More and more businesses are ditching the traditional sales funnel model and adopting the Customer Lifecycle Marketing Model. That’s because Customer Lifecycle Marketing is a more organic and effective approach…
But does this mean that you have to dump the sales funnel completely?
This is not necessarily the case and a good way to think about this question is from the business point of view that Customer Lifecycle Marketing actually builds on the sales funnel concept …and takes it a step further.
The sales funnel and customer lifecycle marketing explained…
First, let’s compare the two models. The sales funnel is a model that is designed to bring leads into your business through a wide mouth at the top, and then allows you to qualify leads as they move through your funnel. Then at each step along the funnel, you are able to make offers and gradually sift out people who don’t buy.
Customer Lifecycle Marketing on the other hand, is based completely on your customer experience. It has three stages which are Attract, Motivate, and Delight, and this cycle can be repeated as many times as necessary. With this model, your leads can come into the cycle at any stage, so that you are able to make the right offer to meet your potential customers’ needs when it’s right for them.
The Advantages of Customer Lifecycle Marketing
The reason why Customer Lifecycle Marketing can work well for your businesses is because it is designed to meet the needs of a changing marketplace. And this is important because in today’s market, people expect a much more personal experience with the business brands they buy from. They don’t just want any old offer. Instead, they want to engage with your brand and expect a lot more from companies now more than ever. Which means you need to deliver on their expectations.
With a sales funnel, you can eliminate unqualified leads who aren’t interested in your offer. This is a weakness of the sales funnel because you may lose future business and it doesn’t adapt well to market changes
Customer Lifecycle Marketing works well because it maintains and builds the relationship you have with your audience. Customer Lifecycle Marketing is flexible and adaptable because the sale is just the beginning of the relationship. And as long as you know and understand your audience and your offerings to them, you can keep the cycle going.
When to Use a Sales Funnel
Although Customer Lifecycle Marketing is more appropriate and an efficient method in today’s customer markets, this doesn’t mean you’ve wasted your time mastering the sales funnel. So, don’t just discard this method because, even if you switch, you should still keep the old approach in your repertoire as it may come in handy.
For example, one area where you might use a sales funnel is in a one-time promotion. In this case, you’re not concerned with creating a long-term relationship. What you need is to get your message out and attract the right people to your offer.
A sales funnel can also be useful because it’s a simple model to use. It can be used to gather market information, and since it shifts out leads through successive offers, you can use it to gain data about your audience by seeing which of your product and service offer messages work for you.
In summary, there are times when the traditional sales funnel can still be useful. But if you’re not using the Customer Lifecycle Marketing model, you need to research and build this highly effective approach for creating long-term relationships and turning your delighted customers into lifetime advocates who refer you to others.
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