Technische Hochschule Ingolstadt

Business School
International Retail Management

Bachelor’s Thesis

Customer journey and Customer lifecycle marketing:

Creating Loyalty and maximizing revenues- a theoretical and
practical analysis

Name and surname:

Lyudmil Ognyanov Dimitrov

Issued on: 13.05.2020

Submitted on:

First examiner: Prof. Dr. Marc Knoppe

Second examiner: Prof. Dr. Thomas Vogler
 Abstract

In order to create and maintain a consistent loyal customer base as well as to

generate satisfactory revenues and profits, companies, nowadays, should excel in
marketing by using various tools and concepts which help them to better understand
the behavior of their prospects and existing customers.

By gaining these valuable for every business in-sights, marketers have

numerous opportunities for improvement by adapting and personalizing their
messages toward the needs and tastes of different customer groups, using new
channels, optimizing the usage and delegation of resources, etc. Although the
enormous amount of benefits that the appearance of more and more marketing tools
and concepts provides to the companies’ interactions with their customers,
marketers should not use all of them haphazardly, but rather concentrate on a few
that best fit to the specifics of their businesses and customer groups.

In this research paper, attention is paid to two of the most effective and
valuable concepts in marketing- customer journey and customer lifecycle marketing.
Although their increasing popularity in retail practice in recent times and the
numerous theoretical overviews and researches on them, some of the marketing
practitioners still struggle to fully understand the synergy between the two concepts
and how to apply them together in order to maximize the benefits, while others even
use the two terms as substitute for each other without realizing the differences
between them. By analyzing the existing topic- related literature and reviewing the
implementations of the discussed marketing concepts into the retail practice, this
research topic aims to give clear definitions, examine differences and compatible
usage of customer journey analysis and customer lifecycle marketing and identify
possible challenges and how they could be overcome.

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 Table of Contents

Abstract............................................................................................................................................. II
Table of Contents .......................................................................................................................... III
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1
1.1. Customer journey vs. customer lifecycle- initiated by the customer vs.
initiated by the marketer ........................................................................................................... 1
1.2. Customer journey analysis plus customer lifecycle marketing- a recipe for
success?....................................................................................................................................... 4
2. Goals.......................................................................................................................................... 5
3. Customer Journey analysis and mapping ....................................................................... 7
3.1. Customer Journey mapping ............................................................................................ 7
3.2. Customer Journey touchpoints ...................................................................................... 8
3.3. Customer Journey analysis ............................................................................................. 9
3.4. Customer Personas ......................................................................................................... 10
4. Customer Lifecycle Marketing .......................................................................................... 11
4.1. Definition and goals ......................................................................................................... 11
4.2. Stages of Customer Lifecycle vs. Stages of Lifecycle Marketing ....................... 12
4.3. Customer Lifecycle Marketing Stages ........................................................................ 12
5. Communication channels and their role in Customer Journey and Lifecycle
Marketing ........................................................................................................................................ 14
5.1. Channels vs. Touchpoints ......................................................................................... 15
5.2. Online and Offline channels ...................................................................................... 16
5.3. Omnichannel Marketing Strategy............................................................................. 17
5.3.1. Definition ................................................................................................................ 17
5.3.2. Multichannel marketing vs. Omnichannel marketing ................................. 18
5.3.3. Adopting an omnichannel strategy to align lifecycle marketing with
customer journey expectations ........................................................................................ 18
6. Strategies for the different stages of the customer lifecycle marketing ............... 19
6.1. Reach out to a prospect and creating awareness ............................................... 20
6.2. Creating engagement .................................................................................................. 22
6.3. Educating sales qualified leads about buying opportunities with our
products/ services and making them a preferable choice ............................................ 23

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 6.4. Incorporating conversion increasing marketing techniques and ensuring a
smooth, undisturbed purchasing experience for your customers ............................. 25
6.5. Retention of buying customers and turning them into a loyal customer base
for our business ....................................................................................................................... 27
6.6. Creating customer advocacy .................................................................................... 28
7. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 29
List of references ......................................................................................................................... 31

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 1. Introduction

Without any doubt, one of the fundamental and very often the most important
part of every business around the globe is the interaction of the company with its
prospects and customers. In many cases, this interaction determines the pace of the
business growth as well as the amount of sales and the customer satisfaction levels.
Dealing with prospects/ customers is a continuous process, which is consisted of
many stages. Also, it could not be standardized, but rather should stay flexible
toward the distinctive needs and preferences of the different individuals, which
drastically increases its complexity and the number of the challenges that could be
faced in managing it.

For these reasons, it is essential for all kinds of businesses to understand

their customers' and prospects' behavior, needs as well as preferences and to satisfy
them in a best possible manner. One way to fulfil this is by incorporating customer
journey analysis and customer journey mapping, which helps all kinds of businesses
to find answers of crucial questions about their prospects/customers like what are
the preferred channels of interaction and touchpoints, what forms of communication
they favor, how they make decisions, etc. Most of the answers on these questions,
in one form or another (and especially into the field of marketing) are related to the
customer lifecycle as well. So, this fact determines the need to take a closer look at
the two concepts, attempting to identify similarities and differences and examine
opportunities for a compatible application of both in various cases.

1.1. Customer journey vs. customer lifecycle- initiated by the

customer vs. initiated by the marketer
For the purpose of clearly understanding the meaning and the various
implications of these two terms into the practice, we should start by giving
definitions to them:

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 Customer journey- definition

The term customer journey describes the entire path followed by an

individual- from the recognition of a need until he/she carries out a certain action
as a result of his/her decision. This process is usually undertaken by a potential
customer via various contact points (so- called “touchpoints“) with a product, a
brand or a company. A customer journey can take several hours or days.
Common end results of a customer journey are purchases, orders or inquiries.

