Customer lifecycle : understand the 5 key stages
September 16, 2024
At Booxi, we put your customers' well-being first: our goal is to help you provide them with the best experience possible. We achieve this through scheduled interactions at every stage of the customer journey.
The customer lifecycle (otherwise known as the customer journey or customer lifetime journey) is a very powerful strategic concept when properly mastered. It will allow you to understand when and how to reach your customers and what kind of services or experiences to offer them at each stage.
For retailers, one of the biggest challenges is to deliver a personalized experience to each customer and give them the confidence needed to become true ambassadors. It's a goal that can be quite difficult to achieve, but when done right, exceptional results will follow in the long run. However, in order to successfully deliver experiences to your customers, it is essential to fully understand their journey to find opportunities.
Here are the different stages of the customer journey and their implications.
Awareness is one of the most important stages of the customer journey; it is when consumers discover your brand for the first time.
During this stage, the prospect becomes aware of a problem that needs to be solved; therefore, they start looking for a product or service as a solution. As a brand, this is your chance to show that your business/product is the solution to their problem by creating and promoting a service offer that catches the attention of your audience. Social media, SEO and advertising are the best ways to attract prospects during this stage.
During this stage, you will have to convince prospects that are potentially interested in your services. It is essential to attract them, make them aware, and show them your added value in comparison to the competition.
Capture your website visitors with a call-to-action offering them an experience that has clear added value. Your CTAs should be carefully thought out and presented at key moments in order to reduce bounce rates.
Convert customers and increase your shopping cart value, both online and in-store, thanks to exceptional service from your staff.
The conversion stage is the moment when the customer makes their first purchase. They have been given all the information they need to make the purchase and understand the added value of your brand.
Regarding scheduled interactions, a personal shopping appointment with a private stylist or a live shopping session with product references appearing on the screen are some examples appropriate to this stage of the journey.
Even if conversion seems to be the most important step, it is by no means the end of the customer journey. Indeed, it is not enough for customers to make a purchase - you have to find a way to make them loyal and convince them to visit your store again.
Build customer loyalty after the purchase with quality and fully personalized aftersale service. This is a significant step in the customer's lifecycle. You need to get in touch with them, show them that you care about their feedback, and ask them if they liked your service or product.
Offer them different types of services by appointment to bring them back to the store, such as personalization. You can also offer them various exclusive advantages: a promotional code by email, a discount for their next appointment, etc.
If the previous four stages are well constructed, this one will become the most important and profitable! During this stage, the customer becomes more important to your brand; they will make additional purchases and will spread the word to their friends and family.
After an exceptional experience with the brand, the customer will start to develop a certain affection and trust towards the brand. It is important to continue to give them those feelings and emotions to build that loyalty.
Renew customer engagement by offering, for example, group experiences that bring them closer to your brand and community.
As you can see, the customer journey is crucial if you want to get a loyal customer base and obtain long-term results. Building the right strategy for your business takes some thought and time. But once your company has the key to implementing it, results will speak for themselves! Booxi is the ideal solution to help you provide your customers with the best possible experience at every stage of their journey through appointment scheduling. By scheduling your interactions with your customers, it will be much easier for you to prepare in advance and offer each one of them a personalized service that will give them the confidence they need to become true ambassadors.
