marketing Strategies
Some steps to take here include:
- Clear call-to-actions as well as an easy checkout process
- Make use of chatbots as well as a knowledge base to help customers with any last-minute questions.
- Convince customers they have made the right decision by providing social proof in the form of testimonials and reviews.
Post-Purchase stage
Your post-purchase goals are to position your business to sell again and turn your customers into repeat buyers.
In this stage, find the balance between too much and too little post-purchase marketing. A customer has just bought from you, and they don’t want to be inundated with messages telling them to buy again. At the same time, a little contact is a way forward in this stage of the CLM. Improving your customer retention rates will allow you to sell more to your customers over time so as to increase their value to your business.
Marketing Strategies
This is your chance to bring customers back through the lifecycle with a gentle upsell or cross-sell. Ideally, this stage should last as long as possible as customers become customers for life.
Send out surveys to learn more about your customers while also making sure to send out customer care content through social media, email, and your various support channels to advise customers on how to get the most out of their products. Be proactive with customer support and service to ensure customers are successful with your products.
Use your post-purchase phase to upsell and cross-sell by sending out product recommendations that relate to a customer’s purchase. For example, if a customer has bought a bicycle, recommend bicycle locks, helmets, and cycling shorts.
You can also reward customer loyalty with promotions and discounts encouraging them to buy again. Consider offering expedited shipping for your post-purchase customers. Executing on fast fulfillment provides an excellent customer experience and encourages reorders.
Advocacy Stage
During this stage, your customer has been with you for the long-term and become a repeat buyer. The goal is to turn them into brand advocates who will promote your business through word-of-mouth, bringing in new leads and customers. Loyal, satisfied customers will be happy to share your products, and at this stage the lifecycle completes itself.
Customers are much more likely to buy a product when it is recommended by someone they know. Your brand advocates bring in new customers through generating awareness, keeping your customer lifecycle going.
Marketing Strategies
Brands who engage in a customer advocacy program treat customers as more than a buyer: they develop real relationships with their customers through human connection. To encourage customers to become advocates, launch a customer loyalty program, offer exclusive benefits for customers, rewards for customer feedback, or even a referral program.
Wrap Up
Now you know about Customer Lifecycle Marketing, it’s time to implement it in your ecommerce business. Customer Lifecycle Marketing is self-sustaining, making it a more efficient model than the traditional marketing funnel.
Invest in your existing customers, who are likely to spend more and attract new customers into your lifecycle. Proactively move your customers around the lifecycle, taking them from awareness and evaluation right through to purchase and advocacy.