Touchpoints could be any types of contact points, from classic advertising

(advertisements, TV or radio spot, newspapers, etc.) to online marketing
platforms to the opinion of a friend or information on rating portals.

Usually, into the topic- related literature, the customer journey is divided
into three main parts (stages), that a potential buyer goes through: the
awareness, consideration, and decision stages.

 In the awareness stage, the potential buyers have realized a

potential problem or an unsatisfied need. They may actively undertake a
research by searching an information on search engines that helps them
to clarify their problem or accidentally run into an ad, such as on a social
media platform or via word-of-mouth.
 In the consideration stage, the potential buyers have already
identified their problem or need and given a name to them. They get
familiar with the available approaches or methods of solving their problem.
 In the decision stage, the potential buyers are actively trying to
resolve their problem by researching and evaluating alternative solutions.
They carefully examine all characteristics and features of each of the
considered options to make an informed final decision.

The time between awareness and decision usually varies from

occasion to occasion. It strongly depends on an individual’s satisfaction at
each stage of the journey. Therefore, a marketer's role is to ensure a quality

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experience via content at each step and to assure a seamless transition
between the company- controlled channels. Businesses that supply the users
with the most detailed and valuable information during the journey will be the
most successful.

Customer lifecycle- definition

Unlike the customer's journey, which, how we understood from its

definition, is a process primarily dictated by the potential customer and the
marketer has, more or less, a reactive, informational role into it, the customer
lifecycle is an active process driven by a company's marketing and sales
team.

It includes the segmentation of a business prospects and existing

customers in stages according to their level of commitment with the focal
company. These stages are used to adjust marketing and sales techniques
to maximize conversion, retention, loyalty and advocacy. Different authors
include different phases into their customer lifecycle definitions. In this text we
would examine 7 stages, that are essential from marketer's perspective:

1) Subscriber/ Visitor — an individual who has interest in

your content and is likely to subscribe to.
2) Prospect/ Lead — someone who has provided some
personal information.
3) Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL) — a lead that is
considered ready to receive marketing messages.
4) Sales Qualified Lead (SQL) — a lead that is considered
ready to receive sales messages.
5) Customer — someone who has purchased your product
or service.
6) Loyal Customer — a customer who is purchasing on a
repetitive basis

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 7) Advocate — a customer who is actively recommending
your products, services or brands

It is essential not only to correctly identify the stage of the lifecycle

at which an individual currently is with your company, but also to satisfy
his/her needs accordingly. It comes to say that you should carefully control
the frequency and the intensity of exposing people to your marketing
messages by considering their place into the customer lifecycle in order
to prevent mistakes like overwhelming them with information or missing
opportunity to engage them with your brand.

1.2. Customer journey analysis plus customer lifecycle

marketing- a recipe for success?

After defining both customer journey and customer lifecycle as well as

outlining the main difference between them (that in customer journey we
focus on the customer's perspective over his interaction with certain
businesses, products or services, while in customer lifecycle we rather put
the emphasis on a marketer's view over his prospects and the stages that
they go through to become his satisfied and loyal customers), it is time to
examine if they could also work together and how.
Exactly because these two concepts are different and represent
distinct viewpoints over the interaction between a client and a business, they
could bring significant benefits for both parties if used in a synchronous way.
For example, if you, as a marketer, are able to analyze properly the different
journeys of your target customers, you are more likely to get a valuable in-
sights like what are their preferred points of interaction, what information do
they need at every stage (awareness, consideration, decision), etc. With such
knowledge, a satisfying overall experience at each touchpoint could be
provided by adjusting the marketing activities and communication
accordingly, which would rapidly increase the probability of a buyer to

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experience some kind of interaction with your brand, content, products or
services that will automatically put him/her into your customer lifecycle.
So, basically, fulfilling a better understanding of your target customers
mindsets and characteristics through customer journey analysis is a
foundation for an advanced, more personalized customer lifecycle marketing.

2. Goals
In order to identify, if the application of the aforementioned concepts
into the retail and other businesses practice brings additional benefits and
more importantly to identify what exactly are the benefits from them, we
should set a number of goals that to keep an eye on. It is essential for
measuring our progress to set realistic objectives for the different stages of
the customer lifecycle which fulfilment depends on improvements in customer
journey analysis and lifecycle marketing. By applying these criteria, we could
strive for:
1) Increased awareness

The beginning of every customer lifecycle is related to creating an

awareness among the target audience for your brands, products, services.
It is the basis of creating a continuous strong relationship with your
prospects. There are many ways of presenting your business to the target
audience, but each of them would be more successful and guarantees you
bigger awareness if consistent with your prospect customers current
needs, interests and personal characteristics. That determines the need
of a sufficient customer journey analysis of your buyer personas before
approaching and exposing them to your offers and brand features.

2) Customers retention

Once you have converted certain number of your leads into buying
customers and in this way have created a big enough customer base, your

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focus should be not only on enlarging it but also on keeping as much as
possible of your already existing customers and turning them into
repetitive buyers. Because it is less costly, from marketing and advertising
point of view, to keep already made customers than to acquire new ones,
customer retention is a main goal for many companies. In order to fulfil it,
marketers should keep track on their previous interaction with customers
on all kind of touchpoints. Collecting, saving and analyzing such data is
crucial for designing and delivering more personalized experience that in
many cases make client sticks to certain familiar brand rather than
searching an alternative for next purchases.

