Customer Lifecycle Management: The Snapshot Guide

You’re running a business. Maybe it’s an eyewear shop, where your customers come in every couple of years for new frames. Or perhaps it’s a hotel, where guests book rooms for everything from business trips to family vacations. The thing keeping you up at night: you know you could be doing more with each interaction. More than just processing transactions. More than just collecting data that sits unused in your CRM.

The most successful companies today – the ones seeing dramatic profit increases – aren’t just selling products. They’re building relationships that make switching to competitors feel like a downgrade. They’re turning every touchpoint, from a casual website visit to a support call, into an opportunity to deepen customer connections.

This isn’t about fancy AI or complex technology stacks. It’s about understanding your customers so well that you can anticipate their needs before they do. It’s about building a 360-degree view that transforms data points into stories, and stories into lasting relationships.

When you have a customer lifecycle management (CLM) strategy in place, you’ve invested in loyalty. Unlike customer relationship management (CRM), which focuses on points like sales, support, and marketing activities for individual customers, CLM encompasses the entire customer journey. 

Here are the five stages of the journey to plan for:

• Awareness: When a potential customer first encounters a product or service.
• Consideration: When a customer investigates and researches that product or service.
• Conversion: When shoppers commit to a purchase by completing a transaction.
• Retention: When customers reflect on their purchase, returning again in the future.
• Advocacy: When customers share their experiences, helping to promote the product or service to friends and family.

Now that we understand the definition of customer lifecycle management, let’s dive into four proven strategies that are actually moving the needle. 

1. Automate persistently

Think of automation as your always-on marketing team. In customer lifecycle management, this precision timing makes all the difference. Take Village Roadshow: they orchestrate between 60 and 80 automated touchpoints, each one carefully designed to nurture guest relationships throughout the purchase journey. Every ticket booking, every park visit, every customer inquiry triggers the perfect response at the perfect moment, creating a seamless experience that keeps guests coming back.

2. Leave a personalized touch

A study by Epsilon found that 80% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalized experiences. Personalization is the ‘it’ factor that helps your brand stand out amongst competitors. The more you can design your customer experience to the preferences and pains of each individual customer, the more likely you are to drive repeat revenue. 

3. Architect your close-knit community

When customers feel like they belong to a community, they are more likely to remain engaged and loyal. Hobbii’s “My Hobbii” club exemplifies this strategy. By providing a dedicated space for customers to connect, share their experiences, and access exclusive benefits, Hobbii has cultivated a thriving community of craft enthusiasts.

4. Be disciplined with dynamic profiling

To effectively manage the customer lifecycle, staying attuned to evolving customer preferences and behaviors is crucial. Dynamic profiling allows you to continuously update and refine your understanding of each customer based on their interactions with your brand. By using real-time data, you can anticipate customer needs and deliver highly relevant experiences at every touchpoint.

Hobbii, a leading crafts retailer, has mastered the art of customer lifecycle management by transforming simple pattern selections into deeply personalized customer experiences. 

When a customer downloads a knitting or crochet pattern from Hobbii’s website, they’re not just getting a PDF – they’re providing information about themselves that enables personalized marketing at scale. The magic lies in how Hobbii pieces together a comprehensive customer profile from these seemingly simple interactions. 

Each pattern download reveals crucial details: 

• Is the customer a knitter or crocheter? 
• What specific patterns catch their eye? 
• What yarn types do they gravitate toward?

Hobbii uses these insights to craft email content that they believe truly addresses the customer’s needs. For instance, when a customer downloads a sweater pattern requiring merino wool, Hobbii can recommend complementary patterns using similar yarns. They even go a step further by sharing tutorial videos specifically matched to the techniques needed for that pattern, ensuring customers have everything they need to succeed with their projects.

This relational data approach has revolutionized their marketing strategy. By transitioning from generic newsletters to personalized customer journeys through the Emarsys platform, Hobbii has increased email conversions to sales by 9%. But there’s more to their story. By employing a holistic customer lifecycle management strategy consisting of winback and price drop campaigns, personalized automated content, and in-app gamification, they achieved an impressive 300%+ in revenue.

Imagine walking into your next executive meeting with a story like Hobbii’s – not just a 300% revenue increase, but the ability to say, “We know exactly why it happened, and we can repeat it.” 

Imagine showing how every customer interaction, from downloads to email opens, feeds into a living, breathing strategy that gets smarter every day. 

SAP Emarsys puts this power in your hands through pre-built automation tactics that turn your customer data into revenue-driving decisions. No more late nights stitching together campaigns. No more wondering if your personalization efforts are hitting the mark. Just clear, strategic moves that build lasting customer value.

Ready to start your next marketing chapter? Schedule a demo to see how SAP Emarsys can help you achieve your customer lifecycle management goals.