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Lifecycle Marketing (CRM)

Strategy
Foundation

Definition

Engaging customers with targeted communications and experiences based on where they are in their journey with your product or brand.

Related Knowledge

AARRR

Common lifecycle stages

  • Awareness – Prospect knows about you but has not converted
  • Acquisition – First purchase or signup
  • Onboarding / Activation – New user learning to use the product
  • Engagement – Active usage and habit formation
  • Retention – Keeping users coming back over time
  • Revenue / Monetization – Upsells, cross-sells, plan upgrades
  • Referral – Turning happy customers into advocates
  • Reactivation / Winback – Re-engaging churned or dormant users

    • Typical channels (CRM tools)

  • Email sequences and campaigns
  • Push notifications (mobile and web)
  • SMS and WhatsApp
  • In-app messages and tooltips
  • Direct mail for higher-value customers

    • Examples in practice

  • Welcome email series for new signups
  • "You left items in your cart" reminders
  • "It has been 7 days since your last visit" re-engagement
  • Anniversary or milestone celebrations
  • "Here is what you are missing" nudges for users on free plans

    • Why it matters for growth

    Lifecycle marketing is often one of the highest-ROI growth levers because:

  • You are reaching people who already know you (warmer audience)
  • Owned channels have near-zero marginal cost compared to paid ads
  • Personalization drives significantly higher conversion rates
  • It directly improves retention, which compounds over time

    • Key metrics

  • Open rates and click rates by campaign
  • Conversion rates at each lifecycle stage
  • Time to activation for new users
  • Churn rate and churn reduction
  • Revenue per user by lifecycle stage

    • Example: diagnosing and improving activation

  • Challenge: Activation. For Lovable, getting a user to sign up is easy; getting them to build their first app is hard.
  • Funnel analysis:
    • Observation: Users drop off 3 days after signing up.
    • Insight: Send an automated email on Day 2 with a success case study to re-engage them and guide them to first value.

    • Common lifecycle marketing tools

    Tools commonly used include:

  • Braze
  • Iterable
  • Customer.io
  • Klaviyo
  • HubSpot
  • Salesforce Marketing Cloud