3) Loyalty and Advocacy

The end goal of every customer lifecycle is to create such a strong

relationship with customers, where they are so impressed from the overall
experience with your brand that are no willing to replace it with another.
Loyal customers are more likely to influence other people, especially
relatives and friends, into their purchasing decisions and make them
aware of your offers. In other words, they can market your business for
you in various ways: by posting on social media about positive experience
with your brand, by writing own product review, etc. and the audience will
be more willing to believe them rather than the traditional advertising.

4) Maximizing revenues

If each one of the previous goals mentioned in this text is achieved,

then, logically, also the financial parameters will go up as a result of the
improved interaction with target and existing customers of a company.
Comparing revenues from period to period is one way of evaluating the
success of our marketing strategy and activities. It could be sign for
improvements or mistakes in certain area of operations. Usually, higher
revenues would mean increased awareness, better customer retention,

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 raised number of loyal customers or all of them at once, of course, if no
other factors hinder them. So, even though, not viewed as a main objective
when it comes to relationship with customers, maximizing revenues is a
good indicator for the successful application of customer journey analysis
and customer lifecycle marketing in practice and their contribution to
enhanced experience with a company's brands, products and services on
different platforms.

Setting concrete goals is a very important task, especially when we

want to improve processes or apply new concepts, like in our case. Still, this is just
the starting point and should be followed by detailed analysis, based on information
about our prospects/customers, that help us better mapping their distinct customer
journeys.

3. Customer Journey analysis and mapping

Because of the rapid development of the technologies and the more and
more digitalized world that we are living at nowadays, customers have become
more requiring toward marketers. They expect to experience and interact with
brands on multiple platforms, sometimes even at the same time. This is usually
a problem for most of the companies, because being presented everywhere costs
a lot and could lead to inconsistency in image and operations. That defines the
need of revealing which are the preferred points of interactions of our target
customers from awareness to consideration to decision stage, mapping them out
and concentrating efforts as well as resources there.

3.1. Customer Journey mapping

The main idea of the customer journey mapping is to graphically

represents the steps and their sequence through which the customers interact
with an organization. The ultimate objective is to be created a list of all kinds of
touchpoints and possible combinations of them for the different steps of the

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customer journey that a customer can encounter during an entire purchase
process.

Customer journey mapping helps marketers see their business from the
customer's perspective. It helps businesses easier identify deficiencies in
performance and define what customers, and prospective customers, need more
in terms of experience to complete a purchase.

Nowadays most of the customers require their experience with a brand to

be connected and seamless. They expect companies to know and remember,
across multiple touchpoints, who they are and what they are looking for in order
to deliver more convenient and personalized customer journeys consistent with
their distinct needs and preferences.

Because such kind of information usually is extensive and comprehensive,

mapping the journeys of different target customers, gives us the opportunity to
simplify and better visualize all the knowledge that we have gathered. It, also,
helps marketers to choose touchpoints and structure them in the most effective
and efficient way throughout the customer journey.

3.2. Customer Journey touchpoints

Customer Journey touchpoints could be defined as all points of interaction

with a business across the three main phases of the customer journey:
awareness, consideration and decision. They have a big influence over
customers perceptions about your brands, products or services. Identifying your
customer touchpoints is the first and foremost step in creating a realistic customer
journey map.

If we take a deeper look into the interaction between a business and its
customers, we will identify different types of touchpoints used. Generally,
touchpoints could be divided into 2 main groups according to level of control that
a brand has over them: brand-owned and social/external touchpoints.

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 Brand- owned are these touchpoints that are managed and fully
controlled by a firm. They include all brand- owned media like advertising,
websites, marketing campaigns, loyalty programs, etc. and all elements of the
marketing mix that are controlled by the firm like pricing, location, product
features, interaction with sales force, etc.

Social/ external are these touchpoints where an important role in an

individual's journey play other customers and information sources, which are not
brand- owned. Companies cannot control them directly, but, usually, can
influence them in a positive way through delivering a satisfying experience and
developing a loyalty customer base. Such kind of touchpoints are peer
influences, review sites, blogs, environments, posts and comments on social
media, etc.

The customer could encounter each of these touchpoint categories in

each stage of his/ her journey. Depending on the nature of the product/service or
the customer’s own preferences, the strength or importance of each touchpoint
category may differ in each stage.

The aim of the marketers is through detailed analysis to identify what is

the optimal mix of touchpoints for each target customer group and for each stage
of their journeys that leads to greater awareness, conversion, retention and,
subsequentially, to financial gains.

3.3. Customer Journey analysis

Since we have cleared up certain customer’s journey map and all the
touchpoints that it includes through the different stages of interaction with our
business, it is time for analyzing the whole process by focusing on how exactly
the client moves from awareness to consideration to decision in terms of
touchpoints used. Also, if purchase is completed at the end of the process, it is
crucial for the firms to assess the satisfaction levels of the customer from the
overall experience with them, by researching the post- purchase behavior of the

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individual. The main goal of the analysis is to understand the customer’s options
and choices for touch points in multiple purchase phases and to what extend they
satisfy his/her tastes and preferences.

What is extremely important to be considered during mapping and

analyzing the customer journey is that it is strictly individual process and overall
conclusions should not be based on isolated cases, but rather data for many
different journeys should be collected and analyzed. Only in this way, we can
uncover certain behavioral patterns, which are typical for our distinctive target
customer groups and represent their journeys more accurately by using so-
called “personas”.

3.4. Customer Personas

Personas are fictional, but plausible prototypes that you can develop to
represent your target customers. In order to be created a representative sample
of an audience, personas are based on the analysis and research of your real
customers and their journeys.

