Enterprises today need to set a customer-centric work culture that does not end after the sales transaction is completed. Top enterprises develop strategic relationships with clients that increase the customer’s lifetime value and retention rate.
Businesses that aim to enhance customer journeys need to pay thorough attention to their lifecycle. Evaluating the end-to-end client lifecycle enables enterprises to help B2B marketing teams to spot the touch points in the presales, sale, and after-sales teams to convert a one-time buyer into a loyal customer.
Here are a few ways that CMOs can consider leveraging automation at various stages of the customer lifecycle management to enhance the Customer Experience:
Awareness stage
As in the awareness stage of the customer lifecycle, a potential customer has just become aware of the brand and shows interest. Irrespective of all the social media, cold emailing, content marketing, or Google strategies in place to create brand awareness, businesses need to put extra effort to stand apart from the competition. Integrating automation into the MarTech stack will help to introduce the brand, collect preferable client data, set clear expectations, and convert leads into potential customers. Designing and implementing pop-ups at various touch points will assist businesses in gathering relevant client information. Enterprises that integrate automation tools with Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) will ensure customized content is delivered as per the client’s need to increase the conversion rate. AI-based chatbots are more interactive and reliable than standard pop-ups. Organizations that aim to deliver a top-notch experience can implement a chatbot to automate most of the customer lifecycle management stages.
Interest stage
B2B buyers that reach this stage are the potential customers for every enterprise, and organizations need to have an effective plan to educate and nurture the leads to develop a relationship. One of the most effective ways to educate the prospect about the business and services is by automating the newsletters. CMOs should consider integrating automation tools in the customer lifecycle management that enable them to personalize the interactions to nurture the leads. Integration automation in the interest stage is a perfect way to filter the prospects and identify the leads that are actually looking to buy a product or service.
desire stage
A buyer that reaches this stage needs to be effectively lured into being a customer. B2B marketing teams can leverage automation at this stage of customer lifecycle management to design and deploy lead-triggering campaigns. CMOs can design email automation strategies with Call to Action (CTA) buttons like Price inquiries, free trial sign-ins, demo requests, and free sample requests to engage the prospects and identify the leads that are ready to convert. Chatbots will also help in this stage to resolve all the customer queries and grievances to improve the overall customer experience.
Also Read: The Four Ts of Integrating Data Management and Customer Experience
Action stage
A customer lost at this stage in the B2B purchase cycle means all the efforts are in vain. Enterprises need to have effective customer engagement strategies to ensure the customer is converted. Implementing automation will help businesses to ensure that customer lifecycle management is smooth, easy, seamless, and enjoyable. Once the sale is made, marketing teams can design and send engaging order confirmation emails that can ask them about the purchase experience and other client expectations. Automating the training modules or user guides to effectively use the product and service will create a trustworthy relationship with the customer.
Customer retention stage
Businesses that have a higher customer retention rate will have effective workflows. Automation plays a significant role in the retention stage of customer lifecycle management. B2B marketing teams can design, implement and automate a loyalty program that helps businesses to spot the cross-sale and upsell opportunities.
Automation plays a crucial role in every stage of B2B customer lifecycle management and hence results in a higher customer retention rate.
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