Know Your Customers III: Lifecycle marketing

Lifecycle marketing is an effective program to reach current contacts and customers for repeat and referral business. It’s a special case of segmentation because it’s one you have direct knowledge of – the prospect and customer’s exposure to your product and the sales process.

Lifecycle marketing is strongest where there are clear and immediate signs of purchase intent, such as clicking an ad or filling a shopping cart. But it also applies in the B2B world for self-employed professionals and small businesses.

Your customer message depends on where they are in the lifecycle. Here are a few examples.

• After initial lead acquisition, send educational information and offers to help that reinforce your messaging, unique selling proposition, value, and special product features. Stage this over time or use an autoresponder to maintain an ongoing relationship during this crucial time.
• After initial use, such as first login, ask if there are questions or for immediate feedback.
• After different levels of use or different features are first used, send appropriate tips.
• After a positive transaction, such as a referral or purchase, send a thank you.
• Before an important service or billing date, such as subscription renewal or lapse, remind the user of your service value and upcoming transaction.
• Before an important date, such as service or use anniversary, send a personal email to show your appreciation.
• After a customer demonstrates that they’re one of your top customers, such as through usage, level of purchase, community support, or other engagement, send a loyalty email that shows your appreciation and recognition and turns them into an evangelist.
• When customers become inactive or at-risk, re-engage them to learn what happened and how you can recover their business.

TOOL TIP – WeMeUs contact management and lead generation is a personal CRM (Customer Relationship Management). WeMeUs both reminds you to stay in touch with top contacts and tracks the status of all your sales opportunities from initial contact through discussion and engagement. Use tags to further track customer segments and affiliation.

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