Looking back at our blog, Making the Customer Lifecycle & Customer Lifetime Value more human, it is important to ensure you successfully lead your customers through the 5 primary stages of the customer life lifecycle strategy. Ensure you know where your customers are in the cycle so that you can send specific email campaigns that complement their journey. In this blog, we’ll take a deeper look at the various kinds of emails you can send during each stage.
Stage 1: Awareness
During this first step of the customer lifecycle, people become aware of your brand and may begin to explore your products. At this stage, you should help your subscriber discover and evaluate what you offer.
This is a great time to send emails that explain the benefits of your products, to tell subscribers how buying your product solves their problems. One thing to always remember is that subscribers buy solutions not just a product.
Boschendal Wines sent their subscribers a harvest report, telling them all about the wines and why Boschendal Wines should be on top of their wine list.
During the awareness stage, you could also:
- Send links to relevant content, you can add a link that directs your subscribers to an article that will tell them more about your product.
- Direct potential clients to a testimonial page or a review site so they can read reviews from real customers.
Stage 2: Purchase
By this stage your subscriber is aware, and all clued up regarding your product. It is time to encourage a purchase. Nothing encourages a sale like a discount or promotion, so consider offering this kind of incentive via your email campaign.
Remember to make use of personalisation, segmentation and dynamic content. It’s very important that you show your subscriber that you know them.
Boschendal Wines sends their subscribers a thank you for purchasing email with a code to get a discount on their next purchase. This campaign is an easy yet effective way to show their customers that they appreciate them and giving them a reason to purchase again.
During the purchase stage, you could also:
- Offer free shipping, 80% of customers say free shipping is the most important incentive during the online purchase phase.
- Invite subscribers to an event, such as a launch.
Stage 3: Relationship Building
Once a subscriber has made a purchase, it’s time to make sure you develop a fruitful relationship. After all your goal is to have long-term, loyal customers, rather than those who make a purchase once and move on.
Keep your subscribers engaged and stay on top of mind, by sending regular newsletters. Regular newsletters have endless opportunities, from sending content regarding product improvements, customer reviews, industry updates and many more.
Business Partners, sends their subscribers a monthly newsletter with tips on how to improve their business.
During the relationship building stage, you could also:
- Post-purchase follow-ups, make use of a transactional email and provide links to your support teams or phone numbers to call if they need assistance.
- Surveys, collect feedback on specific products with a quick survey.
Stage 4: Retention
Once the relationship has been established, you need to nurture it. During the retention stage, brands should make every effort possible to keep subscribers coming back for more.
As you focus on retaining customers, it’s important to remember that it’s not all about selling. You’ve started to build a relationship with customers and retention should build on the premise.
Brampton Wines, one of our account management clients sends their customers a Spotify playlist 7 days after purchasing via an automation. The purpose of this email is to provide something extra to their loyal clients.
During the retention stage, you could also:
- Market offers via a loyalty program
- Provide incentives – segment your email list and give certain groups special incentives to buy again.
- Provide links to helpful content. Help customers use your products by providing links to helpful blogs.
Stage 5: Advocacy
Targeted email marketing goes a long way to cultivate a positive relationship between a brand and its customers. As you focus on building relationships, you’ll see that some customers become brand advocates. To encourage this behaviour, focus on customer service and showing your appreciation.
Nedbank IMC Conference sent an email to their subscribers after their conference. This email expressed gratitude to their subscribers. It’s a simple thank you from the CEO without promoting the next conference. This type of email reminds subscribers that they’re valued by the brand.
During the advocacy stage, you could also:
- Personal messages to your most valued customers, those that have made repeat purchases and been with you for years. Ask them to share their experience on social media and in return you can give them early access to new products or sales.
If you need any assistance with implementing any of the 5 primary stages of the customer life lifecycle in your email marketing, get in touch with our team and let’s make sure your email marketing works for you.
Contact us at sales@touchbasepro.com.