Personas are created to deepen the knowledge and understanding of a

company’s target customer segments by having individual names and stories for
each of them that reflect personal attributes and behavioral characteristics such
as needs, motivations, attitudes, what they value in a brand, what kind of
communication they prefer, etc. This approach is used when marketers want to
create stronger commitment and more emotional relationships with their
prospects/ customers.

Also, implementing the personas concept, gives opportunities to the

companies to better tailor their offers and communication channels mix toward
the distinctive personas tastes and preferences for each step of their journeys in
order to ensure more personalized experience. This will come to meet the
expectations of the customers and will show them that they are respected, known

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and valued by the marketer, which creates sense of trust and is a good
foundation for a strong long- lasting relationship.

When the process of developing our customer personas with their distinct
characteristics and tastes then tracking and mapping their journeys with us and,
finally, identifying and analyzing pain points into their experiences, comes to an
end, it is time for putting these valuable insights into practice by adjusting our
marketing activities accordingly for all the phases of the customer lifecycle. In this
way, with the help of persona creating, mapping and journey analytics tools,
marketers could take charge over their customer journeys and use them as the
perfect complement for their lifecycle marketing. The main idea is to be created
a personalized customer- centric experience, which is not based on general
assumptions about what our customers need, want or like, but rather on thorough
understanding of their behaviors and preferences.

4. Customer Lifecycle Marketing

Earlier into this text, the term customer lifecycle was presented and
defined as a concept which supports the business into segmenting its prospects/
customers according to the level of commitment which they have fulfilled with the
focal company, starting from subscriber/ visitor phase and coming to a loyal
customer.

Now, it is time to concentrate attention on how actually the switching of

phases into the lifecycle happens, what is the drive for an individual to move into
a higher level of engagement with a marketer- and this is exactly what the term
customer lifecycle marketing stands for.

4.1. Definition and goals

In simple terms, customer lifecycle marketing includes all the strategies

that a business uses to engage clients, convert, retain and leverage in order to

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increase revenues and grow own brands. All these marketing strategies are
implemented alongside the different phases of the customer lifecycle, where, it
is of great importance for them to be consistent with each stage specifications.
When applied in appropriate way step by step, customer lifecycle marketing
would lead to accelerated completion and switching of the lifecycle phases. In
this way, there is an increase into the lifetime value.

4.2. Stages of Customer Lifecycle vs. Stages of Lifecycle

Marketing

While stages of the customer lifecycle were determined according to the

current state of the examined individual and his/her interaction with the business,
the stages of the customer lifecycle marketing are rather defined according to the
activities of the marketing and sales teams that make the individual to progress
on a lifecycle. So, in simple terms, the phases of the lifecycle marketing are what
happens in between the phases of the lifecycle itself.

Also, the two types of phases are created for different purposes: the
stages of the customer lifecycle aims to segment the customer/ prospect base of
a business according to the level of commitment, while the stages of lifecycle
marketing set the different marketing strategies, tactics and activities that are
deployed throughout the time of interaction with prospects/ customers.

Since, the differences are cleared up, it is time to concentrate on the

stages of the lifecycle marketing and their specifications.

4.3. Customer Lifecycle Marketing Stages

1) Reach
Your marketing messages and content should be presented on
numerous platforms, channels where your target customers spend most
of their time on. In order to develop awareness, the information about your

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products, services or brands should be accessible on all kind of devices
and on various geographic points.

2) Engagement
Reaching potential customers will not means much if you cannot
arouse curiosity with your messages. The engagement stage should be
supported by detailed analysis of different customers’ needs and
preferences, in order to be ensured an intriguing content. Contacting
them directly with individualized communication improves the chances for
a future conversion.

3) Conversion
When you have reached your target audience and made it aware
of you and your offers, it is time to convert the sales qualified leads into
purchasing customers. The best way to do so is by providing a good value
for each of them as well as building a relationship rather than simply
selling your products. In this phase, you should do everything to decrease
the perceived risks of a potential purchase.

4) Retention and Loyalty Building

Essential for retaining your customers is to show them that their
first purchase with you is not just an individual transaction, but rather only
the beginning of a fruitful partnership.
If you want existing clients to stay with your brand/product, they
should consider it better than the other alternatives on the market. It is
your task to demonstrate that you know their tastes better than anybody
else through continually sending relevant and meaningful messages and
offers to them.
Growing and maintaining a sustainable customer base is of great
importance, because it requires less efforts to serve a customer that you

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 already know, than acquiring a new one. For this reason, also some
incentives could be offered to stimulate loyalty.

5) Creating Advocacy
The ultimate objective of the lifecycle marketing is to turn a regular
customer into a brand advocate, who recommend your products/services
to relatives, friends and all other individuals that are asking for an opinion.
Thereby, the level of awareness and the conversion would be positively
influenced.
On the other hand, completing this stage of lifecycle marketing
could be considered as well as the most challenging task, because a
superior experience should be in place, which is a result of the interaction
of many factors and some of them are out of the company's control.

Switching phases and progressing along the lifecycle is not guaranteed in

every case. It strongly depends on the marketer's performance. Customers
should be satisfied at each stage in order to continue their interaction with the
business. So, a solid consistent experience through the whole lifecycle would be
ensured step by step, where the first task is reaching all potential customers. This
means identifying where they spend time both online and offline, deciding on
which channels to present our business, defining our marketing and
communication strategy according to the different channels specifications and
building consistency between them.

5. Communication channels and their role in Customer

Journey and Lifecycle Marketing
A communication channel is the medium through which a marketing
message is sent to a targeted audience. It allows companies to provide
information, convince and transfer desired associations and feelings to the public

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by exposing them to a specific brand- related content with predetermined
frequency and intensity.

