Want 40:1 ROI On Email? Do This.

It has become the digital glue for social, mobile and web. It has an ROI of up to $44, more than any other channel at your disposal. It’s constantly reinventing itself, in the last few years delivering amazing relevance to subscribers through dynamic content and real-time personalization.

Email: Marketers love it for all these reasons and they’re secure in investing in it because of its proven worth.

As a mature communications channel, there is no mystery to email success: Lifecycle marketing is the name, engaging customers is the game. More and more marketers are finding success with personalization and a lifecycle approach to email marketing.

But what exactly is lifecycle marketing?

Lifecycle marketing is, when it comes down to it, a holistic approach to your marketing strategy.

It walks customers along a path, from when they first see your brand name to when they’re making their third or fourth purchase. Instead of taking into account the content you want customers to see, lifecycle marketing refocuses your messages to concentrate on what readers want to see. Today’s smart marketers leverage automation to send dynamic emails to subscribers at the appropriate stage of their relationship with the brand.

But why is it so important to develop this philosophy of nurturing an ongoing relationship with subscribers?

Lifecycle marketing wins because today’s subscribers expect personalized messages – content that speaks to where they live, what they’ve bought before, and what they’ve told you they like to see. When you use the lifecycle approach to send these relevant, timely messages to subscribers, return-on-investment increases considerably.

The results speak for themselves: Lifecycle marketing, and in particular email, is the way to grab subscribers’ attention, create brand loyalty, and drive the bottom line.

The 5 Stages of the Lifecycle Framework

The lifecycle framework is divided into five stages representing a person’s journey from first brand touch to complete disengagement. Additionally, several campaigns and content techniques support each stage.

1. Acquire: Identifying your audience is the first step in the acquiring stage of the lifecycle. You cannot draw in potential customers if you don’t know who they are. Once you know who your audience is, capture their attention through search, email signup, social media awareness, and refer-a-friend campaigns.

2. Convert to Customers: You’ve got prospects’ attention, now set expectations for your brand and content with a welcome email. Next, create incentives to purchase by sending a first-purchase email, sending a shopping cart abandonment email, and tracking browser behavior to drive a behavior-based message.

3. Captivate and Grow Customers: Your job isn’t done after someone makes a purchase. Now you must influence customers to stay engaged with your brand and buy again. Show reciprocity through loyalty program emails, persuade customers you’re like them by upselling and cross-selling, and employ auto-response campaigns to personalize transactional messaging.

4. Retain Active Customers: Don’t forget about customers who’ve been around for a while. It’s important to keep them in the loop by sending anniversary emails, email newsletters and apology emails when needed. Create and optimize a preference center so your long-time subscribers can always give you more information about themselves. Most importantly, identify and reward brand evangelists.

5. Win Back Inactive Customers: When customers disengage with your brand, it’s important to reach out to them. Returning customers are valuable, so reactivate customers’ interests with re-engagement and win-back email campaigns.

Email is the Key to a Successful Lifecycle Framework

You may have noticed email takes a primary role in each stage of the lifecycle framework.

Although other channels aid in customer engagement, email is the digital glue that brings them together to create a cohesive strategy. Email is the world’s preferred communications channel, and as such, creates an easy way to connect with your customers and create the conversations essential to lifecycle marketing.

What’s more, email marketing is measurable.

This means you have the ability to analyze each stage of the lifecycle to understand what’s working and what parts customers aren’t engaging with. When customers are fully engaged with your messages, you create a personalized, ongoing relationship with them. However, you can’t create or maintain this relationship by sending simple e-blasts to your entire list.

Instead, you must leverage the capabilities of different types of personalized emails to drive every stage of your lifecycle campaigns. Then you’ll see a boost in ROI on email.

If you’d like to learn more about lifecycle marketing, download our new guide.

Want 40:1 ROI On Email? Do This.