What does “lifecycle revenue marketing” mean?
Lifecycle revenue marketing, or LRM, is a more advanced way to do business-to-business marketing than just focusing on acquisition and demand creation. Instead, it focuses just as much, if not more, on keeping current users and making more money by upselling and cross-selling.
For ease of understanding, LRM is a marketing strategy that focuses on how much money a customer brings in throughout their career. Most businesses focus on acquisition (the first sale) and retention (keeping customers interested over time) separately. LRM, on the other hand, looks at both issues as part of a bigger picture called revenue growth.
It’s easier to understand the idea when it’s broken down into two parts:
That’s the total amount of all the sales you make to a customer throughout their whole time as a customer. This includes any services or products bought upfront, upgrades or add-ons, and renewals and contracts.
Marketing includes everything done to get new customers, keep old ones, and get more through different methods, like email campaigns, social media ads, and website content.
Forrester coined the term in January 2023. It stems from the idea that building long-term relationships is key to gaining satisfied customers, keeping them coming back, and growing over time. LRM aims to find and use untapped talent at every customer contact point.
Word for
- LRM
What B2B companies need to know about lifecycle revenue marketing
Account-based marketing (ABM) and other older ways of doing things are still helpful, but LRM offers different priorities. That way, a business can be sure that its marketing efforts are just as effective at keeping customers and getting new ones as they are at getting new ones.
Changes in how buyers act
Buyers today are more demanding, linked, and well-informed than ever before. Many sources of information and tools are open to them, which helps them quickly compare goods and shop around. Because of this, they expect to be personalized at all points in the customer journey.
From what Gartner Sales Insights knows, possible buyers are usually 57% to 70% through the decision-making process when they contact sales. Buyers meet with potential suppliers 17% of the time. This means each vendor has no more than 5% of the buyer’s time to get their point across.
As more people use self-service, businesses must focus on keeping customers happy by sending them marketing messages and letting them view material whenever they want.
Deals with Problems in frontline marketing
There are three main problems that direct marketing teams need to solve to be successful in today’s complicated buying world:
- Getting marketing departments to work together
- Making a single picture of the customer
- Changing plans to fit different ways of buying
Companies that use lifetime revenue marketing can ensure that all their customer-facing teams have the same view of how a customer has interacted with the brand by using CRM software and a customer data platform (CDP). It also lets B2B marketing teams set up automation that sends product suggestions or content that makes things easier for customers based on what they do, like reading an email, blog post, or price page.
Sustainability depends on keeping customers and making money.
Retention is the only way to build a lasting business, especially in B2B SaaS, where subscription sales are significant. A company that only focuses on getting new customers will never be able to grow past a certain point because it has to keep replacing customers who leave.
It’s 5–7 times cheaper to keep a customer than to get a new one. Part of the reason why investors look at retention first is because it shows success better than almost any other measure.
Also, there is a 60% to 70% chance of selling to a customer you already have—only 20 percent of the time a business will sell to a new one. Focusing on improving the customer experience and giving current customers more value is a great way for a company to make a lot more money without spending a lot on expensive acquisition campaigns.
Lifecycle revenue marketing has a lot of benefits.
Lifecycle revenue marketing is all about making a growth engine that never stops by giving equal weight to getting new customers, keeping old ones, and growing. This has a lot of benefits for both the business and the customer.
Line up frontline marketing with the whole customer lifecycle.
Lifecycle revenue marketing is all about giving customers a smooth experience from start to finish. This means that everyone in the company, from sales to customer service, needs to work together to reach the same goal: growth through retention and growth.
When field marketers use lifecycle revenue marketing, they stop making content that only moves leads through the sales funnel and start making content that moves people through the buying process. They think it’s their job to help their customers get more out of their product all the time, which should also help them get more chances for themselves.
Get people more involved with your brand throughout the customer lifecycle.
There is a lot of buyer engagement during the onboarding and purchase steps. People become much less interested in a product once the sale is made and the customer starts using it.
Frontline marketers who use a lifecycle revenue marketing method can keep sharing content and messages relevant to how their customers use their products and the problems they face in their businesses.
Cut down on customer turnover and time to value
Training customers and prospects is an integral part of LRM. This is usually done through digital schools or personalized onboarding, support, and usage materials. Customers are less likely to leave if the company makes it easy for them to keep using its products in a way that benefits them.
Marketers who use LRM keep customers interested by using email marketing and loyalty programs, among other things.
How to Make Lifecycle Revenue Marketing Work for You
The term “lifecycle revenue marketing” is relatively new, but the tactics that make it up aren’t. At its core, the idea is simple: take care of customers at every stage of their trip and, in turn, make room for more sales.
Lifecycle income marketing can help you with the following:
The hiring process is the first step.
Customers who don’t have the tools they need to succeed with a product are much less likely to stay loyal over time. Some or all of the following could be part of a customer training experience:
Implementation, deployment, and training that you can do by hand (for business users)
- Self-service tools, like online help and guides through a customer site
- Digital tools for getting started, such as product documentation
- Notifications and product guides inside the app for new users that make it easier for them to adopt the product
- There is a program to help customers get the most out of your goods.
To get a complete picture of the customer, use a customer data platform (CDP).
You can get customer data from your marketing and communication platforms, organize it, and divide it into groups with a CDP. With this information, you can get insights about each customer and set up automation on every site they use.
When they search for certain product-related content on your site, for example, your marketing automation software could add them right away to a list of people who will get how-tos and feature updates about that product. Or, based on how the product is used, it might offer an upgrade or add-on. It makes their experiences more unique as they learn more about them.
Make the most money by getting people to recommend your business.
Lifecycle revenue marketing should always prioritize the customer’s success. But there’s also a great chance to attract fans who can help you attract new ones.
One of the best and least expensive ways to get leads is through customer recommendations. Additionally, people are much more likely to buy your product if a friend or coworker tells them about it than if they just stumble across it online.
