Beyond Acquisition: 14 Comprehensive Strategies for Every Stage of the Customer Lifecycle

Everything has a lifecycle. We enter the world as infants, and then we grow old. We go through different life stages with distinct experiences, preferences, and needs.

Even the products we use and services we rely on have different lifecycles. They evolve and adapt to changing needs.

These lifecycles mirror how a customer journeys from discovery to purchase. This process is known as the customer lifecycle. Just as nature experiences growth and maturity, so do customer relationships with products and services.

And it all starts with acquisition, which involves actively marketing and promoting your product or service to gain new customers. 

However, it’s important to go beyond acquisition and foster long-lasting customer relationships. Why? It costs five times as much to attract a new customer than to keep a loyal one.

Read on to learn key strategies for turning loyal customers into brand advocates.

Understanding the Stages of the Customer Lifecycle

So, what are the different stages of the customer lifecycle? We provide detailed explanations below.

Customer Lifecycle Stage #1: Acquisition

The acquisition stage is where it all begins. It often marks the first touchpoint between a customer and your brand.

This stage results from your marketing strategies, which might include content marketing, social media campaigns, and search engine optimization (SEO). 

The goal is simple: to acquire new customers. 

At the acquisition stage, potential customers actively consider different solutions and want to know if a particular product or service will meet their needs.

Let’s look at an example of a brand that hits the nail on the head with this stage of the customer lifecycle. 

The “Try it free for 14 days” call to action on the 1Password password management for business landing page works wonders in attracting new users to its software.

Why? Offering a free trial for a limited period is a common strategy to encourage potential customers to experience your product firsthand, explore its features, and assess its suitability for their requirements.

This is quite an effective tactic in the consideration and decision-making process.

It reduces friction by allowing potential customers to test-ride your product (and see if it’s the right fit) before fully committing to the purchase. 

Customer Lifecycle Stage #2: Activation

The activation stage of the customer lifecycle highlights why it’s so important to go beyond acquisition. Just because you were able to bring in new customers doesn’t automatically mean you’ll retain them. 

The customer is still at the beginning stages of the buyer’s journey, but they’re still not convinced that your product is their go-to. The goal is to convince them to use the product‌— and continue to use it (ideally into perpetuity). 

To keep customers on board, you must provide value, offering something that makes them reach an “aha” moment. 

For example, this might include:

• A seamless onboarding process
• Exceptional user experience
• An intuitive user interface

Customer Lifecycle Stage #3: Retention

It’s not enough to convince a customer to start using your product or service. You need to keep them coming back again and again. 

Remember, it costs more to acquire and activate than to retain. So, keeping customers engaged and interested in your product is important.

You can provide ongoing value and continuous support through different channels to improve the customer experience. 

For instance, adding a simple AI-powered chatbot to improve customer service inquiries can make a world of difference in creating (and keeping) happy customers.

Holger Sindbaek, the founder of Online Solitaire, says,

“Understanding the pivotal role of retention in the customer lifecycle transformed our approach. We recognize that keeping a customer is as crucial as acquiring one. This realization led us to prioritize our users’ ongoing experience, ensuring they always found value in our offerings. It wasn’t just about the initial win but nurturing a lasting relationship. This mindset shift didn’t just improve our retention rates; it deepened our connections with our community, making every user feel like an integral part of our journey.”

Customer Lifecycle Stage #4: Revenue Generation

It’s at the revenue stage where you’ll begin to see the fruits of your labor. It’s the stage where you continue to generate steady revenue for your business, thanks to loyal customers.

If you’ve followed the right customer lifecycle management strategies, you’ll begin to offset your customer acquisition cost (CAC). 

This is arguably the most important area of the customer lifecycle. Because if revenue isn’t growing, then nothing else matters. 

To keep revenue growing, you might offer additional products that add another layer of value. You can do this through upselling and cross-selling opportunities. 

Here’s a great upselling example by Noodles & Company. After adding an entrée to an online order, an in-app message asks the customer if they’d like to add cheesy garlic bread. This upselling technique can significantly increase the average restaurant revenue by encouraging customers to add more items to their purchases.

The seamless integration within the order process makes it hard to pass up such a tasty addition to a meal. A simple button click increases the order value, driving more revenue for the fast-casual restaurant. 

Customer Lifecycle Stage #5: Referral

Every brand wants its customers to rant and rave about their positive experiences. The ultimate goal of most, if not all, businesses is to make customers feel like they’re getting the best of the best when it comes to products and services.

And what do people do when they have a great experience? They tell others about it. And when they do, they’ve officially become a brand ambassador.

Referrals are powerful. Why? Because 88% of consumers trust word of mouth. This is largely because the people who refer them to are people they trust. A friend or loved one wouldn’t steer them wrong, right? 

So, the referral stage of the customer acquisition lifecycle allows you to connect with even more customers, sparking further growth for your business.

Chime allows its existing customers to earn up to $100 as a referral bonus by inviting friends (read: new customers) to open a new checking account and make a direct deposit. 

Why Comprehensive Strategies are Key in Customer Lifecycle Management

When customers move through the sales cycle, they often have different needs and questions:

• Revenue generation: Are there additional features, services, or upgrades that meet my changing needs? (In a HubSpot survey, 77% of respondents said that a business offering an excellent product or service that meets their needs is the number one thing that influences them to stay).
• Referral: Am I getting an experience that’s so exceptional that I want to share it with others? And are there incentives or programs for referring friends or colleagues to this product or service?
• Activation: Now that I’ve found potential solutions, what steps do I need to take to fully utilize the features of this product or service?
• Retention: Is the company ensuring that I continue to find value and stay engaged with its offerings over time?
• Acquisition: What product or service will help me solve my problem?

