Lifecycle messaging 101

Research has shown that companies that invest in lifecycle email marketing reap up to 9 times more value from their campaigns than businesses that don’t.

If you’re not yet familiar with the term then here’s a down and dirty definition:

In a nutshell, lifecycle marketing is a marketing and/or sales campaign that addresses a customer’s wants, needs and requirements as they change over time.

Unfortunately many marketers (both seasoned and newbies) are guilty of sending out unsophisticated email campaigns that treat every recipient the same, no matter what their relationship with the business or how far along a sales process they are.

Although lifecycle marketing might sound awfully complicated, in reality it’s not all that difficult to implement.

To get started with your strategy all you’ll need to do is identify unique goals that align with your customers’ wants and needs for each lifecycle stage. Then, we simply transfer these goals to our email efforts.

For example:

• If someone has shown a little interest in what it is you do online, you may want to take them to a video or a whitepaper download so that they can learn more, get them to engage with you via social or encourage them to sign up to your newsletters.
• If someone’s already purchased from you then you might want to try to encourage repeat spending by reengaging them with discounts or exciting them with competitions.

No single lifecycle email strategy will work for every company out there, however, the below should at the very least provide you with some ideas to get started:

Email when: a user subscribes

Say hello, welcome them to your emails and let them know what they can expect from you.

Email when: you’ve made a sale

Send out an email confirming that the purchase has been made and also communicate delivery/download and/or redemption details.

You should also make your contact details very clear at this point should the buyer have any queries post sale.

Email when: a user goes quiet

Consider sending an email to those who have not engaged with your brand or newsletters for some time, say 3-6 months.

You could email them a special offer to tempt them back or else a survey asking what you might be able to do for them now and in the future.

I’d love to hear your experiences and thoughts about lifecycle emails, leave us a comment below, we’ll always reply 🙂