Determining an appropriate channel mix, which is consistent with the

tastes of your target customer groups, makes a significant contribution to the
success of any lifecycle marketing, because it would ensure the needed reach
and awareness for the strategies, tactics and activities that a marketer could
undertake during the following stages of the lifecycle.

Although, it is of great importance into the area of sales, marketing as well

as prospect/ customer communication, still there are some misunderstandings
about the term “communication channel“ and it is often mistaken with the term
“touchpoint“, especially when it comes to customer journey and customer
lifecycle. So, before we go into details, let's clarify the differences between them.

5.1. Channels vs. Touchpoints

Both terms have been reviewed and defined into this text as important
elements of the customer journey and customer lifecycle concepts. While they
often tend to be mistaken and used as a substitute for each other, we could
outline specific distinctions and thus better understand their functions.

To start with, a touchpoint is the moment in time when the interaction

between a customer and your brand, product or service happens. This touch to
your business is initiated by a certain customer's need and could occur on various
places like company's website, store or through radio, tv advertisement, etc. Here
the communication channels come to play.

Unlike touchpoints, channels are a medium of communication between a

company and its customers. They create the environment where touchpoints
occur. It means that a touchpoint could happens on different channels. Some
channels are interactive, which allows your customers to give a response like for
example on social media, while others are not, e.g., billboard, flyers.

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 All the communication channels are fully under marketer's control and
could be adjusted toward his strategy. That is why they are an important part of
the lifecycle marketing. On contrary, touchpoints are initiated by the customers
and marketers could usually influence them, but never obtain the full control in
every situation, what makes their mapping and analyzing significant for
understanding each customer journey.

5.2. Online and Offline channels

When we are talking about communication channels and their implementation

into a company's marketing strategy, one of the main considerations is on which of
them our target customers are likely to spend time at, search for information or
engage into any kind of interaction.

In recent times, we witness a dramatic increase into the popularity and usage
of so- called online channels into the sphere of retail. This comes as a result of the
creation and development of many online platforms that enables users to experience
brands and products in a new way by offering them various interesting possibilities
for each step of their customer journey.

At the same time, it does not make the traditional offline channels obsolete,
as it was suggested since the appearance of ecommerce. On the contrary, they are
still preferable form of interaction with a business for many customers, who consider
them more reliable and secure. Especially, being presented physically into the form
of brick and mortar store remains as a must for every marketer that wants to assure
a strong position on a market. It offers certain benefits to the visitors that cannot be
imitated online.

Because of the distinctive advantages that offer, many businesses nowadays

combine the usage of online and offline channels into their strategies. This
combination allows marketers to minimize the drawbacks of each one of them
through incorporating channels with complementary characteristics. Also, it gives the
opportunity more individuals from various target customer groups to be reached.

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 Apparently, enabling your customers to interact with as well as experience
your brand on different channels throughout their journey, is a huge advantage for
every marketer. Different channel- specific content and marketing messages could
positively affect the number of the visitors and subscribers and turn them into
customers and brand advocates later- on in their customer lifecycle. So, nowadays,
the question is not if we should be presented and market on multiple channels, but
rather how exactly to administrate this presence according to the customers'
expectations.

5.3. Omnichannel Marketing Strategy

Today, most of the marketers understand the importance of the customer

journey concept into designing their lifecycle marketing and communication
strategies. Through mapping and analyzing, they strive to adopt a proper
understanding over their target customers' perspective and identify the
communication channels, where contacting them will have biggest effect in terms of
reach, awareness and conversion. But only to pick the right channel mix is not
enough anymore. Customers, nowadays, expect a seamless transition between
channels at each stage of their interaction with a business as well as between
stages. That is why more and more marketers incorporate omnichannel strategies
when it comes to lifecycle marketing.

5.3.1. Definition

Omnichannel marketing strategy is about combining the usage of traditional

offline and digital communication channels in a way that provides customers with a
completely seamless and integrated shopping experience from the first touchpoint
to the last that they experience with you. It means that a proper correlation between
all the channels should be established to facilitate continuous, uninterrupted
relationship with clients.

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 5.3.2. Multichannel marketing vs. Omnichannel marketing

Like already noticed, omnichannel marketing focuses on the integration of

channels and their complementary usage by prospects/ customers. The aim is to be
created a customer- oriented, rather than a channel- oriented interaction with the
business, where the clients are in charge and could use channels simultaneously
without this to cause any kind of inconvenience or inconsistency for them.

Although the multichannel marketing is also characterized by the usage of

many channels, there is a significant difference in comparison with the omnichannel
marketing: in multichannel marketing every channel is designed and operated as a
separate unit. It is independent from the others and works in an isolation, each with
its own strategy and goals. The lack of integration between channels can create a
confusing and impersonal experience that leaves shoppers feeling frustrated, which
usually have a negative impact on their willingness to continue the interaction with
the business.

In this line of thought, adopting an omnichannel perspective over lifecycle

marketing comes as a natural response to the requirements of the modern
customers and is crucial for every business success nowadays.

5.3.3. Adopting an omnichannel strategy to align lifecycle

marketing with customer journey expectations
When it comes to interacting with a business, more and more shoppers
expect to be recognized at every step of their journey, no matter how many different
channels they have used during it. Also, they enjoy an individual, personalized
overall experience that is consistent with their needs and interests.

In an omnichannel marketing strategy, the users are identified no matter

where they are in terms of channels – either it would be digital on social media,
email, etc. or offline in-store – and then exposed to messages, content based on the
sum of their interactions on other channels.

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 As a result, marketing and advertising activities of a company are better
aligned with the point in the lifecycle that the potential customer is currently in. It
dramatically increases the effectiveness and response rate toward marketing
messages by simply avoiding inappropriate communication.