Addressing these different needs allows you to tailor your approach. Ultimately, you’ll be able to maximize customer lifetime value (CLV). 

On the other hand, only stopping at the acquisition stage can result in customer churn, missed upselling opportunities, and loss of revenue.

Here’s an example of the customer lifecycle in action.

Clean Origin offers lab-grown diamond engagement rings, catering to people who prioritize ethical, eco-friendly, and affordable choices and are looking to compare lab grown vs natural diamonds.

By offering lab-grown diamond rings, Clean Origin builds trust and loyalty among customers who prioritize eco-friendliness and ethical sourcing.

Clean Origin utilizes email campaigns and social media platforms to educate potential customers about the benefits of lab-grown diamonds and showcase the unique designs and styles offered by the brand.

This is important during the acquisition stage, as customers are still considering solutions and wondering what sets a brand apart from the rest.

Clean Origin fosters a strong relationship with customers through educational content and social media presence. 

This is critical during the activation and retention phases as customers want to continue to get value from the brand.

Clean Origin encourages repeat purchases by offering discounts, launching personalized email marketing campaigns, and providing quality customer service. Note: Customer service is a critical part of customer retention, according to 89% of companies.

As a result, loyal customers continue to help the company generate revenue by making repeat purchases and referring the brand to others. 

So, in a nutshell, your sales and marketing strategies shouldn’t only be focused on acquiring new customers. Your job isn’t done after you get a customer through the door. 

In fact, the secret to success for many law mediation firms is referrals. Why? Clients want the best of the best to represent them during a divorce.

So, as a law firm, providing the best possible client experience that ensures satisfaction throughout the mediation process is worth its weight in gold. 

Follow the same approach for your own business, and you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the positive impact on your bottom line. 

How Breadcrumbs Can Help

All of the above sounds great, but how do you put it into action when juggling a million other tasks?

That’s where the proper tech stack comes into play. Let’s take a closer look. 

The Role of Breadcrumbs Lead Scoring

Lead scoring is the process of assigning a numerical value to a lead based on its likelihood of converting into a customer. Doing so helps you prioritize and qualify leads. Factors that may influence scores include demographics, engagement level, or online behavior.

Breadcrumbs allows you to automate this process by helping you create a lead scoring model in just a few clicks.

As a result, you’ll be able to quickly identify, prioritize, and engage with leads and customers at each stage of their journey.

Implementing Breadcrumbs in Your Strategy

To use Breadcrumbs for lead scoring:

1. Clearly define criteria.
2. Use behavioral data such as website visits, email interactions, and content downloads for scoring.
3. Integrate your CRM data to get a full view of each lead’s interactions and history.
4. Use our ML-driven wizard, Copilot, to analyze your data and generate a lead-scoring model.
5. Assign scores to leads based on purchasing potential.
6. Consider using advanced scoring models for upsell, cross-sell, and retention opportunities.
7. Use advanced scoring models to detect disengagement and identify potential churn risks.
8. Test and compare different scoring models to target different ideal customer profiles (ICPs).
9. Continuously refine your lead scoring system for effectiveness and relevance.

Other Effective Strategies for Each Stage of the Customer Lifecycle

Below, we’ve outlined different strategies to follow for each stage of the customer lifecycle.

Strategies for Acquisition

• Landing page optimization: Design and optimize landing pages to convert leads into customers. Include compelling CTAs, freemiums, and lead magnets to increase conversions.
• Inbound marketing: Create content to attract and engage potential customers through channels like blogs, social media, explainer videos, and SEO.
• Targeted advertising: Use paid advertising to target specific audiences who may be interested in your products or services.

Strategies for Activation

• Engagement emails: To help customers get the most value from your product, send informative emails with tips and tutorials on how to explore and utilize your offerings.
• User onboarding: Provide a seamless, frictionless onboarding experience to introduce your product or service to new customers.

Strategies for Retention

• Loyalty programs: Create a loyalty program with incentives and rewards to encourage repeat purchases and lasting relationships. 64% of customers who participate in a loyalty program shop more frequently and spend more money to boost their loyalty points.
• Personalized communication: Provide personalized experiences based on preferences and behaviors by delivering relevant content and promotions.
• Customer support: Provide great customer service that addresses customer concerns and issues quickly and efficiently.

Strategies for Revenue Generation

• Upselling and cross-selling: Provide additional value to customers with upselling and cross-selling opportunities to generate more revenue. Introduce products that complement the initial purchase. Sell customers an upgraded or enhanced version of the original product.
• Subscription models: If you’re providing a service, consider implementing a subscription model to secure recurring revenue and provide customers with ongoing value.
• Exclusive offers: Reward loyal customers with exclusive offers or early access opportunities.

To generate continuous revenue, Dropbox offers different plans for different cloud storage needs. Plus, it often upsells its subscription plans to customers who have used all of their free storage.

Strategies for Referral

• Social proof: Ask customers to create user-generated content, write reviews, or a customer success video to share their positive experiences with your business.
• Referral programs: Incentivize your existing customers to refer your business to friends, family, and colleagues.

Conclusion: Embrace the Entire Customer Lifecycle To Boost Your Bottom Line

As we mentioned earlier, everything has a lifecycle. Nurturing is key to reaching the next phase of the lifecycle.

In the case of customers, businesses must seamlessly nurture them through each phase of the buyer’s journey. 

Follow the strategies above for effective customer lifecycle management. Use Breadcrumbs’ lead scoring platform to implement a lead scoring model easily and drive revenue generation. 

Book a demo with Breadcrumbs to start scoring your leads today!