Customer lifecycle

FAQ-Customer Lifecycle

Introduction

Customer lifecycle is the user management from the initial reach of the user to the loss of such user. For independent site merchants, management is significant. Appropriate marketing strategies facilitate your customer management and optimize the value of each customer.

Due to the difference of business models, product types, market environments, independent site merchants often find their customer lifecycle vary to a great extent and cannot fit in a fixed module. SmartPush provides a more flexible and multi-module customer lifecycle solution for independent site merchants. SmartPush uses a dynamic model calculated based on the original data from each independent site, while also supporting independent site merchants to make adjustments based on their industry insights. Therefore, our solution can accommodate the diverse requirements of various independent site merchants.

Go to [Contacts] > [Customer Lifecycle] to enter the management page. In the customer lifecycle management page, you can view customer overview indicators, customer lifecycle model diagram, and other relevant settings.

*Note: To use customer lifecycle related features, you need to meet the following two requirements:

1. Completed store linkage
2. Currently subscribed to SmartPush

This article will cover the following:

• Customer overview indicators
• Customer lifecycle segmentation
• Custom customer lifecycle stages
• Application of customer lifecycle
• Anonymous visitor data tracking
• How to enable Customer lifecycle

Customer overview indicators

Customer overview indicators are calculated according to the user data in the store, including the five key indicators of average order value, paying customer count, repeat customer count, first purchase decision cycle, and repurchase cycle.

The descriptions of the overview indicators are as follows:

Indicator	Description
Average order value	Average order value = Total sales/ Total number of orders.
Paying customer count	The number of customers that have placed orders.
Repeat customer count	The Number of customers that have placed 2 or more orders. The proportion of repeat customers = Repeat customer count / Paying customer count.
First purchase decision cycle	Customers who completed their first conversion within the last 90 days, average duration between first active time and first order time.
Repurchase cycle	The average time duration between orders placed by customers who have placed 2 or more orders.

Update timing for overview indicators

1. Data is updated hourly.
2. For newly installed stores, there may be a slight 1-hour delay in the data.

Recommended application scenarios for overview indicators

1. Average order value: Set coupon redemption thresholds based on the average order value and send coupons to customers whose order value falls below average order value, encouraging an increase in the overall order value.
2. First purchase decision cycle: For new customers who haven't made a purchase within the average first purchase decision cycle, the system will automatically send a marketing email to address concerns regarding their conversion, thereby enhancing new customer conversions. This marketing email can include discount offers, post-purchase assurance, product recommendations, and more.
3. Repurchase cycle: For customers who have made a purchase but haven't repeated their purchase within the repurchase cycle, the system will automatically send a marketing email to recommend new or popular products, thereby increasing repurchase rates.

Customer lifecycle segmentation

Overall, SmartPush assesses different stages of the customer lifecycle based on two dimensions: customer activity and spending. These stages range from the most valuable active customers to the least valuable lost customers, divided into a total of 7 stages based on customer spending value and activity level.

Description of the key indicators of customer lifecycle stages:

Indicator	Description
Number of customers in different customer lifecycle stages	The number of customers in each customer lifecycle stage. The data is updated daily at 0:00 according to the store's set time zone.
Percentage distribution of customers in different customer lifecycle stages.	Number of customer in different customer lifecycle stages/ Total number of customers
Changes in the number of customers in different customer lifecycle stages.	The percentage change in the number of customers compared to the previous week.

Customer lifecycle pop-ups

Click on each block of the customer lifecycle to view the corresponding explanatory pop-up.

Click Create groups to enter the corresponding group list page.

Description of customer lifecycle stages:

