In 1965, The Byrds made famous the words from Ecclesiastes in their hit Turn! Turn! Turn! I heard this song again recently and got to thinking about time. It was just after Labor Day—when we’re reminded how fast the summers always fly. In September, we hit the reset button and return our focus to school and work.
“There is a time for everything” are the lyrics the great Pete Seeger set to music. Pete would have appreciated Customer Lifecycle Automation in a decidedly 60s sort of way: contemplating lifecycles, milestones, challenges, achievements.
We can easily define the steps of the customer journey. Set signposts and warnings, stepping in when necessary, distinguishing between opportunities for growth and mediating if the route gets bumpy. And for much of this we can set the cadence—automating the timing of these conversations.
Making it ideal for automation, an individual customer journey will cover much the same ground as others along the same route. Everyone will experience being new at the start, adapt to unfamiliar processes, graduate through phases of adoption. For this reason, lifecycle automation is a welcome partner in customer success practices. Custom, pre-set checkpoints trigger engagements with the customer, keeping things on time and on track.
Among the 5 Steps to an Automated Customer Lifecycle, Kristin Carideo advises using content to directly address customer pain points. Keep it simple by choosing common events along the customer timeline, then determine the trigger. For example, if a customer’s login frequency falls below a certain health level it triggers an automated, supportive email.
There are two key benefits of Customer Lifecycle Automation:
- Automation frees up valuable customer success management resources and allows organizations to effectively scale and grow
- At-risk customers are less likely to churn as automated intervention is pre-set to prompt personalized engagement of support
Here are a few examples of Customer Lifecycle Automation in action:
- Onboarding: a predefined set of steps direct new customers through the process
- Playbooks: the action on the field. Goals, strategies and specific steps for defined operations
- Renewal reminders: step the client through the entire renewal process
- Health triggers: pre-set health markers trigger automated support and notification
Timing is everything…and with Customer Lifecycle Automation, you can schedule delivery of the right message to the right customer at the right time. Yes, Pete, to everything there is a season.
This article was syndicated from Business 2 Community: Customer Lifecycle Automation and Pete Seeger? Yeah.
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