Life Cycle Costumer

As customers gain numerous new channels such as mobile and social, the linear purchase path is fragmenting into a loose collection of numerous touchpoints over which marketers have little control. Forrester advises it's time for marketers to abandon the traditional marketing funnel and instead adopt an approach that revolves around building an ongoing relationship with the customer, that the consulting firm calls the Customer Life Cycle.

In a new report, “Embed the Customer Life Cycle Across Marketing,” Forrester states that only the companies which “obsess” over customers and combine engagement via new digital channels with traditional marketing methods to create complete brand experiences will succeed in the modern customer environment.

Fundamental customer needs must reside at the center of the Life Cycle strategy. Following, is a brief review of Forrester’s detailed rationale for adopting the Customer Life Cycle marketing approach.

Forrester very bluntly proclaims the linear approach of the marketing funnel, which has existed for more than 100 years, is “outdated.” Reasons for the obsolescence of the marketing funnel include frequent consumer exploration of products and services via mobile, social and online channels — which enlarges their consideration of brands at the point where the traditional funnel narrows.

In addition, customer retention is becoming more important than customer acquisition and the funnel does not account for increasingly important personal recommendations.

Customer Life Cycle Meets Modern Needs

Forrester officially defines the Customer Life Cycle as “Customers’ relationship with a brand as they continue to discover new needs, explore their options, make purchases and engage with the product or service experience.”

Forrester cites several reasons why this approach is better suited than the marketing funnel for the modern consumer environment — it puts the customer at the center of marketing, involves the entire brand experience and emphasizes a continuing relationship with the customer.

In addition, the Customer Life Cycle meets the four basic customer needs of discover, explore, buy and engage, as described below.

• Discover — Consumers may discover a brand actively or passively, and by covering multiple touchpoints the Customer Life Cycle accounts for both discovery models. For example, Forrester research shows 68% of online US adults who find out about a brand on Facebook come across it by accident, while 81% of those who find out about a brand on a ratings-and-reviews site discover it on purpose.
• Explore — After discovering a brand, consumers will perform multi-channel research about both that brand and its competitors. Customer Life Cycle provides them with a consistent cross-channel exploring experience. With Forrester noting that 11% of US online adults who own a cell phone browse product information with their mobile device while in a store, consistency can be the difference between making or breaking a customer relationship.
• Buy — The buying phase includes ease of activities such as finding desired products and performing the checkout process as well as satisfaction with price and the overall customer experience. Forrester research indicates 62% of US online consumers will avoid a website following a bad customer experience and 52% will avoid the associated brick-and-mortar store, meaning it is crucial to synchronize all aspects of the buying experience across all channels.
• Engage — Customers engage with a brand after making a purchase and marketers must ensure that engagement continues long-term through any and all channels of the customer’s choice. Successful engagement can also lead to future purchases and complementary upsells, such as extended warranties and maintenance services.

Customer Life Cycle Shows You The Way

Another benefit of the Customer Life Cycle is that it helps steer marketers in the right direction. The complex customer data contained in each phase and touchpoint can help map the customer journey in a more detailed manner. In addition, it provides new metrics about the customer conversion path that can be added to the overall marketing mix and provides insight into which customers offer the greatest lifetime value.

Life cycle ~

End-to-End Experience Lifecycle

To fully understand a customer, user, product or service experience, Akendi uses the framework of its End-to-End Experience Lifecycle™. This framework maps the journey of a total experience (both customer and user experience lifecycles ) – from initially learning about the product or service through all Experience Points™ including awareness, purchase, out-of-box, setup, use, maintenance, upgrade and recycling.

End-to-End Experience Lifecycle™ 

By understanding and applying the End-to-End Experience Lifecycle to each Experience Point™ , we ensure that no aspect of each experience is overlooked. This is true whether a total experience lifecycle spans 10 minutes (e.g. a French Fry carton), a few years (e.g. software) or several decades (e.g. a train or a bce ookstore). 

Most importantly, the End-to-End Experience Lifecycle ensures that both the organization (internal) view and the audience (external) view are represented in evaluating the Return on eXperience (ROX).

Audience Experience Points™

The way external audiences (customers, clients, users) experience an organization, a brand, a product or service shifts over time. The End-to-End Experience Lifecycle considers and respects this changing relationship in each Experience Point™ :

Customer Experience Lifecycle

This is the period where customers become aware about the product or service, exploring different options and understand the product, comparingthe value and offering to others in the market place and finally making apurchase decision.

With each step including a strategy, research, design and testing aspect (the experience canvas) of customer experience points.

