How to build a marketing strategy at each stage of a customer’s life cycle

In order to build the right, and most importantly effective marketing strategy, online merchants need an understanding of which stages of the life cycle the customer goes through on their website.

Understanding these processes will allow you to interact with customers as efficiently as possible, help them at the right time, offer related products on time, and accordingly increase sales and the number of loyal customers.

The model of communication with customers who simply surf the pages of the site and with those who constantly make purchases is radically different, so it is important to set up the right business processes.

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We will look at the 5 main stages of the customer’s life cycle and tell you how to communicate with them correctly at each of these stages.

Stage number 1: VISITOR.

These are potential customers who have registered with you on the site or viewed any products, but still have not made their first purchase.

Statistics:

Statistics show that 80% of customers make their first purchase on the site on the same day that they are registered. Another 7% will make their first purchase within the first week from the date of registration.

After 7 days, your chances to sell something to a registered client are hidden in front of you.



What to do:

Your task at this stage is to do everything for the client to make a purchase within the first 7 days from the moment of registration.

Effective here will be:

1. Welcome-series of letters after registration, in which you can add a welcome bonus for the first purchase, a selection of popular products or promotional offers.
2. A letter on the abandoned basket, which remind of an incomplete order and in which you can add a “bun” to return the customer.
3. A resuscitation letter that reminds you of the expiration of the welcome bonus, and also contains a selection of product recommendations.
4. The block with product recommendations on the site, which will be automatically generated for each visitor
5. The letter on the abandoned view, with the goods that the client viewed and recommendations of alternatives.

Stage 2: NEW BUYER.

Customers who made their first purchase on your site.

Statistics:

The bad news is that more than half of these customers will never make a second purchase from you. But there is also good news - those customers who still make a second purchase will buy from you for the third and fourth time.

The likelihood that a customer buys from you again strongly depends on the quantity of goods in his first order. So, customers who buy 6 or more products at once are almost 2 times more likely to make a second purchase from you than those who bought only 1 product.



What to do:

1. A series of letters after the purchase, in which you can add a bonus for the next purchase or participation in a secret sale.
2. Cross-selling is right on the checkout page, which will allow the customer to sell a greater quantity of goods at the first order
3. Cross-selling in the letter after purchase, with the offer of additional goods to those that the customer has already bought.
4. Resuscitation letter, which contains a “bun” to return the customer shopping.

Stage 3: ACTIVE CUSTOMER.

Customers who have already made several purchases and are not considered to have left (about how long the customer is considered “departed” below, at stage 4).

Statistics:

To work properly with active clients, they need to be segmented by: date, frequency and average check of their purchases.

With this segmentation, you can clearly understand which of these customers have the greatest potential to become permanent, and which are at risk of becoming "departed."

An example of such a segmentation:



What to do:

1. A series of letters depending on the frequency and average purchase check, in which you can offer to see new, promotional items, invite for sale or give a bonus for loyalty.
2. A letter for re-sale, based on knowledge of the product life cycle in a previous purchase (for example: when buying coffee, in a month to propose to update stocks).
3. Resuscitation of clients who are at risk of becoming “departed”, with the headings “We miss ...”, etc.

Stage 4: LEADING CLIENT.

Customers who have not bought for a long time from you. Based on customer segmentation by date and frequency of purchases, you can clearly identify the segment of those who had to make a purchase, but did not make it.

If you do not have such data, marketers recommend starting with segmentation: 90 days, 180 days and 360 days from the date of the last purchase.

Statistics:

According to statistics, 20% of customers who last bought 4-6 months ago, will again make a purchase within the next 3 months.

At the same time, the longer the client does not remember about you and does not buy, the more difficult it is to return it back.



What to do:

1. Resuscitation letter to those who did not buy 90 days, with a small bonus offer for the next purchase.
2. Resuscitation letter to those who did not buy 180 days, where the bonus should be a little more.
3. Resuscitation letter to those who did not buy 360 days, which should be the most significant bonus to return the client.
4. It is very important in these letters to tell the client that you are bored and want to return it, tell you about how valuable it is for you and be sure to remind you of its positive experience when you buy from you, as well as about your advantages and guarantees.

Stage 5: CUSTOMER RETURN.

Customers who left but then returned ... by themselves or through your marketing activities.

Statistics:

In terms of their potential, such clients are very similar to those who made only 1 purchase. Returning customers with a probability of 35% will continue to buy, while new customers with a probability of 36%.

One big difference is that returning customers need to pay maximum attention in the first month after returning, so that they become active buyers, otherwise you risk losing them forever.



What to do:

1. A letter with unique bonuses, special offers, promotions, etc.
2. A letter with a personalized selection of products, selected on the basis of the data that you already have about this client.
3. Useful content in the letter after purchase, where there should be instructions, secrets of the manufacturer, tips and advice on how to use the purchased goods.
4. Congratulatory letters, for example, on a jubilee purchase or anniversary from the moment of registration with you.

Thus, analyzing the behavior of your clients on your site at each stage of their life cycle, you can build an effective strategy for communicating with them and turn visitors to the site into regular customers.

Personalized marketing is the key to success, sales growth and customer loyalty. Building such marketing is much easier than you might think. To do this, you only need to collect information about your customers and correctly configure the segmentation in your email marketing ... or entrust this business to professional services :)