Customer lifecycle stage	Description	Marketing strategy suggestions
Loyal customers	The most valuable customer segment in the entire store, characterized by high brand loyalty, significant value contribution, and recent active engagement. This segment comprises customers who meet either of the following criteria: Customers that have placed 2 or more orders with an average order value higher than the average order value. Customers that have been active within the active cycle or having placed consistent orders during the repurchase cycle.	Maintain strong and lasting customer relationships through regular reach, exclusive promotions, personalized product recommendations, early access to new arrivals, and VIP program invitations for exclusive benefits.
High-potential customers	The active high-potential customers that have certain brand recognition but do not provide high value. This segment comprises customers who meet either of the following criteria: Customers, apart from loyal customers, who have placed 2 or more orders or have an average order value higher than the average order value. Customers who are active within the active cycle or have made continuous orders within X days in the repurchase cycle.	Enhance customer brand perception by continuously updating products and offering promotions, thereby increasing order frequency and value.
Customers to be cultivated	The customers that have placed their first orders in the store and have been active currently. This segment comprises customers who meet either of the following criteria: Customers who have placed 1 order Customers that have been active within the active cycle or having placed consistent orders during the repurchase cycle.	It is necessary to focus on the first-order experience of these customers, avoid adverse experiences that may lead to customer churn. You can enhance brand awareness through discounts, recommendations, etc., to encourage repurchases.
Customers to be introduced	The customers with lower brand recognition and trust, who have not converted with their first order within a certain period. This segment comprises customers who meet either of the following criteria: customers who haven't placed their first orders Customers whose last visit time is beyond the active cycle but within the churn cycle.	Continuously emphasize the advantages, services, and experiences of your brand to build trust while offering first-order discounts to encourage purchase for new customers, thereby improving the efficiency of first-order conversions.
Sleeping customers	Customers who have converted once but have been inactive for a certain period. This segment comprises customers who meet either of the following criteria: Customers who have placed 1 or more orders Customers whose last visit time is beyond the active cycle but within the churn cycle.	Regularly reach to your customers and provide them with certain discounts to prevent them from forgetting your brand.
Customers that cannot be lost	Customers who have made purchases but have been inactive for a long period. This segment comprises customers who meet either of the following criteria: Customers who have placed 1 or more orders Customers whose last visit time is beyond the active cycle but within the churn cycle.	The customers in this segment can be divided into two categories based on negative feedback, complaints, and other adverse reactions: Risky Churn Customers: Implement customer compensation and appeasement plans. General Churn Customers: Use significant discounts or new product releases to re-engage these customers, and further segment them based on channel activity data as needed.
Lost customers	Customers that are not converted successfully and have been inactive for a long period. This segment comprises customers who meet either of the following criteria: Customers who haven't placed any orders Customers whose last visit time is beyond the churn cycle.	Reach to these customers with regular promotional marketing campaigns and new customer recruitment, stimulating user activity (new customer acquisition through email channels is significantly lower than public domain channels).

Custom customer lifecycle stages

The customer lifecycle stages are, by default, divided based on dynamic s calculated by AI algorithms. However, you can also customize the settings based on your industry expertise.

Click on Key indicator settings to open the key settings pop-up. Here, you can edit the data for the 5 key indicators that affect the division of the 7 customer lifecycle stages.

1. Changes made to these 5 indicators will only affect the division of the corresponding 7 customer lifecycle stages and will not impact the data presented in the customer overview indicators.
2. After confirming the changes, the customer lifecycle stages will be recalculated in real-time.
3. You can restore the default dynamic indicator values calculated by the AI algorithm by deleting the indicators you set.
4. The day-to-day changes in the proportion of different stages will only be compared based on the final results of that day. Therefore, if there have been changes in the key indicator settings during that period, the comparison data from within the week following the changes should only be used as a reference.

Description of key indicator settings

Indicator	Description
Active cycle	The active cycle is used to determine whether a customer has entered the silent phase. The default active cycle is the time period in which the average next-day retention rate over the past 90 days has decreased the most. At this point, the probability of customer inactivity is the highest, and it requires intervention to prevent churn.
Churn cycle	The churn cycle is used to determine if a customer has already churned. The default churn cycle is the time period in which the customer's next-day retention rate has changed the least over the past 90 days. At this point, the natural revisit rate is relatively low, and it's necessary to consider re-engaging the user.
First purchase cycle	The first purchase cycle is used to determine if new customers have completed their first conversion within this time frame. This helps in deciding whether to continue nurturing these customers or focusing on acquiring new ones. The default value is the average time between paying customers' registration and their first order.
Repurchase cycle	The repurchase cycle is used to determine whether customers with more than 1 order have completed a repurchase within this time frame. It assists in classifying customers as high-potential customers or sleeping customers. The default value is the average time between orders for customers that have placed at least 2 orders.
Order level	customer lifecycle bases on the order level to determine customers as high-potential customers or loyal customers. The default value is Total sales amount/ Total number of orders.

Application of customer lifecycle

The customer lifecycle stages will label each customer accordingly, allowing you to view or filter the corresponding stage of people through segment conditions.

In the segment condition, select customer lifecycle and lost customers to filter the list of customers in the "lost customers" segment.

Anonymous visitor data tracking

To expand the store's visitor data, SmartPush supports the collection of anonymous visitor data and associates anoymous visitor's cookie data and UID data. The specific matching moments are as follows:

1. When a customer registers or logs in. The generated UID data will be associated with the currently carried cookie data.
2. When a customer places an order. The generated UID data will be associated with the currently carried cookie data.
3. After a customer fills out a SmartPush pop-up form. The UID data generated in the form will be associated with the currently carried cookie data.
4. When a customer enters the website through the link included in a SmartPush email/SMS message. The generated UID data of the recipient's email/phone number will be associated with the currently carried cookie data.

How to enable Customer lifecycle

To ensure the access to Customer lifecycle, you need to activate the script for SmartPush or enable the theme embedding toggle. For specific operational procedures, please refer to Activate Script or Switch on Theme Embedding Toggle on the Homepage