Lifecycle marketing: a complete guide to navigating the customer journey

Every brand interaction tells a story, and your customers are the main characters.

Think about the last time you shopped online. Maybe you browsed a few home decor websites for a new rug, compared prices on jeans, or ordered your favorite soda in bulk without a second thought. Each time, you were in a different stage of your journey with those brands—some you were just discovering, while others you’ve trusted for years.

Your customers are the same. Some are exploring your brand for the first time, while others already know and love your products. Building these relationships matters because loyal customers can generate a lot of revenue—and it’s much easier to retain them than to always be acquiring new ones. When you nurture your relationships with customers, you can increase their lifetime value and create brand advocates who will help you grow.

That’s what customer lifecycle marketing is all about: connecting with customers at the right moments, keeping them interested, and turning them into repeat buyers. With the right strategies and tools, you can unify your data in one place and create a customer lifecycle that personalizes experiences, nurtures relationships, and builds customer loyalty.

What is customer lifecycle marketing?

Customer lifecycle marketing is the practice of connecting with customers at every stage of their journey with your brand. It’s a personalized marketing approach that breaks down different strategies for attracting, engaging, converting, and retaining your customers.

You can also think of customer lifecycle marketing as an omnichannel approach that combines email marketing, customer service, SEO, paid ads, SMS marketing, and more to engage customers at every stage.

Since B2C companies are managing the customer lifecycle for thousands or even millions of consumers, they’re faced with the unique challenge of personalizing experiences at scale. This is why B2C businesses need to centralize and manage their data in one place—so they can track customer interactions across multiple touchpoints and deliver the experiences consumers have come to expect.

The important thing to remember is that each interaction should move customers closer to the next stage, whether that’s subscribing to your emails, purchasing, or recommending your brand to others.

5 customer lifecycle stages

Every customer is on a journey with your brand, which begins the moment they discover you. Let’s walk through the 5 stages they experience:

1. Awareness

The awareness stage begins when someone realizes they have a problem that needs solving. At this point, they’re eager to find potential solutions.

For example, someone seeking low-calorie soda alternatives to support their weight loss goals likely wants an option that contains no sugar but still tastes good. They might:

• Ask friends or family who have successfully lost weight for recommendations.
• Search for options online, either via Google search or recommendations from people on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.
• Consult a nutritionist for expert advice.
• Discover low-calorie soda brands through social media ads.

All these behaviors are typical of the awareness stage, which marks the beginning of the search for answers to a problem.

Customer lifecycle marketing tip: At this stage, gathering data from online search, social media interactions, and lookalike audiences is essential for future engagement.

2. Consideration

When someone enters the consideration stage, they have a few brands in mind to help solve their initial problem. They compare products, prices, and other factors that could influence their purchasing decision. For example, they might look at:

• Product ingredients
• Product reviews
• Shipping fees
• Packaging
• Alignment with personal values

During this stage in the customer lifecycle, a potential customer may take a particular interest in one or two brands that align with their goals. They might sign up for a brand’s newsletter or follow them on social media to stay in the loop.

Customer lifecycle marketing tip: Email sign-ups are especially valuable at this stage, and it’s critical to build high-converting forms.

3. Conversion

The conversion stage in lifecycle marketing is where potential customers turn into actual customers. At this point, people have gathered all the information they need to decide whether or not to buy.

But that doesn’t mean they’ll buy immediately—some may hold out for an incentive or a sale, such as Black Friday Cyber Monday. Others might almost buy, but abandon their carts for a variety of reasons, like high shipping fees or a simple change of heart.

Keep in mind that it’s also common for someone to bounce between the consideration and conversion stages for quite a while, as they may need more information than they thought before purchasing. For example, someone looking to buy a low-calorie soda might hesitate if they’re unsure about its taste. To help convert those on the fence, automated flows can send timely reminders or offer incentives, such as discounts or free shipping.

User-generated content (UGC) can also push consumers over the conversion line. People trust other people, which makes a user-generated content UGC strategy especially important for your brand.

