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Not sure what is customer lifecycle marketing or CLM and how to implement it to drive revenue and growth in your business?
Talking about the moment, too many brands chase quick wins instead of building lasting customer relationships. Enter lifecycle marketing - your secret weapon.
Picture this: a strategy so powerful it doesn't just grab your customers' attention - it keeps them coming back, turning casual buyers into loyal advocates who rave about your brand to friends.
At Propel, we've seen firsthand how mastering lifecycle marketing can supercharge retention, elevate your customer experience, and sustainably boost revenue (just ask our friends at Sortizy and Trainman!).
Ready to ditch short-term thinking and start winning customers for life? Let’s dive in!
CLM or Customer Lifecycle marketing is a strategy that focuses on guiding customers throughout the 'customer lifecycle' - every phase of their journey, from their first interaction to becoming loyal advocates.
Think of it as a roadmap - each customer lifecycle stage brings opportunities for deeper engagement.
For example, when a new customer signs up for a trial, they’re at the awareness stage. Your job is to move them smoothly into the next stages by adding value, offering personalized content, and keeping them engaged.
This process helps your brand stay top-of-mind, increasing the chances of retention. When done right, it turns casual buyers into long-term customers. It's about more than just pushing for that first sale - it's about creating a relationship.
Over time, you build trust and loyalty, which strengthens the customer journey and leads to repeat business.
A lifecycle marketer manages customer relationships at every touchpoint, ensuring customers stay engaged throughout their journey. Their job? Make sure customers feel understood at each stage of the customer journey. They analyze data to personalize experiences, creating targeted campaigns to move customers to the next stage.
Brands either hire in-house lifecycle marketing manager and team or takes a smarter and easy route - reaching our to a lifecycle marketing agency (because they already have a team of specialists). The second one is better because it is cost effective and more output-oriented.
While both aim to boost business, their approaches are different.
Growth marketing focuses on quick customer acquisition - think fast campaigns, ads, and scaling efforts. In contrast, lifecycle marketing is about nurturing existing customers. It’s a marketing approach that focuses on retention, personalization, and long-term relationships.
Growth marketing seeks fast wins, but customer lifecycle marketing ensures your existing customers stay loyal, reducing churn and increasing lifetime value. It’s about keeping customers engaged through every phase of their journey, and building sustainable success.
Lifecycle marketing stages cover the entire journey of a customer from the point they came to know about your product or service.
How do you turn a first-time visitor into a loyal customer? Understanding the lifecycle marketing stages helps brands focus on what matters at each phase of the customer journey.
It’s not just about one-off campaigns; it’s about creating an ongoing dialogue. In this section, we'll break down the stage of the lifecycle so you can start connecting the dots and see exactly where your customer is in their journey.
Do you see videos and reels promoting brands? Do you read blogs promoting brands? Social media as well as search engine pages act as a medium to spread awareness about a brand.
At the awareness stage, your marketing team must make a strong first impression. This is when a new customer becomes aware of your product or service.
To engage customers is about keeping your brand top of mind at different stage of the customer lifecycle. Use personalized marketing to target users with personalized marketing messages.
Content marketing, emails, push notifications, and retargeting ads help tailor your marketing. Also, segmentation and personalization plays a crucial role in converting potential customer. How? Basically grouping the users based on their search history, usage history and preferences, and then personalizing their feed with the same. Doesn't that increases their chances of engagement? Of course!
For example, Netflix recommends shows based on your watching history, improving customer experience with every interaction. That's lifecycle strategy done right - engage customers at every stage of their journey.
What's the goal of lifecycle marketing? Convincing users to 'Purchase' your service or product, right? So to make them purchase, you need to offer value to the customers.
At this stage, prospects evaluate your offering. A solid lifecycle marketing plan is crucial. Use email marketing to nurture leads with tailored content.
Think about how Amazon sends follow-up emails with discounts for cart abandoners. The brand communicates to the customers based on their lifecycle stage throughout the customer lifecycle.
Simplify the buying process to increase customer acquisition. However no matter how easy the buying-process is - if your customers don't remember why they started with your service or product, they won't really buy. So keep reminding them about products they left in the cart, show they left half-watched, and so on.
For instance, when customers add items to their cart, personalized follow-ups encourage them to make a purchase, boosting customer lifetime value and reducing cart abandonment.
How does this work? Lifecycle marketing and retention marketing agencies help you set campaigns for each lifecycle stage. Marketing automation tools like HubSpot automate reminders, discounts, and thank-you emails.
Customer retention is crucial. Use loyalty programs and personalized offers to keep customers engaged.
Brands like Starbucks leverage loyalty apps that reward repeat purchases, turning a loyal customer into an advocate. Strong customer relationships built through exclusive deals and rewards keep customers coming back.
But that's not all - discounts and offers can get you a few purchases for sure. But to gain loyal customers, who buy from your brand even without such offers takes solid customer retention strategies.
When customers are happy, they share your brand. Word-of-mouth marketing is amplified by customer lifecycle marketing campaigns.
And this is where the lifecycle of a customer completes - the customer that was once new, now helps you gain more new customers.
For example, Dropbox's referral program encouraged users to share their accounts for more storage. Marketing tools like referral software help track success, and the benefits of lifecycle marketing become clear as customers spread the word.
A strong lifecycle marketing strategy helps you connect with customers at every marketing lifecycle stage. Your lifecycle marketing plan outlines actions and channels like social, email, or SMS to boost customer loyalty. Smart brands leverage marketing automation tools and retention marketing tools for consistent results across marketing channels.
Effective customer lifecycle marketing strategies require clear alignment with customer expectations. Use customer data to personalize interactions, cutting your customer acquisition cost.
