In this blog post, CRM marketing experts reveal high-impact strategies for effective customer lifecycle marketing. These insights were first shared during the panel session at Optimove Connect 2024 – Marketing Across the Customer Lifecycle.
The session was moderated by Varda Tirosh,Chief Customer Officer at Optimove, and the expert panelists included:
Dimitrios Mpekos: CRM Director at Novibet, an iGaming tech company that specializes in casinos, sportsbooks, and poker.
Giulia Diormampo: Head of CRM and Loyalty at Space NK, a luxury beauty retailer with nearly 80 stores in the UK and a global e-commerce business.
Aleksandar Vignjević: Head of Global Digital Natives EU at Infobip, provider of a full-stack, cloud communication platform-as-a-service.
Key takeaways:
The 5 Strategies:
Segmenting for VIPs
Cross-selling by product purchases
Designing customer value-based programs with the ‘pyramid approach’
Leveraging loyalty program data to personalize by lifecycle stage
Embracing and adapting to customers’ preferred channels
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According to Giulia Diormampo: “Lifecycle marketing takes us away from the old-time tactic of bombarding customers with messages that ultimately won’t resonate with them. It’s all about getting the right message to the right person at the right time to incentivize a purchase and inspire loyalty.”
Crafting special journeys for high-value customers and potential VIPs increases VIP conversion rates.
Dimitrios Mpekos said: “The top 5% of our customers produces 70% of our revenue. So, it’s very important for us to have a different customer journey for these users. All the promos, news, and features are different for the VIP segment.”
Strategy #2: Cross-Selling by Product Purchases
Crafting distinct cross-selling strategies based on previous product purchases boosts engagement. This approach prevents customers from being overwhelmed with irrelevant communications.
Dimitrios Mpekos added: “We have a segment only for cross-sell. For example, if someone is betting on soccer, it will be easier to cross-sell a tennis bet than a casino play.”
Strategy #3: Designing Customer Value-Based Programs Using the ‘Pyramid Approach’
During the session, Julia Yamamoto detailed Space NK’s ‘pyramid approach,’ which categorizes customers based on their shopping frequency and spending. At the base of the pyramid are first-time shoppers, while VIPs are positioned at the top.
She encourages marketers to focus on retention and repeat transactions for customers at the base of the pyramid. She also recommends implementing programs that are designed to advance customers up the value pyramid and creating programs tailored for high-spending customers.
Strategy #4: Leveraging Loyalty Program Data to Personalize by Lifecycle Stage
Loyalty programs generate customer data that enables marketers to drive effective, personalized engagement at each lifecycle stage
Julia Yamamoto shared: “With every transaction a customer makes, we can gather more data. We know what products, brands, and categories they buy. This way, we can design very specific journeys at the right moment based on their behaviors and preferences.”
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Strategy #5: Embracing and Adapting to Customers’ Preferred Channels
Adapting to new communication channels, such as chat, enables brands to make sure they capture customer attention and improve engagement.
Aleksandar Vignjević said: “Over the last couple of years, particularly during and after the pandemic, we saw a huge rise of new chat apps. This has greatly influenced how we do lifecycle marketing and how our CRM managers make decisions.”
In conclusion
By gaining a deep understanding of the distinct stages that a brand’s customers go through, marketers can improve engagement, as well as monetization, loyalty, and retention.
By leveraging the five key lifecycle marketing strategies shared by our experts, they can exceed campaign KPIs and bring more value to their customers and the organization.
For more insights on how you can optimize marketing across the customer lifecycle with Optimove, contact us to Request a Demo.
Rony Vexelman is Optimove’s VP of Marketing. Rony leads Optimove’s marketing strategy across regions and industries. Previously, Rony was Optimove's Director of Product Marketing leading product releases, customer marketing efforts and analyst relations. Rony holds a BA in Business Administration and Sociology from Tel Aviv University and an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management.