Customer lifecycle marketing tip: To help consumers move past hesitations, brands need to understand why they’re happening in the first place. This is a vital part of the conversion stage: gathering information in the form of data from your most engaged subscribers and followers, so you can figure out what it will take to convert them. With advanced analytics tools like RFM analysis, you can identify why certain types of customers are dropping off.

4. Post-purchase

The post-purchase stage happens between placing an order and receiving it. This stage can feel different for everyone—some customers might be excited for their order to arrive, while others might be worried about whether they made the right choice.

During this stage, it’s standard to send order confirmation and shipping confirmation emails to ease post-purchase anxiety. Transactional emails like these do more than just that—they show your customers you care about their experience with your brand.

You can also show you care this by:

• Making it easy to interact with your customer service team if your customers need anything.
• Sending helpful resources about the products someone purchased, so they can get the most out of them when they arrive.
• Investing in thoughtful, sustainable packaging, so the experience of receiving the product is a great one.

Customer lifecycle marketing tip: Proactive communication is key during this stage. Order confirmations, tracking updates, and other automated email flows ensure that the customer is supported throughout their post-purchase journey.

5. Loyalty

This is the moment of truth for your brand and your customers. After experiencing all the previous stages, your customer will either decide to buy again or not.

If they’re happy and you sell products that make sense to purchase again, they’re more likely to return for more. If not, they may explore other options. In this stage, a satisfied customer might:

• Share glowing reviews about their experiences
• Recommend your products to friends and family
• Join your loyalty program for exclusive perks
• Upgrade to premium versions of what they love
• Explore and try out other products

At this point, it’s time to focus on retention strategies that help keep your customers satisfied.

How to engage customers at every stage

Connecting with customers throughout their journey makes all the difference. Here’s how to engage them at each stage of the customer lifecycle using both paid ads and your owned marketing channels—like email, SMS, and push notifications—with real-world examples to inspire you.

1. Awareness stage: get noticed and spark interest

In the awareness stage of their journey, potential customers are on the hunt for solutions to problems they’ve either identified or have yet to stumble upon. At this stage, the goal is to spark interest and show people why your brand stands out among the rest.

Here are a few marketing strategies to help you get started:

2. Consideration stage: keep people engaged

As people enter the consideration stage, they’re familiar with your brand but need more information before they decide to make a purchase. This is your opportunity to engage them further and showcase what makes your brand special.

Here are a few marketing strategies to help you get started:

Source: Milled

3. Conversion: make that first sale happen

The conversion stage is all about turning consideration into a purchase. By now, people have explored your product pages, subscribed to your email list, and seen some paid ads on social media—but they still need that final nudge to buy.

Here are a few marketing strategies to help you get started:

4. Post-purchase: create a positive customer experience

The sale’s made, but your job isn’t done yet. The post-purchase stage is your chance to create a lasting impression on your customers by making sure their journey from order to delivery runs smoothly.

Here are a few ways to make a great customer experience it happen:

5. Loyalty: turn your customers into brand advocates

You’ve made the first sale, but the journey doesn’t end there. Building customer loyalty is key to encouraging repeat purchases and creating brand advocates.

Here are a few strategies to try:

Printfresh also boosts their reputation by including a positive quote from Allure magazine, showing that they’ve got the backing of a trusted source. This kind of endorsement helps customers feel more confident in their choice to shop with the brand. They also present the discount as a rare “gift,” which introduces a sense of exclusivity and makes customers feel special.

Stay connected with customers at every stage of their journey

Instead of focusing only on what you say, think about how and when you deliver your marketing messages. Timing is everything in lifecycle marketing. Reaching out at key moments—like after a customer abandons their cart or when they’re likely ready to reorder—creates a sense of relevance that feels natural, not forced.

Ready to automate the customer journey with SMS, push notification, and email marketing automations? Klaviyo can help you capture the audience data you need to create personalized email and SMS campaigns and flows that appeal to customers at all stages of their lifecycle.