For instance, Spotify recommends personalized playlists based on listening habits, building customer loyalty through tailored experiences.
Lifecycle email marketing delivers targeted marketing messages at every stage. Email marketing helps nurture customer relationships through timely campaigns. For example, Airbnb sends targeted emails after a booking, deepening the relationship and reinforcing their overall lifecycle marketing strategy with each campaign.
Marketing automation simplifies your lifecycle marketing efforts. With marketing automation tools, tasks like segmentation and follow-up become effortless. HubSpot, for example, automates customer onboarding emails. This approach ensures effective marketing without manual stress, maximizing your overall marketing automation results.
To truly grasp successful lifecycle marketing, explore real-world lifecycle marketing examples. A dedicated lifecycle marketing agency helps brands strategically implement lifecycle marketing by addressing all different lifecycle stages through targeted lifecycle marketing campaigns.
Propel has helped top brands nail CLM and retention marketing - and retain their customers better, you can have a look to learn from them-
Simply put - Lifecycle marketing focuses on retaining users and converting new users to loyal users. That explains the importance of lifecycle marketing.
The benefits of lifecycle marketing are clear: it enhances customer experience and drives retention revenue for brands.
By understanding customer lifecycle management, lifecycle marketing channels, and optimizing campaigns at various stages of a user lifecycle businesses can provide personalized, targeted interactions that foster loyalty and increase lifetime value of customers.
Here's a detailed breakdown of the benefits of lifecycle marketing -
Customer retention is crucial for business longevity. Lifecycle marketing strategies help keep your customers engaged by providing value at each stage.
This builds trust and creates a loyal customer base. By addressing customer needs at every touchpoint, brands can reduce churn and foster loyalty, ensuring repeat purchases. For example, Amazon’s post-purchase recommendations encourage repeat buying, improving customer loyalty and strengthening the relationship through targeted lifecycle marketing campaigns.
Effective lifecycle marketing not only retains customers but drives revenue. By keeping your customers engaged through relevant messaging, you increase their customer lifetime value (CLV).
For instance, a fashion brand could use automated emails for exclusive offers, enhancing both customer engagement and lifetime spending. This strategy also allows for upselling and cross-selling opportunities, driving additional revenue from existing customers - companies that master tailored engagement strategies can generate up to 40% more revenue.
Marketing automation helps streamline lifecycle marketing efforts. By using automated tools to send targeted messages across marketing channels, brands can reach customers with the right offers at the right time.
Automated emails that are personalized to a customer’s behavior enhance customer engagement and make your lifecycle marketing strategy more effective, turning leads into loyal customers. Personalized strategies ensure higher conversion rates, delivering relevant content that resonates with customers' unique needs.
Lifecycle marketing creates a cohesive brand experience by aligning messaging across all channels and touchpoints. This consistency reinforces brand trust and improves the overall customer experience.
88% of customers believe that the experience a company provides is as important as its products or services. By nurturing customers at every stage, businesses can provide more value, ensuring long-term satisfaction and reducing churn risks.
Lifecycle marketing focuses on targeted campaigns tailored to specific lifecycle stages, optimizing resource allocation. By retaining customers, businesses reduce acquisition costs, improving overall ROI.
AI-powered insights also allow brands to fine-tune their strategies, ensuring they’re always delivering relevant content that resonates with their audience. This leads to better targeting, higher conversion rates, and ultimately, better returns on marketing investments.
When customers are satisfied, they’re more likely to become brand advocates, promoting the brand through word-of-mouth and social proof. Lifecycle marketing nurtures these advocates by consistently meeting their expectations and rewarding loyalty. This advocacy drives organic growth, strengthens the brand's reputation in competitive markets, and helps businesses expand their reach through trusted recommendations.
What is CLM vs CRM? While customer relationship management (CRM) focuses on managing customer interactions and storing data, lifecycle marketing is about strategically engaging customers at different stages of their journey.
Both are essential, but their goals and approaches differ. CRM customer lifecycle is all about data collection and tracking, whereas lifecycle marketing is more proactive - focusing on long-term customer engagement and retention.
What is the difference between lifecycle marketing and marketing funnel? Lifecycle marketing guides customers through each phase, from awareness to advocacy. In contrast, CRM and eCRM focus on managing the relationship at each stage.
Marketing funnel refers to the process of guiding prospects through these stages, while funneling in marketing focuses on converting leads to customers. Lifecycle marketing is broader and more dynamic than the traditional CRM approach.
To increase customer lifetime value, it's crucial to understand the lifecycle marketing process and how it impacts every phase of your customer's journey.
By taking a strategic approach to marketing, you can tailor different marketing efforts at each stage. Whether you're just getting started with lifecycle marketing or optimizing it, your goal should be the effectiveness of your lifecycle marketing strategy.
Marketing involves right tools and mindset, lifecycle marketing will drive sustainable growth, improving customer engagement throughout the marketing process. For more details, check out our lifecycle marketing FAQs to deepen your understanding and make the most of your customer relationships.
Customer Lifecycle Marketing (CLM) is a strategy to attract, engage, and retain customers by delivering personalized experiences at each stage - from initial awareness to long-term advocacy.
Lifecycle Marketing builds deeper relationships by offering personalized content, timely communication, and targeted offers, which increases customer satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.
The key stages are Awareness, Engagement, Consideration, Purchase, Retention, and Advocacy.
CRM (Customer Relationship Management) primarily involves collecting, storing, and analyzing customer data. Lifecycle Marketing proactively engages customers at each stage with targeted marketing strategies.
Popular lifecycle marketing tools include HubSpot, Customer.io, Braze, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, and ActiveCampaign.
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