For example, if you have already adopted an omnichannel approach toward

your lifecycle marketing and have been able to collect information about customers/
prospects from various touchpoints on your marketing communication channels, you
would never do the mistake to ask someone who has just visited you on social media
to find out more about your loyalty programs straight away or trying to push
customers that have shown interest in the high level business product towards your
free basic trial option.

Instead, you would be more likely to provide current lifecycle stage- specific
content and information that is related to recent customer's searches or requests.
Also, marketing messages would be adjusted toward the level of commitment that
an individual has created with the company and his/ her personal traits. The aim is
to be created a consistent communication strategy alongside the customer lifecycle
on all the channels and the switching of stages will come naturally as result of a
satisfying personalized experience at each one of them. The customer would be
more willing to progress because enjoys the interaction and not because he/ she has
been urged by the marketer's messaging.

6. Strategies for the different stages of the customer lifecycle

marketing
Since we have established our business on different communication channels
in order to achieve a good reach for further exposure to messages, content and have
created a consistency between them to offer a satisfying omnichannel experience
for our prospects/ customers at any point of interaction with us, it is time to

19
concentrate our attention, efforts on designing and implementing marketing
strategies alongside the whole customer lifecycle.

These strategies should be well aligned with the different target customer
groups' characteristics and tastes- insights that have been obtained through a
sophisticated customer journey mapping, persona creation and analysis, to satisfy
the desire for personalization. Also, they should be consistent between channels as
a respond to the customers' expectations for continuity throughout their journey.

By adopting these customer- centric approach when it comes to a lifecycle

marketing, companies would be able to better develop individual strategies for each
stage of the customer lifecycle marketing as well as eliminating gaps between them.

In this way, by building our relationships with prospects/ customers gradually

step by step, more and more of them would be likely to complete the whole lifecycle
with us and respectively we would be able to fulfill our end goals- creating loyalty,
advocacy as well as increasing revenues. For this reason, a special attention should
be paid to each phase of the customer lifecycle marketing when planning strategies
and activities. They should be structured into a consecutive, coordinated process
that to be adopted and implemented from the beginning to the end of every
individual's lifecycle with our company.

6.1. Reach out to a prospect and creating awareness

Marketers who want to reach out new customers and expand their audience
usually focus on building awareness among their target customer groups. This
process designates the beginning of every lifecycle.

There are different ways through which you can make a prospect to discover
your brands, products or services and all of them are based on the individual's need
for finding a solution to a unique problem that he/ she has. That is why, marketing
activities during this stage should be consistent with the buyer personas that have
been created.

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 To bring your brand in front of your target customer base, you should know
what their general interests are, where they spend time both online and offline as
well as what motivates them to make a purchase. By possessing this information,
you are more likely to cross paths with potential customers during their search for a
solution to their problem. Since you have reached them out, your next task is to make
them aware of your brand by providing the needed information and transferring the
right associations through your content.

From a content point of view, our aim is to create entertaining, shareable

pieces on different channels. For example: graphics that are easy to read, posts that
people laugh at and are likely to share with relatives or friends and short videos. This
is the stage where the brand popularity should be established and making people
experience certain kind of positive emotions with our content is a perfect way to
achieve it.

Beside attractive and entertaining, our content should be also informative and
comprehensive. We can achieve it by incorporating low-competition keywords into
our content that target customer groups would be likely to search for. Helping them
discover our brand through providing valuable specialized information at the initial
stages of their buying journey would be a huge drive for bringing a larger audience
to our website as well as to other platforms.

Also, it is a good idea to consider looking for guest blogging opportunities that
allow us to create content which will be presented to our ideal audience. Publishing
guest posts on other sites that share our target audience will helps us to get more
exposure in this phase of the customer lifecycle marketing.

Another way of reaching out and attracting the attention of target customer
groups is by being presented on social media and creating content by publishing
there. Nowadays, most of the shoppers rely on their social networks to find advice,
referrals and reviews about brands or products. They expect a business to be easy
to find and open for questions on Facebook and Twitter as well as offering tutorials

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and other kind of product- educational video content on Pinterest and YouTube.
They would also be very interested into a behind-the-scenes glimpse of your
business on Instagram. Being well- established and responsive on various social
media platforms builds trust and helps increase awareness among shoppers.

What is more, most of the social networking sites allow marketers to carefully
choose the audience that is going to see their posts and advertisements. By having
the opportunity to use segmentation filters and lists of users as well as the
opportunity to publish into specialized groups, they could better determine and reach
target customer groups on social media. That is why, it is very likely to meet your
target customers by developing an active presence on the social networks and
create an immediate awareness.

6.2. Creating engagement

Since we have achieved the intended reach and awareness among a target
audience, our marketing focus is next transferred on bringing those people to
channels/ platforms controlled by us( for example: website, social media page, online
or brick and mortar store, etc.) and presenting them interesting as well as valuable
content to keep their attention and develop a stronger relationship.

At this phase, our messages toward these marketing qualified leads/

prospects could become more direct and even a little bit more aggressive than in the
awareness stage, as they are already connected with some of our brands, products
or services on a deeper level.

Through a combination of different direct marketing activities like email

marketing for example and retargeting (where advertising and marketing messages
are related to the user's previous searches, shares or posts on Internet) we could
emphasize on the benefits of engaging with our brand as well as offering certain
stimulus for a first purchase as well as specialized deals and promotions for already
existing customers. This sequence of messages, referred as a “welcome series” or
“nurturing” should be personalized as much as possible, based on all available data

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that we have collected about our prospects/ clients like for example: what
products/categories they browsed on our website, where they live, how they initially
came to the site and so forth.

