The customer lifecycle refers to the process of prospects being aware of a product, purchasing from a brand, and, ideally, becoming long-term clients. Using the Lifecycle map, you can monitor the distribution of customers between different lifecycle stages. Also, you can track transitions between different stages to better understand your customers' journey.
To access the Lifecycle map, navigate to Audience → Customer Breakdown.
If you scroll down, you can access a full Lifecycle map, which shows different groups of your customers based on the number of orders and money spent.
You can view contacts in each group by clicking on View Contacts. If you click Retention Tactics, you will see a list of recommendations on how to work with this customer group.
The transition from a recent customer to a customer that needs nurturing (same for champions or loyalists) happens when a specific amount of days lapses from the last order. We determine this number of days by looking at the typical behavior across all returning customers in your store.
Here's how we define the typical behavior for each brand:
For each customer:
Recency (days since last order);
Frequency (number of orders made in the last 365 days);
Monetary (average order value);
On the store level:
Recency - how much time it takes to make a repeat order on average;
Monetary - what is the average order value;
How we compare:
We compare if the customer's monetary value is greater or lower compared to the store value;
We compare if the customer's recency value is greater or lower than store value;
7% of returning customers. Please note that their number should not be less than 100 (contacts) too. If we don't have enough data to build a personalized customer lifecycle path for your store, we compare your customers to the predefined threshold described below.
A customer is "recent" if their last purchase was less than 40 days ago;
A customer "needs nurturing" if their last purchase was less than 90 days ago but more than 40 days ago;
A customer is "at-risk" if their last purchase was less than 180 days but more than 90 days ago;
A customer is "about to be lost" if their last purchase was over 180 days ago.
For example, if the customer has made just one order - they will be identified as a 'recent customer.' If such a buyer doesn't make an order for a certain amount of time, they will fall into the 'need nurturing' stage, later 'at risk,' and finally, they will be classified as 'about to lose.'
Learn more about lifecycle stages and how to re-engage your customers here.
FAQ
Are all orders taken into account?
Only orders placed in the last 365 days are taken into account while calculating the Lifecycle map.
What happens if I delete contacts from my Audience?
Even if the contacts who placed orders were deleted from the Audience tab, the Lifecycle map covers all of their orders. This means that the Lifecycle map will still contain your deleted contacts' orders that were made during the last 365 days. These orders will be removed from the Lifecycle map after 365 days have passed after they were placed.