User Experience Lifecycle

In general, post-purchase customers become users as they interact with the product to achieve their goals & tasks in their context of use.

But pre-purchase, there is also a period where the user experience (and usability) plays a key role in the total experience. How someone finds the right information to explore product features, how to easily compare this with other offerings and the user experience of the purchase itself (e.g. shopping basket in case of an online experience) are critical and co-exist with the customer experience.

Post purchase, the user goes through several steps, from inital out-of-boxexperience, setup, regular operation, maintenance to upgrading and ultimately disposal & recycling.

Each of these steps in the end-to-end experience lifecycle need their canvasof strategy, research, design & testing to optimize each experience point.

Client Experience Lifecycle

Over time users may become clients. Maintaining the engagement and ensure retention: it signifies a long-standing relationship that comes with certain expectations given their history with the organization and their products/services.

Clients may ultimately become loyal fans with a high desire to buy the next remarkable product, a greater reluctance to switch companies, and a significantly higher likelihood to recommend to others.

To strategize, research, design for and validate the experience with these clients clearly pays off in the long run as aquiring new clients is usually more costly than retaining existing clients.

Organizational Experience Points™

Each organization will have unique modes of thinking about the customer and user experience it wishes to deliver. The End-to-End Experience Lifecycle respects each of these views:

Brand Experience

The brand experience is the first experience a prospect of new customer will encounter as he or she learns of, and investigates, potential vendors. To deliver on its brand promise, an organization must develop and hone its image and position in the marketplace.

The goal here is to research and design brand experiences that will enticecustomers and clients to join the brand and stay with the brand long term.

Product Experience

During research and design of the product experience, companies are primarily concerned with tangible and intangible aspects of the product and what experience its users are having.

The product experience has also a distinct emotional aspect when you design for customers to have a positive visceral reaction to a product, ie. their first impression. The strategy is to create users that connect, are proud of their product and become passionate advocates.

Service Experience

A service experience can combine several products and other interactions with the organization that together make up a service. A service experience is remarkable when all components of the customer and user journey are well researched and designed to meet their actual needs.

Companies are strategically concerned with whether the client/customer is being served well enough that they feel loyal, will continue to buy, will encourage others to buy.

Increasing the Return on eXperience (ROX)

The End-to-End Experience Lifecycle frames the Return on eXperience (ROX) at varying Experience Points™ in the total experience lifecycle. Each experience point in the lifecycle will require unique attention during the creation of an appropriate experience. This, in turn, will assure the highest Return on eXperience for any type of organisation.

Get to Know Your Customer Experience Lifecycle #CXM

Welcome to the age of the customer - an era where customers call the shots and success will be based on how well companies can rise to meet their demands and expectations. Customers have many choices today. So it is critical to make their experiences as simple, consistent, and relevant as possible as they move throughout the customer lifecycle, from buying to owning—and back again. By delivering exceptional customer experiences, companies can acquire new customers, retain more customers, and improve efficiency.

Why Oracle?

Built around best-in-class CRM, commerce and industry solutions, Oracle offers the most complete customer experience solution in the industry, enabling companies to differentiate themselves across all channels, touch points, and interactions. From marketing to sales, delivery to support, and initial engagement to rewarding relationship, Oracle’s customer experience solutions deliver the business results that you want and the great experiences that customers want.

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Why Customer Experience Matters

Customer experience is the set of perceptions a customer has with a company throughout the buying and owning interactions. Positive customer experiences enable businesses to attract more, retain more, sell more, sell for more, and do more. Every company in every industry can leverage great customer experiences to:

• Establish trust while building lasting customer relationships through positive service and sales interactions.
• Eliminate waste and add maximum value for efforts performed while serving needs in the most cost effective manner.
• Deliver experiences that leverage your customers in growing your business, improving revenue, and adding customers, while selling more products to current customers.

See more on why customer experience matters

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The Challenges of Customer Experience

Most successful companies would say that they try to create a good customer experience and have invested in the systems, people, and training to develop it. So what’s missing? Why is it so much more difficult to meet customer expectations every day in every way?

• Customers want to do business with companies in more ways than before – social, digital, direct, in-store, mobile, and call center
• The customer buying and owning lifecycle has become more complex
• Siloed channels and systems create customer frustration

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Creating a Great Customer Experience

Customers want simple, consistent, and relevant experiences across all channels, touchpoints, and devices. Creating a great customer experience means delivering these qualities consistently over time across the entire customer lifecycle. Exceptional customer experiences create the loyalty, advocacy, and repeat business that drives success.
Oracle’s customer experience solutions help companies and organizations transform their existing operational systems and infrastructure into a differentiated customer experience across the customer lifecycle.

