Email Marketing

How to master lifecycle marketing with email customer journeys

Lifecycle marketing is a term that describes the process of engaging with your customers throughout their relationship with your brand, from awareness to loyalty. It is a way of delivering the right message to the right person at the right time, based on their stage in the customer journey. But how do you achieve this level of relevance and personalization with email marketing? How do you know what your customers want and need at each point of a lifecycle lasting 2 or more years? How do you create email campaigns that adapt to their changing behavior and preferences?

The answer is simple: you need to think of lifecycle marketing as an aggregation of individual email customer journeys.

What are email customer journeys?

Email customer journeys are the sequences of emails that you send to your subscribers based on their actions and interactions with your brand. They are designed to guide them towards a specific goal or outcome. For example: making a purchase, renewing a subscription, or becoming an advocate.

Email customer journeys can be triggered by various events. Examples include signing up for your newsletter, browsing your website, abandoning a cart, completing a purchase, celebrating a birthday, etc. They can also be based on different criteria, such as demographics, interests, preferences, behavior, etc.

The key to creating effective email customer journeys is to map out the different paths that your audience can take. You can then design email campaigns that cater to each one. For example, you can send a welcome email to new subscribers, a reminder email to abandoned cart users, a thank you email to recent buyers, a replenishment email to repeat customers, a birthday email to loyal fans, etc.

By adding all these individual journeys, you can create a rounded and consistent experience that nurtures your audience throughout their lifecycle. You can also optimise your email performance by delivering relevant and personalised messages at the right time that increase engagement and conversions.

The challenge of complex journeys and the role of expertise

While many email marketing platforms provide templates for simple customer journeys, more complex journeys often require specialised expertise. This is where we can help.

Complex email customer journeys may involve advanced segmentation, triggered emails, dynamic content, and sophisticated optimisation techniques. Our customer journey expertise can assist in building out these complex journeys, leverage our knowledge and experience to ensure success.

Benefits of email customer journeys

Implementing email customer journeys, whether simple or complex, offers numerous benefits for your marketing efforts:

  1. Increased relevance and personalisation: sending emails that align with customers’ needs and preferences at each stage of their lifecycle enhances their satisfaction and loyalty.
  2. Improved engagement and conversions: motivating customers to take action through targeted emails at each stage boosts their involvement and drives revenue.
  3. Reduced churn and attrition: retaining customers’ interest and trust throughout the lifecycle decreases the likelihood of them leaving or unsubscribing.
  4. Enhanced brand awareness and reputation: showcasing your brand’s value proposition and personality in emails reinforces awareness and advocacy among customers.

Conclusion

Lifecycle marketing requires an understanding of your customers’ behavior and preferences at each stage of their relationship with your brand. By creating email customer journeys that cater to individual needs and preferences, you can provide a cohesive and personalised experience.

While many platforms offer simple journey templates, more complex journeys may necessitate specialised expertise. Collaborating with an agency like The Email Factory can provide the necessary skills short-term.