{"id":14009,"date":"2018-04-25T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/post\/customer-lifecycle-development-6-steps-to-success-marketo_mops\/"},"modified":"2021-12-15T00:14:58","modified_gmt":"2021-12-15T05:14:58","slug":"customer-lifecycle-development-6-steps-to-success-marketo_mops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/blog\/customer-lifecycle-development-6-steps-to-success-marketo_mops\/","title":{"rendered":"Customer Lifecycle Development: 6 Steps to Success in Marketo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Having tools is only the first step in providing engagement-style marketing communications. It’s important to create a customer lifecycle. \u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/h2>\n

Today\u2019s customers expect marketing communications to be timely and personalized and while acquisition of new customers is critical, modern marketers need to also focus on engaging with individuals throughout the buyer journey. <\/span><\/p>\n

Engagement style marketing provides optimized customer experiences, which leads to increased pipeline and revenue generation opportunities. <\/span><\/p>\n

Create Custom Communications Based on Customer Lifecycle<\/h2>\n

Automation platforms like Marketo that capture customer data, allow for personalized communications and tie customers to marketing interactions. This gives you the tools you need to move away from ineffective batch and blast sends and move towards targeted behavioral-based communications that meet the customer where they are in the buying process. <\/span><\/p>\n

“Irrelevant content is the #1 reason customers don\u2019t engage more often” – <\/span><\/i>The State of Engagement Report, Marketo<\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

According to Forrester, today\u2019s customers \u201cdistrust and resent one-off campaigns that interrupt or intercept them.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

These tools also give you insight into where all of your contacts stand in the marketing, sales and customer advocacy journey. You can report on who is progressing through your customer lifecycle, from which sources and at what rate. Having this data will allow you to start seeing behavior patterns that can inform future campaign strategies.<\/span><\/p>\n

But having the tools in your toolbox is only the first step in moving towards more effective engagement-style marketing communications. A critical path activity is creating a customer lifecycle that is constantly evaluated and updated. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A customer lifecycle represents the different stages that your prospects and customers go through as they interact with your brand. The lifecycle is often visualized as a funnel or cycle and may include stages such as discovery, consideration, evaluation, purchase, re-purchase and advocate. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Steps to Defining your Customer Lifecycle<\/h2>\n

You should create and define your customer lifecycle outside of Marketo first, and then configure your Marketo segmentation, programs and Revenue Cycle Modeler, if you have it, to align. <\/span><\/p>\n

Before your team starts configuring in Marketo, go through these 6 steps to help set the stage for a successful customer lifecycle deployment: \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

#1 – Understand and document your current state:<\/h3>\n

It has often been said, \u201cYou cannot know how to find your way to the destination unless you know where you are.\u201d The same holds true for a customer lifecycle project. Start with documenting all current lead or customer touchpoints and include any current handoff points. <\/span><\/p>\n

This will be helpful to have as a baseline as you begin to assess engagement strategy. It will also serve as a great artifact for change management efforts down the road. <\/span><\/p>\n

#2 – Bring sales and marketing together:<\/span><\/h3>\n

Don\u2019t leave your sales team out of the picture. Get sales and marketing teams in the same room to begin building out your future state lifecycle. Use this as a guide: \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n