Date post: | 20-Aug-2015 |
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Business |
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What is a lifetime customer?
What is a lifetime customer?
Q: Someone who buys our product again and again?A: Maybe...
Q: A customer whose needs change over a period of years?A: Maybe...
Q: Someone we should sell to for the whole of their lifetime?
A: Maybe...
What if the most important ‘lifetime customers’ are none of these things...
“Not everything that counts can be counted. And not everything that can be counted counts.”
– Albert Einstein
What about the stuff that’s more difficult to measure?
What if your ‘lifetime customer’ isn’t even a customer?
Or, what if your best ‘lifetime customers’ have only bought from
you once?
What if they purchased years ago, but never again?
What about the real evangelists?
What about the people who love your product and brand, and don't miss a chance to shout about it?
Those people really matter, but may not show up in the traditional
business analytics...
We all know people who love certain products and services...
That ‘love’ often has a very tenuous relationship to repeat
purchases or measurable customer value...
Some people buy once, and love you forever...
But...
By focusing on current or recent customers, encouraging
repeat purchases, and improving lifetime value...
Are we ignoring the really important people?
Awareness
Interest
Evaluation
Intent
Purchase
But this funnel doesn’t cater for ‘lifetime customers’, or their influence on other people...
The McKinsey model puts it another (better) way...
Initial consideration
Purchase
Trigger
Loyalty loop
Evaluation
Postpurchase experience
When evaluating, 92% of customers rely on people they know
That’s ‘Known Peer Influence’...
...and it’s huge.
The more people you have in the loyalty loop...
...the more they can positively influence those in the Evaluation
stage
So... We should be careful when calculating one customer
as worth more than another
Doing so risks neglecting the true ‘lifetime customers’ who are
influencing their network every day
Some people might buy little, but influence a lot...
So...what is a ‘lifetime customer’?
• Someone who may or may NOT be a
customer
• Someone who cares
• Someone who tells people they care
So what do we do about them?
Find them.
Look for the signals that an evangelist gives off... (they might be different from the signals you’re
currently looking for)
Define the behaviours that constitute a ‘fan’ or your company...
...they might be difficult to spot at first
Automate the search for these behaviours, and set them as
triggers...
Impress them
Shockingly good servicePersonalised messages
Timely and targeted content
It’s not easy to get people to ‘love’ you...
You have to go ‘above and beyond’...
In digital terms, that means clever nurture strategies, tied to intelligent
and sensitive content and campaigns
Facilitate evangelism...
And.. turn mere ‘repeat customers’ into lifelong, unpaid, trusted
salesmen...