What are the stages of the customer lifecycle?
The customer lifecycle stage refers to steps that a customer will go through when interacting with a business. It all starts from when the customer discovers the business, to purchasing, and then to continue to spread your brand.
Many businesses like to understand their customer lifecycle as it will help them with their marketing and business.
Your customer base will all be in different parts of the customer lifecycle. Some will just start to get to know you and are in the discovery stage, while others will be the advocates for your brand in the advocacy brand.
There are 5 stages of the customer lifecycle that you should be aware of, will go more into detail but they are:
- Discovery
- Education
- Purchase
- Post-purchase
- Advocacy
We’ll also discuss what is customer lifecycle management and customer lifecycle marketing.
So let’s show you the five stages of the customer lifecycle.
The five stages of the customer lifecycle
Discovery
This is the stage where your customers discover your products and services. This is the first interaction between your customers and brand. Your brand must give a great first impression as it can help them move along the customer journey.
Education
Customers at this stage will learn more about your products. If a customer has any questions about the product or service, this is the stage where your business answers any questions and makes any suggestions.
Purchase
Once the customer has come to a decision about which company will best fit their needs, they will make a purchase. It’s important to have a smooth transition from discovery to purchase. If there are too many restrictions or distractions, this may cause them to leave without making a purchase.
Post-Purchase
Once the purchase is done, the company can make sure they are satisfied by gathering feedback from them. A proper customer feedback strategy should be implemented to help you improve any areas that need improvement. Reviews and testimonials are great to strengthen your brand.
Advocacy
Similar to customer loyalty, they will share your brand and influence their friends and family through social media posts and online reviews. Once your customer advocates your business you’ll have new customers in the discovery stage
Now that you know the stages of the customer lifecycle, let’s go over what customer lifecycle management is.
What is customer lifecycle management?
Customer lifecycle management or CLM refers to the tool or suite of tools you use to manage your customer base that is in the different stages of the customer lifecycle.
The main idea for a CLM is to manage and monitor the customer lifecycle, customer retention and increase conversion rate.
Each company will have their plan for each stage to improve the success of its business. When you're able to see the areas you can implement into the customer lifecycle, you can improve your new and recurring revenue.
Customer lifecycle marketing
Customer lifecycle marketing refers to the marketing activities that are completed at each different stage of the customer lifecycle. This is important because you wouldn’t have the same marketing strategies for customers in the discovery and advocacy phases.
The marketing strategies will need to relate to the customers at each stage.
For example, Pay-per-click ads can be used to attract new customers and you can give referral codes/ promos to customers in the advocacy stage.
Some marketing strategies can be used for multiple stages! Content Marketing can be used for the discovery and education stages.
Choosing a CRM to help with your customer lifecycle management
Having a powerful CRM (customer relationship management) software can help you organize your customer efficiently and group them accordingly.
While there are many CRM softwares out there, we think you’ll enjoy Moment! Not only is it free to register, but it comes with a live chat and session recordings right away, no method of payment needed.