Gen-Y Should Thank Gen-X for Social Media Today

What happened to Generation X? They are generally defined as anyone born between 1965 and 1980, sandwiched between 80 million Baby Boomers and 78 million Gen-Y (Millennials). Gen-X has just 46 million members, but they continue to lead the way and set the standards in the startup world.

Gen-X is the group that will bridge the two larger generations of Boomers and Gen-Y. I guess the bridge isn’t as exciting as what has happened on one side or what might happen on the other, so they are often referred to as the “forgotten” generation, or the lost child demographic.

I spotted a book a while back which humorously characterizes the issues, titled “X Saves the World: How Generation X Got the Shaft but Can Still Keep Everything from Sucking ”, by Jeff Gordinier. He has a big generational chip on his shoulder, and his tongue-in-cheek rhetoric is inspiring age-based debates in offices across the country.

What are the legacies that Gen-Y inherited from Gen-X? Aren't Gen-X creations like YouTube and MySpace largely responsible for Gen-Y narcissism? Didn't punk rock begat Rock Band? Gordinier says in his book "We've created all these great websites that now Millennials waste their lives on."

In fact, one could argue that Gen-X actually created the Internet. The Internet then gave each person the ability to voice their own ideas and concerns, leading to new levels of group collaboration. Here are some additional characteristics often associated with Gen-X:

• Individualistic. Gen-X came of age in an era of two-income families, rising divorce rates and a faltering economy. Because they were the first “latch-key” children, Gen-X is independent, resourceful and self-sufficient. In the workplace, Gen-X values real responsibility and freedom.
• Technologically adept. The shift from a manufacturing economy to a service economy occurred during their watch. They were the first generation to grow up with PDAs, cellphones, e-mail, laptops, Blackberrys, and technology woven into their lives.
• Flexible. Many Gen-X’ers lived through tough economic times in the 1980s and saw their workaholic parents lose hard-earned positions. Thus, Gen-X is less committed to one employer. They adapt well to change and are tolerant of alternative lifestyles.
• Value work/life balance. Unlike previous generations, members of Gen-X work to live rather than live to work. They appreciate fun in the workplace and espouse a work hard/play hard mentality. Gen-X managers now sometimes incorporate games and humor into team work activities.

Gen-X is rife with entrepreneurs. In fact, they will likely make or break our country’s ability to transition to the new social Internet society. They have drive and independence. And they have a lot they can teach both the boomers and Gen-Y.

In fact, they currently make up 42% of the American workforce, compared to 32% Boomers (because some have already retired) and 26% Gen-Y (the rest are still at home or in school).

This generation felt the freedom to go into business for themselves, such as the many dot-com companies that emerged during the 90s. They were not as concerned with security, often returning to their parents' home after experiencing college and work for the first time.

For at least the next few years, Gen-X will be the major facilitators of change. They are now or will be soon running your company. Indeed, in these times we really can’t afford to forget this particular group. Show your respect today.

Customer Experience Management

Turn deep insight into targeted actions that improve the customer experience and drive loyalty and profitability.

Today’s mobile customers demand the highest possible standards of excellence from their operators. 40% of them are prepared to switch operators within 12 months if they don’t get the experience they demand. Replacing lost customers is a costly task, hitting operator profitability significantly.

Customer experience management is about driving loyalty, efficiency and revenue streams. For your subscribers, it is the key to a much more immediate, relevant and personalized customer experience.

This is achieved by generating insight about customer experiences and preferences based on the existing data in your network and IT systems, and using it to make clearly prioritized improvements that result in a better customer experience and business outcome.

What can Nokia Siemens Networks offer?

Nokia Siemens Networks is the leading CEM vendor, offering a wsoftware products and related professional services across network and IT infrastructure as well as throughout the entire customer lifecycle. Our offering also includes our award-winning CEM on Demand, an easy-toide portfolio that brings together pre-integrated -use portal that enables a phased approach to CEM, ensuring value on each step of the way.

With our best-practices designed to meet your pain points in operations, care and marketing, we can help you achieve quick ROI.

Operators across the globe are already using our CEM tools to improve their customers’ experience. Learn more about three of them:

• Telkomsel Indonesia takes control of customers’ experience with Nokia Siemens Networks technology #MWC12
• Zain Kuwait set to offer the best-in-class Customer Experience with Nokia Siemens Networks
• Bharti Airtel implements Customer Experience Management platform (CEM)

customer lifecycle model

But before one can start to examine processes and adjust behaviors, there must be a context in which those processes make sense, especially when the relationship with those individuals who are (or will become) customers spans different phases that are often referred to collectively as the “customer life cycle.” Customer life cycles reflect the establishment and development of the relationship between the business and the customer. A review of many different takes on the concept can be summarized as typically including at least three phases:

Engagement, in which potential customers, or prospects, are attracted to the business’s products and/or services, and the phase in which the customer considers their requirements and evaluates alternatives.