Exactly at this stage of the customer lifecycle marketing, where the bases of
the relationship with our possible future customers are set, we should pay special
attention to and incorporate promptly the concept of personalization into our
messaging as well as communication strategies and activities. In this way, number
of benefits would be brought that can stimulate the engagement with our brands and
increase conversion, sales and loyalty further on the lifecycle, which after all are the
objects of any marketing team.

One of the main benefits of personalizing messages is that it recognizes the

customers as individuals with distinctive needs and preferences. By marketing one
way to prospects who are searching for new and interesting products, another way
to those that are searching for qualitative, upper- class items or services and another
way to prospects/ customers that are price- oriented and looking for bargains, we
can make our marketing messages far more compelling and effective. Every
interaction, contact should be consistent with the persona of the individual who is
the target of our marketing communication. Prospects/customers are likely to
appreciate this personal touch into our interactions with them. Another benefit of
incorporating the personalized communication concept during the engagement
stage of the lifecycle marketing is that we could save time, resources and efforts as
a result of reducing the wasteful marketing messaging by simply adjusting our
recommendations as well as promotion messages toward the different clients'
characteristics and interests.

6.3. Educating sales qualified leads about buying opportunities

with our products/ services and making them a preferable choice
At this stage of the customer lifecycle marketing, prospects are already clear
about their purchase intentions. They have already found what is the best way to
satisfy their needs or solve their problems and what type of products or services will

23
appropriately help them to do so. The only thing that they are still not sure about is
exactly which brand to choose from the numerous alternatives that are offered to
them. During that time of consideration and comparing, there are many factors (both
rational and emotional) that are coming into play and influencing the shopper's final
decision.

If, during the previous stages of the customer lifecycle marketing, our
strategies, tactics and activities have been following and applying the
aforementioned recommendations into this chapter, it is very likely a good brand
awareness and a strong relationship to have already been created with a target
audience at this phase of the interaction with them. Since, such an emotional
commitment is achieved, the probability of a shopper choosing our products or
services instead of competitors' products/ services increases dramatically, because
he/ she would be more likely to turn to a familiar brand in cases of high uncertainty (
what is exactly the situation of first purchase experience).

Although, having high levels of brand awareness and recognition among your
target customer base is definitely an advantage when it comes to conversion, a
significant number of the shoppers are more pragmatic oriented and the emotional
commitment is not their main drive for purchasing. But rather, they are more
interested into comparing features and functionality of the different brands' products/
services.

That is why, our main focus, as a marketer, during this stage of the customer
lifecycle marketing should be on educating sales qualified leads about our
merchandising and provide an information which to convince them that our offers
are the most qualitative and trustworthy on the market.

At this point, shoppers will be searching and scrolling all over our website and
social media pages, reading the product features and benefits to see if our product
or service will satisfy their need better than those of the competitors.

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 Which is why it is super important to have well-written category pages and
product descriptions. A solid product description is the first and simplest, but still very
effective, way to communicate a product with a prospect in an intriguing and
attention- catching manner. There, we should present the features that differentiate
our product from the others and transfer a sense of uniqueness to the readers. If
carried out into a sophisticated fashion, this basic marketing tool can close the sales
process, turning a curious shopper into an active customer.

It is also a good idea to provide a product description that not only details the
quality features of the product but also the beautiful story behind it, touching on all
points that might instigate the potential buyer to make a purchase.

Another approach toward educating sales qualified leads about our products
and subsequently persuading them into our offers' supremacy, is to incorporate a
third- party content on various platform, where shoppers would search for a product-
related information. A good example is including impartial blog opinions, that
acknowledge our merchandise's quality and highlight its benefits. In this way
prospects will have access to a valuable, trustworthy source, which is going to
decrease the perceived risk of an eventual future purchase with us.

In this phase, it is also beneficial for brands to include detailed blog articles
and customer-generated media like reviews and testimonials into their content that
will help shoppers to decide if they are making the best choice. Additionally, we can
support them into finding the needed information faster by targeting buyer keywords
and then connecting shoppers with the content that will allow them to learn, compare,
and read reviews.

6.4. Incorporating conversion increasing marketing techniques

and ensuring a smooth, undisturbed purchasing experience for your
customers
At this point of the customer lifecycle, shoppers have already taken the
decision to purchase some of our products/ services or they are just about to do it.

25
 In the first case, our task is to help them finish the purchasing process as fast
and convenient as possible. The level of marketing applied at this stage is much less
in comparison to the others lifecycle marketing phases. But still, it should not be
neglected and left to the chance, otherwise customers can quickly suspend their
buying interaction with us and turn to a competitor, who is going to be more attentive
to them.

For this reason, we should make it easy for shoppers to know exactly what
they need to do to complete their purchase. It is a good idea to provide clear
instructions to our customers that advise them what steps exactly to take and remove
any friction in their purchase process.

Also, another crucial moment at the time of the purchase interaction with
shoppers (especially when it comes to a new customer) is to meet their expectations
and reduce the perceived risk of buying our products. This means that we should
closely control and guarantee the product availability, secure processing, timely
delivery as well as merchandise's quality and functionality that matches the product
descriptions on all channels.

In case that a sales qualified lead has shown a significant interest into some
of our products/ services and we have properly addressed this interest during the
previous stages of the lifecycle marketing, but he/ she has not yet taken a final
purchase decision, we could apply some additional marketing and sales techniques
(especially online) that to reduce the hesitation time as well as to influence his/ her
decision process.

