Everything You Need to Know about Customer Lifecycle Management
Everything You Need to Know about Customer Lifecycle Management
The best companies build mutually beneficial relationships with customers that equate to a higher Customer Lifetime Value — in other words, they ensure that their customers are going to stick around for a while.
What is the Customer Lifecycle?
The customer lifecycle refers to the process of prospects becoming aware of a product, making a purchase from a brand, and ideally becoming a company’s longtime customer. The process is made up of five stages: reach, acquisition, conversion, retention, and loyalty.
What is Customer Lifecycle Management?
Customer lifecycle management is the process of tracking the stages of the customer lifecycle, assigning metrics to each one, and measuring success based on those metrics. The goal is to track the business’ performance over time as it relates to the customer lifecycle.
Customer Lifecycle Stages
1. Reach / Awareness
In this stage, a customer searches for a product after becoming aware of an issue or problem they need to solve. This stage is called “reach” because it’s your chance to reach the customer while they’re deliberating.
2. Acquisition
When the customer gets to your website or calls you on the phone, they’ve officially entered the acquisition stage.
3. Conversion
Having gained all the necessary information and being delighted with your brand’s customer experience, the prospect makes a purchase. They’ve officially converted and turned into your customer.
4. Retention
5. Customer Loyalty
In this stage, the customer becomes an important asset to the brand by making additional purchases.