How to Keep Customers Hooked with Lifecycle Marketing

Imagine rolling out the red carpet for every single customer, tailoring a customized experience instead of making them feel like just another number. That’s the power of lifecycle marketing. It’s not just about attracting customers and leaving the rest of the job to another department. It’s about treating them like VIPs and personalizing their experience across every touchpoint with your brand — from ad click, to chat bot convo, to online purchase, to loyalty member, to in-store visit.

According to Salesforce’s State of Marketing report, only around half of marketers take a lifecycle marketing approach to personalization. Lifecycle marketing is all about tailoring your content to whatever the customer is seeking at any given moment — whether that’s to buy, learn, seek support, or speak to a representative. It helps you turn those “they came, they saw” moments into “they stayed – and they can’t wait to come back” VIP experiences.

What you’ll learn

• What is lifecycle marketing?
• How actionable data fuels lifecycle marketing 
• 4 content ideas to keep customers engaged beyond a single purchase
• Lifecycle marketing in action: Using content to generate more sales with data and AI

What is lifecycle marketing?

Lifecycle marketing is when marketers personalize content along the entire customer journey. The key to lifecycle marketing lies in the engagement stage, where you have the opportunity to turn a buyer into a raving fan. 

Following the initial awareness and conversion stages in the sales funnel, the engagement stage focuses on nurturing customers and building long-term loyalty through valuable interactions. This might involve offering educational content to help them maximize product benefits, building a community where they can connect with other users, or sending targeted recommendations based on their purchase history. This level of personalization fosters a sense of value and appreciation, keeping them engaged with your brand long after the initial sale.

Lifecycle marketing thrives on data. It’s the fuel that allows you to tailor experiences to each customer and build fluid relationships. But your data is only useful if you have access to it.

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How actionable data fuels lifecycle marketing 

Actionable data is the lifeblood of lifecycle marketing. By analyzing customer interactions across any touchpoint, you can craft a personalized experience that keeps them engaged long after the initial purchase. However, this requires different departments of your businesses to work together. Data and department silos can disrupt the VIP experience.

Imagine that you run a fitness company that utilizes display ads across social media platforms. A customers downloads your app after seeing one of those ads, but struggles to use a core feature and needs customer service support. It’s data integration that will let both the Marketing and Customer Service departments know that the customer is both interested and frustrated (and likely to leave). Unified data that is accessed and actionable breaks down these silos, allowing both teams to see the full picture. Marketing can then send a targeted in-app message with a short video tutorial on the problematic feature. Cross-departmental collaboration, fueled by data, is essential for effective lifecycle marketing.

This approach can lead to the creation of powerful content in the engagement stage. Data that includes marketing, sales, service, and commerce interactions allows you to understand a customer’s specific needs and interests. Imagine the fitness app user again. Purchase history reveals they bought a heart rate monitor, while in-app data shows they struggle with guided workouts. This information lets you send them personalized workout plans that utilize the heart rate monitor, or even recommend a live coaching session for a more personalized experience. 

This makes sure content created after the initial purchase feels relevant and valuable, fostering a sense of value and encouraging customers to keep using the app. Ultimately, lifecycle marketing data allows you to move beyond just marketing tactics and generic content and create a truly personalized experience that strengthens customer relationships and builds long-term brand loyalty.

But, we know coming up with fresh content ideas can be hard. Here’s a few to help you get the ball rolling and use the engagement stage to turn buyers into fans.

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4 content ideas to keep customers engaged beyond a single purchase

1. Become their personal guru.

• “How-to” guides and tutorials. Tap into the full potential of your product with in-depth guides and video tutorials. Turn one-time buyers into product masters.
• Troubleshooting resources. Anticipate their struggles with clear FAQs, troubleshooting guides, and video tutorials. Empower them to solve problems on their own.
• Pro tips and hacks. Spice things up with hidden features and clever hacks. Short explainer videos and social media posts keep your product exciting and fresh.

2. Build a community of champions.

• Customer forums and communities. Create a space where customers connect, share experiences, and help each other. User-generated content and active participation build a sense of belonging.
• Exclusive content and events. Reward loyalty with exclusive webinars, Q&A sessions with experts, or early product previews. Make them feel like part of the inner circle.
• User testimonials and success stories. Let your customers do the talking. Showcase real-life success stories through testimonials and video interviews. Build trust and inspire future buyers.

