What are Lifecycle Stages?
These divisions describe your relationship with your audience and can generally be broken down into three stages: awareness, checking, and purchase. This is a critical aspect of the digital ecosystem, offering numerous examples and case studies that illustrate its application across different industries and scenarios.
Example
Using the same example of the software company selling CRM software, here are the typical lifecycle stages:
- Subscriber/Visitor: Individuals who have shown interest in the company’s offerings by subscribing to their email list, visiting their website, or engaging with their content on social media.
- Lead: Visitors who have provided their contact information, such as email addresses, through a form on the company’s website or by signing up for a free trial or demo of the CRM software.
- Marketing Qualified Lead (MQL): Leads who have shown a higher level of interest or engagement with the company’s content and are deemed more likely to become customers based on specific criteria, such as lead scoring or behavior tracking.
- Sales Qualified Lead (SQL): MQLs who have been further vetted by the sales team and identified as potential customers ready for direct sales engagement, such as scheduling a product demo or requesting pricing information.
- Opportunity: Leads or prospects who have expressed serious interest in purchasing the CRM software and are actively considering purchasing.
- Customer: Individuals or organizations who have purchased the CRM software and are now actively using it to manage their customer relationships and business operations.
- Advocate: Satisfied customers who are willing to promote the company’s products or services, provide testimonials, and refer new business opportunities.
By understanding the lifecycle stages of leads and customers, businesses can tailor their marketing and sales strategies to nurture relationships, drive conversions, and maximize customer retention and advocacy.