Commitment, which describes the point at which there is an agreement to the exchange of value (generally the customer committing to pay for the business’s provision of products and/or services). 

Delivery and Maintenance, during which time the business delivers the promised products and/or services, and seeks to ensure that the customer is satisfied and continues to maintain the relationship.

One of the challenges of modeling a customer life cycle is that the life cycle itself differs depending on the industry, type of business, and types of products or services involved. That difference is based on the nature of the sales, delivery, product, and maintenance aspects of the relationship that are associated with customer decision points. For example, we can contrast a consulting company, a big-ticket item retailer, and a mobile telephone provider. 

A consulting business might engage a customer who would commit to an agreement to pay the consulting company for services provided. There may be a long engagement phase in which the company has to develop awareness of its services, attract prospective customers looking to acquire those services, and show examples or perform a proof-of-concept to demonstrate competency before the customer agrees to the arrangement and makes the commitment. Next, there may be a long-term delivery phase with payments tied to completion of specific milestones or provision of deliverables.  The maintenance component probably blends some warranty of the work performed with continued engagement for follow-on tasks. The duration of the relationship is linked to what we might call “serial contracting.”

For big-ticket item retailers (such as automobile sales), the decision to purchase is not made frequently, and often involves a long evaluation and thought process as to selection of the specific item to meet the perceived need. That suggests that the engagement phase is somewhat elongated, and the commitment to purchase may be contingent on an understanding of prompt and efficient delivery. At the same time, the retailer may provide value-added post-purchase services, and that suggests the potential for a long-term maintenance phase. In addition, the customer life cycle is tightly coupled with the product life cycle, and maintaining the relationship over the lifetime of the product may help ensure engagement for the next purchasing cycle.

A third example would be a vendor selling a subscription service (or one bundled with a product, such as mobile phone service providers). Some industries are more competitive, with an elongated engagement phase that may involve convincing prospects to abandon their current providers. The commitment phase may involve a contractual agreement on behalf of the customer (such as a 1-year contract) with penalties for attrition. However, in this example, after the initial delivery, the maintenance phase consists of a continuous revenue stream of subscription payments (such as the monthly payment for service).

In each of these examples we can see that different aspects of the customer life cycle in different sales and customer relationship scenarios have different impacts on expectation for customer lifetime value. But more interestingly, each of the different scenarios requires different emphasis associated with the customer touch points to help to optimize that lifetime value. High levels of service during the delivery/maintenance phase for a contractor may influence customer decisions for future assignments of contracts. Maintaining contact with the automobile customer post-sales may help guide future car purchase decisions and engage the customer for routine maintenance on the purchased car. On the other hand, the volatility of the brand loyalty for mobile phone subscribers may demand that the company invest a significant amount of effort to retain a customer after the initial contract period has elapsed to maintain the ongoing revenue stream.

In future articles, we will review the customer life cycle in greater detail as well as examine the tight coupling between customer life cycle, lifetime value, and how both guide the development of optimal customer engagement processes.

CE Lifecycle Relationship

The Customer Relationship Lifecycle

Every company has a unique customer relationship lifecycle—sometimes several—for different products, services and business units.

MCorp Consulting focuses on the specific ways that brand and customer experience work together to drive more prospects and customers through your lifecycle, boosting customer loyalty, and increasing customer value as a result.

The Customer Relationship Lifecycle is the lens through which these and other perennial business questions can be answered:

• What drives consideration of our product or service among our most important prospects?
• How can we drive more prospects through the sales funnel
  towards selection?
• Where can we increase customer satisfaction and loyalty?
• What are we doing that creates dissatisfaction—and how can
  we change it?
• How can we improve customer experience to drive more of our "right" customers to the next stage?

Defined by seven predictable stages, your lifecycle is a unique experiential "journey" from awareness to advocacy. Attracting and keeping customers begins with understanding how your brand and touchpoints work (or don't) at driving audience movement from one stage to the next.

Effective touchpoints drive audiences closer; ineffective or missing touchpoints halt their progression…or worse. Analyzing your customer lifecycle through the prism of specific customer interactions that occur at each stage helps you understand, manage and enhance your relationships to engage in more effective and profitable ways.