3. Personalize their journey.

• Personalized email campaigns. Ditch boring newsletters. Leverage purchase history and past interactions to send relevant product recommendations, exclusive offers, and loyalty program updates.
• Curated content and resources. Based on user preferences, curate blog posts, articles, or external resources that complement your product. It’s all about providing additional value.
• “You Might Also Like” suggestions. Make exploring your offerings a breeze. Recommend similar products and content based on past purchases, creating a seamless user experience.

4. Make them feel heard and valued.

• Post-purchase surveys and feedback forms. Gather valuable insights after key milestones – purchase, installation, product usage. Use this feedback to improve both your product and communication.
• “Net Promoter Score” (NPS) surveys. Measure customer loyalty by gauging their willingness to recommend you. Analyze the feedback and act on it – show them you care.
• Social media advocacy programs. Turn customers into brand ambassadors. Create referral programs or hashtag campaigns and encourage them to share their positive experiences.

The good news? AI can help with lifecycle marketing. It analyzes customer behavior across their journey, recommending relevant content, optimizing engagement, automating tasks, and identifying new content needs. This AI-powered approach ensures a seamless customer experience driven by data, ultimately fostering loyalty and boosting business growth. 

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Lifecycle marketing in action: Using content to generate more sales with data and AI

Let’s be honest: everyone’s ultimate goal is to drive more business. Let’s take a look at how targeting customers with content after their initial purchase can do just that.

A fictional financial institution, Bank Inc., launched its airline miles credit card with high hopes of attracting current customers that were frequent travelers. However, its generic marketing campaigns produced disappointing application numbers, unveiling insufficient communication of the card’s value proposition to the right audience. 

Bank Inc. used Salesforce Data Cloud to help drive new credit card adoption rates. Here’s how:

Step 1: Unlocking trapped customer data for a holistic view

Bank Inc. began by ingesting a wide range of customer data into Data Cloud. This included purchase category data (credit card purchases), usage data (frequency of travel-related purchases), and engagement data (website visits, app usage) from its CRM system, marketing channels, and even external data sources like travel booking platforms (with customer consent). After ingesting the data, Bank Inc. harmonized and unified its data to get a holistic view of their customers. 

Step 2: Segmentation with precision

With access to customer data, Bank Inc. identified new target audience segments based on preferences and past campaign success. It then used Data Cloud to create those key segments. For instance, one segment might include customers with frequent travel purchases. Another segment might include customers with incomplete credit card profiles, or those who haven’t logged into the online banking platform recently.

Step 3: Triggering personalized experiences

Based on the defined segments, Bank Inc. used Marketing Cloud to trigger a multi-channel marketing experience. Customers with high travel spending might receive emails highlighting the credit card’s benefits for travel purchases, see display ads showcasing luxury travel destinations, and even receive personalized push notifications reminding them to use their miles before they expire. For customers with incomplete profiles, automated emails could remind them to finish setting up their accounts, along with offering incentives for doing so. This cross-channel approach ensures messages reach the right customers on the right platforms.

Step 4: Generating more sales with data and AI 

Bank Inc. used Data Cloud’s AI capabilities to personalize product recommendations and drive sales even further. Here’s how:

• Next-best-action recommendations: Based on a customer’s travel spending patterns, Bank Inc.’s AI engine recommended relevant travel insurance options, airport lounge access upgrades, or personalized credit card offers for frequent travelers. These recommendations were displayed on the online banking platform, within the mobile app, and in email marketing campaigns.
• Predictive lead scoring: AI analyzed customer behavior and predicted their likelihood to make a purchase. This allowed Bank Inc. to prioritize high-value leads for the sales team. For example, customers who frequently research homes for sale might be identified as having a higher propensity to need a home mortgage loan. The sales team could then proactively reach out to these qualified leads with personalized offers, increasing conversion rates and maximizing sales opportunities.

The beauty of this data-driven approach is its scalability across B2B and B2C landscapes. Just like Bank Inc. personalized experiences for individual travelers, B2B companies can use customer data and AI to create engaging content after the initial purchase, including recommendations for complementary services, or to identify high-propensity leads based on website activity and purchase history. 

So, stop chasing fleeting “they came, they saw” moments and start building long-lasting relationships by making customers feel valued. Because in the end, that’s the key to turning visitors into VIPs who can’t wait to come back for more. 

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