In such situations, we could use a special targeted, transactional content

through which we can propose personalized offers to prospects that are about to
buy, but still have doubts. For example, a free shipping could be offered to those
who have abandoned their shopping cart without purchasing or a discount could be
given to users who have viewed a particular product several times on some of our
selling platforms without purchasing. In order, such shoppers, to be recognized

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between channels and special messages to be created as well as forwarded to them,
a superior interaction between email marketing providers and ecommerce platforms
should takes place.

6.5. Retention of buying customers and turning them into a loyal

customer base for our business
After closing the first purchase with a client, our next goal is to retain his
attention and make him buy again. The post- purchase phase of the customer
lifecycle marketing is crucial if we want to not just selling occasionally to customers,
but also establishing a long- lasting partnership with them, which is going to brings
benefits for both parties into the future.

To be created such kind of relationship with our already existing clients, we

should clearly show them how much we appreciate the fact that they have chosen
exactly our products and services. It is crucial, into the time right after their first
purchase with us, to suggest a feeling of being part of our community and
demonstrate that we really care about the overall experience with our brand, not just
pushing our merchandise towards them.

Providing follow-up surveys and customer care content, is a great way to

retain their interest on our brand as well as showing them that we value their personal
opinions and feelings. Also, social media and blog content can be used to give
customers advices how to maximize the performance and respectively the
satisfaction gained from their purchase.

Another way of maintaining an ongoing communication with the members of

our customer base is through personalized messages. Emailing them on special
occasions like on the anniversary of their purchase or on their birthdays is a sign of
respect and could go a long way towards building loyalty. Offering a coupon or
freebie on that anniversary would make them feel as a special, valued member of
the community. These customers' perceptions would affect positively the retention
rate and sales.

27
 A client, who has been engaged into a satisfying shopping experience with
certain brand which then developed into an ongoing relationship, would be more
likely to turn to the same brand, when faces a new buying decision. That is why, we
as a marketer, should offer more and diverse buying options to our loyal customers
at this stage of the lifecycle. It is the perfect time to incorporate cross- selling and
up- selling techniques by offering various complementary items in relation to the
customer's last purchases or propose to those of them who enjoy innovations or are
more quality- oriented new or upgraded versions of products. We could do this during
the checkout process or as a follow-up email after the initial purchase.

6.6. Creating customer advocacy

Nowadays, when customers are constantly overwhelmed with marketing and
sales messages on various channels, they tend to pay less attention to this whole
amount of information. The traditional media advertisement is not considered
trustworthy anymore, because it presents branded products and services at their
best, while shoppers need an open, honest talk over their pros and cons.

That is why, customers are more interested to learn about brands from their
peers and the marketers' task is to put their satisfied clients in front of as big audience
as possible. This could be made through sharing references and referrals as well as
customer blogging or video. There are different ways to do so, but first we should
create a sustainable, loyal customer base, which members are thinking in a positive
way about our brand, products, services and are willing to share these thoughts with
others.

If we have reached this final stage of the lifecycle marketing with our
customers, then we have already built a strong, satisfied client community and our
only task is to stimulate them to talk about their customer experience with us. Some
of them will talk about it when asked and some will just do it on their own. Others
would be more likely to be engaged into word of mouth marketing when some
incentives are offered to them. Incentive programs should be personalized and
based on the individual's interests and level of commitment to our brand. Some of

28
the customers would prefer to receive certain obligations like cash rewards,
discounts, vouchers, etc. while others (who are more emotionally attached) would
be happy to possess some sign of belonging to our community like for example
branded clothes, mugs or special store cards.

Also, when we expect the loyal customers to market for us as well as to bring
new leads and in this way uninterruptedly refresh and twirl the customer lifecycle,
we should constantly take care of them by continuing to perform at or above the
expected level. We cannot afford to disappoint our brand advocates, because as
they are sharing their positive experiences, with the same ease could share the
negative ones and that is going to costs us much in terms of awareness, conversion
and sales.

7. Conclusion

As noted into the beginning of this text, nowadays, marketers have a broad
range of tools as well as concepts at their disposal, that help them into reaching out
prospects, exposing them to a brand- related content and sales messages. But
although these favorable marketing conditions, many businesses fail to deliver what
customers want and the reason is that they are trying to push their products/ services
to shoppers instead of gaining a proper understanding of the exact needs and
desires that stand behind every request, visit or like from a customer's side. Only
when we fulfil this level of knowledge and understanding, we could serve our target
customer base into appropriate manner according to its specifics and tastes.

Adopting such kind of business model, where the customer is on focus and
our marketing strategies, tactics and activities follow his preferences during the
whole lifecycle, could positively influence the conversion and loyalty rates as well as
revenues and profits. Still, it does not mean that it is easy to be applied in practice.

How it was stated earlier, shoppers have much more power now than ever
before. They can choose between many alternatives, can compare prices and

29
features of products within seconds and all that on various platforms/ channels.
These new opportunities that they are offered to into the digital era that we are living
at, have changed their expectations and made their behavior much more
complicated.

Exactly those alterations impose the need for an optimized identification,

tracking and collecting information about prospects/customers during their
interaction with a business, which is the task of customer journey mapping, analyzing
and persona creation. These concepts support marketers in their attempts to step
into target customer's shoes. Combining them with well- organized and consistently
applicated marketing strategies on all sales/ communication channels at each stage
of the customer lifecycle, guarantees the fulfilment of much more sophisticated as
well as personalized customer experience, which is the foundation for achieving our
main goals- creating loyalty and increasing financial gains.

30
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 Declaration

I hereby declare that this thesis is my own work, that I have not presented it
elsewhere for examination purposes and that I have not used any sources or aids
other than those stated. I have marked verbatim and indirect quotations as such.

Ingolstadt, ___________
(Date)

(Signature)
First name, Surname

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