What is a lifetime customer?

What is a lifetime customer?

Q: Someone who buys our product again and again?A: Maybe...

Q: A customer whose needs change over a period of years?A: Maybe...

Q: Someone we should sell to for the whole of their lifetime?

A: Maybe...

What if the most important ‘lifetime customers’ are none of these things...

“Not everything that counts can be counted. And not everything that can be counted counts.”

– Albert Einstein

What about the stuff that’s more difficult to measure?

What if your ‘lifetime customer’ isn’t even a customer?

Or, what if your best ‘lifetime customers’ have only bought from

you once?

What if they purchased years ago, but never again?

What about the real evangelists?

What about the people who love your product and brand, and don't miss a chance to shout about it?

Those people really matter, but may not show up in the traditional

business analytics...

We all know people who love certain products and services...

That ‘love’ often has a very tenuous relationship to repeat

purchases or measurable customer value...

Some people buy once, and love you forever...

But...

By focusing on current or recent customers, encouraging

repeat purchases, and improving lifetime value...

Are we ignoring the really important people?

Awareness

Interest

Evaluation

Intent

Purchase

But this funnel doesn’t cater for ‘lifetime customers’, or their influence on other people...

The McKinsey model puts it another (better) way...

Initial consideration

Purchase

Trigger

Loyalty loop

Evaluation

Postpurchase experience

When evaluating, 92% of customers rely on people they know

That’s ‘Known Peer Influence’...

...and it’s huge.

The more people you have in the loyalty loop...

...the more they can positively influence those in the Evaluation

stage

So... We should be careful when calculating one customer

as worth more than another

Doing so risks neglecting the true ‘lifetime customers’ who are

influencing their network every day

Some people might buy little, but influence a lot...

So...what is a ‘lifetime customer’?

• Someone who may or may NOT be a

customer

• Someone who cares

• Someone who tells people they care

So what do we do about them?

Find them.

Look for the signals that an evangelist gives off... (they might be different from the signals you’re

currently looking for)

Define the behaviours that constitute a ‘fan’ or your company...

...they might be difficult to spot at first

Automate the search for these behaviours, and set them as

triggers...

Impress them

Shockingly good servicePersonalised messages

Timely and targeted content

It’s not easy to get people to ‘love’ you...

You have to go ‘above and beyond’...

In digital terms, that means clever nurture strategies, tied to intelligent

and sensitive content and campaigns

Facilitate evangelism...

And.. turn mere ‘repeat customers’ into lifelong, unpaid, trusted

salesmen...