customer life cycle:

Developing a successful customer relationship management (CRM) strategy requires a keen understanding of consumers and their purchasing behaviors. These behaviors vary greatly at the different stages within the customer life cycle. It is important to identify these various life cycle stages and to understand the needs of the consumer at each phase. Below is a look at the five main stages with the typical customer life cycle.

1. Reach:

This is the initial stage of the customer life cycle. The primary goal at this phase is to bring awareness to your brand and to entice the consumer to want to learn more about your goods or services. Ultimately, you want to generate high-quality leads.

You should have a clearly defined brand messaging strategy and use a variety of marketing techniques, such as social media marketing, banner advertising and content marketing. It is crucial to analyze the effectiveness of each marketing strategy during this stage. This analysis will enable you to adjust your marketing strategies if necessary.

2. Acquisition:

At this stage, you are able to obtain prospective customer's contact information, such as email addresses, phone numbers or social media profiles. This signifies that the consumer is interested in your goods or services but not quite ready to take the leap and make a sale. This is one of the most critical points in the customer life cycle.

You can now start to foster relationships with the customers through strategic engagement. Since you now have their contact information; you can focus on targeted and personalized marketing strategies. Email marketing, sales calls, social media marketing and content marketing all work well at this stage of the life cycle. Don't solely focus on making a sale. Instead, focus on building trust and fostering relationships.

3. Conversion:

This is the phase when you convert a prospective customer into an actual paying customer. You have been able to convince the consumer that they need your goods or services to the point that they make a sale. The most important thing to focus on at this stage is to make sure your customer has a pleasant buyer's experience.

Having customer-friendly processes in place, such as an easy-to-use website, a secure payment method and an efficient customer service strategy, are vital to enhancing the buyer's overall experience. This also is the time to analyze the effectiveness of your marketing techniques up to this point. Determine what strategies are working best to make this conversion happen and where adjustment may need to take place.

4. Retention:

Don't make the mistake of thinking that the customer life cycle stops once the sale is made. The truth is that you are only halfway to your ultimate goal. It is now time to continue building on the customer relationships developed during the acquisition stage. Regular engagement with the consumer will help to keep your brand fresh in their mind and to encourage repeat purchases. Sales techniques like cross selling, up selling and loyalty programs are very effective at retaining customers.

5. Advocacy:

Creating advocates for your company should always be your ultimate goal. These are loyal customers who not only make regular purchases but also are willing to promote your goods or services to others. They will refer their friends and family members to your business and post positive reviews online. This type of customer loyalty doesn't happen overnight. You have to develop strong relationships throughout the entire customer life cycle.

Defining the five main stages of the customer life cycle will allow you to create an effective CRM strategy that attracts, converts and retains customers, as well as transitions them into advocates for your business. Whether you are focusing on marketing strategies, customer engagements or sales figures, understanding these five life cycle stages will help you boost sales while fostering customer relationships.