From Prospect to Lifelong Customer: The Cyclical Life of a Customer

On the sidewalk outside a retail shop a client trudges through papers, debris and dead leaves and remarks upon entering the shop:  “I don’t even feel like shopping when your entrance looks like that!” 

The manager, (oblivious to the fact that (a) he has in front of him a prospective customer who wants to shop and (b) is giving him feedback on what will make her shop) replies: “Sorry it has nothing to do with us, you will have to speak to the municipality.” (And he is dead serious.)

Here is a statement that hits one in the gut:  

“In South Africa it’s really not difficult to be absolutely outstanding in customer service—seeing that the bar is so low.” 

It gets you in the gut because, as a South African, you recognise the undeniable truth of your lived experience:

~Clients line up in front of an optician’s assistant behind the reception desk. She never looks up from her computer to acknowledge them or make eye contact. After a while, she gets up and walks away. 

~Supermarket customer: “Excuse me sir, are you the manager?”

Manager: “Yes madam, how can I be of service to you?”

Customer: “Sir … ahem…whére can I find a trolley in your shop for my shopping?”

The manager winces and goes off—presumably himself now in search of a trolley, never to be seen again by the lady with her arms full of groceries. 

~Customer at the cashier: “Sorry, I see here on my till slip the R15 discount advertised on the shelf for this product was not given to me?” The cashier shrugs and adds insult to injury by saying loudly: “Next please.” 

The conclusion one could come to is that if my company is not getting great reviews from customers in South Africa, that must mean that we are playing amongst the lowest in the industry. 

It also gets you in the gut because you worry that maybe you and the customer service of your business may have become so complacent because … you know … nobody really expects excellence now, do they? So that means when customers do complain about my business, how much lower can we go?

It further gets you because you know that with just a little bit of effort your clients could get an unforgettable experience, which could make you stand out head and shoulders above the rest. So why is it not happening?

Experiences like these, piled up, can actually traumatise a person and is thát what we want our clients and customers to be going through? Why not wow them, delight them, surprise them and give them something to smile about instead? This is where the retention, loyalty and advocacy stages in the customer cycle come in. 

What is the customer lifecycle?

The customer lifecycle—also known as the customer retention cycle,  represents the 5 stages a consumer goes through when interacting with your business, from initial awareness to long-term loyalty. It is experiences and customer behaviours at critical customer touchpoints with your business. Mapping these stages is aimed at changing prospects into, not only loyal customers, but advocates for your business, by improving how they experience your company.

Knowing what your customer lifecycle looks like helps you both to attract new customers and to retain the ones you have and typically includes 5 key phases:

Awareness -> 

Engagement/Consideration -> 

Conversion/Purchase ->

Retention -> 

Loyalty/Advocacy.

1. Awareness: The customer discovers your brand via marketing, ads, or reputation or engaging with you.
2. Consideration: The customer evaluates your product/service against alternatives.
3. Conversion/Purchase: The customer makes their first purchase, turning engagement into revenue.
4. Retention: The customer returns and continues to use your brand, often supported by engagement strategies to keep them happy.
5. Loyalty/Advocacy: The customer becomes a dedicated advocate, promoting your brand to others. 

Importance of Customer Lifecycle Management 

Understanding these stages helps you to create tailored experiences for your customers. That, of course, leads to higher revenue. It is much more difficult and expensive to attract new customers than to retain the ones you already have in the cycle. Understanding and being aware of the lifecycle gives you a chance at targeted marketing, helping to identify which marketing efforts are best suited for each stage. Additionally, when the lifecycle stages are measured, and analysed over time, it not only gives an indication of business performance, but also a chance at lapsed customer win-back.

In practice:

• During the first 3 stages, focus on turning anonymous traffic into known visitors. Convert new prospects as quickly as possible by learning what customers need at each stage of their journey and giving it to them.
• Monitor human touch point areas by analysing engagement data. Training and monitoring your staff on a regular basis is key here.
• Reduce purchasing friction by monitoring and optimising the checkout process.
• Proactively support your customers throughout and aim to deliver value quickly.
• Show customer appreciation.
• Find where in the cycle customers typically fall away and address those gaps by regularly asking for feedback at each stage, with the intent to improve the overall experience.
• Delight customers Enhance the customer experience with added convenience, timely communication and reduce the need for them to reach out for basic tasks.
• Use and monitor personalised, dynamic pricing or special offers with Smart pricing engines,
• Additionally, stay ahead of the competition with sophisticated price segmentation models. Elevate customer loyalty, price competitiveness and profit margins, while managing regulatory compliance.Learn more →
• Utilise satisfaction surveys to measure success. 

Conclusion:

Guiding your customers through each stage of the cycle will result in a customer who is a strong ambassador for your business, returning to you for products or services they need and telling their friends and family to use your services too.

If you want to retain your clients with your service quality and to return rather than be repelled, it may be wise to keep an eye on that cycle. 

(This was Part 3 in the series: The Cycles Present in Any Business.)