Turn Your Leads Into Loyal Customers With Adobe Marketo Engage’s Lead Lifecycle Program

“Make the customer the hero of your story.”
– Ann Handley

In the realm of business, it’s not only about selling products; it’s also about creating a unique journey for each lead, making them feel like they’re the “main character.”

Throughout this journey, the customer should feel that the experience is uniquely crafted just for them, offering exactly what they need at that moment.

This is what customer lifecycle or lead lifecycle marketing is all about!

It encompasses several stages, starting from grabbing their attention, sparking their interest, convincing them to make a purchase, keeping them engaged, and ultimately turning them into loyal customers.

Speaking of crafting personalized journeys, marketing automation platforms such as Adobe Marketo Engage excel in this area. It empowers businesses to deliver consistent, personalized communication across various channels, ensuring a seamless customer experience.

Moreover, you can generate better leads, increase the flow of marketing qualified leads to the sales team, use lead scoring and nurturing to identify sales-ready leads, and improve your marketing ROI.

In this blog post we’ll delve deeper into the intricacies of what a lead lifecycle is, its different stages, and the steps to successfully implement a lead lifecycle strategy in Adobe Marketo Engage.

Understanding Lead Lifecycle Marketing

A lead lifecycle is like a journey that your leads go through when they become interested in your brand and make a purchase. This journey can be shown as a funnel or a circle. It includes the following steps.

• Reach out to your audience to help them discover your products (Reach)
• Educate them to encourage acquisition, leading to content subscription (Acquisition)
• Nurture them until they are ready to make a purchase (Conversion)
• Maintain engagement with personalized, high-value content to retain them (Retention)
• Identify and reward loyal champion customers through advocacy programs (Loyalty)

Simply put, the lead lifecycle shows how prospects move through different stages as they become interested in what you sell. It helps to understand any gaps in the funnel which can be investigated to ensure better progression towards conversion. By using this lifecycle, your team can make content to attract new leads and make sure they have a great experience at each step.

The Five Stages of Lead Lifecycle Marketing With Examples

The lead lifecycle is like a map that helps your team guide leads from when they first learn about your products to when they become loyal fans. Let’s go through the five stages of lead lifecycle marketing with examples.

1. Reach

At this stage, customers start looking for solutions to their problems. However, they might not have an immediate need for the same, but the goal is to establish a connection between the brand and a potential present or future need.

Here, you have to make them aware of your brand, product, or service. This can happen through various marketing channels, such as advertising, content marketing, social media, or word-of-mouth.

For instance, a person sees a sponsored post on their social media feed showcasing the sleek design and innovative features of the iPhone. They click on the ad to learn more.

2. Acquisition

Customers arrive at your website, they may call you or engage with your chatbot. Respond to questions, educate them about your products, and show how your products can meet their needs. Keep your marketing content (like websites and emails) relevant and informative. You can use gated assets to collect info, while using live chat to provide instant support.

For instance, the person who clicked on the iPhone social media ad is directed to a landing page where they can sign up for a newsletter to receive updates, exclusive offers, and news about the iPhone. They provide their email address to subscribe.

3. Conversion

In this stage your lead becomes your customer when they make a purchase. Ensure you’re providing a valuable and positive customer experience. Remember, you’re not just selling a product, you’re starting a relationship. Make sure they are satisfied with what they bought and the experience they had.

For instance, subscribers to the iPhone newsletter receive a series of emails highlighting the smartphone’s key features, customer reviews, and limited-time discounts. Impressed by the value proposition, the individual decides to make a purchase online or at an Apple Store.

4. Retention

After converting a lead into a customer, the goal is to retain them by ensuring satisfaction, providing support, and encouraging repeat business. Here your goal is to keep customers happy by using surveys and feedback to improve. Offer exclusive perks like discounts or 24/7 support.

For instance, the iPhone customer receives excellent post-purchase support, including tutorials, troubleshooting assistance, and access to Apple’s customer service. The company also periodically sends software updates and offers personalized recommendations for apps and accessories.

5. Loyalty

Voila! Your customers have successfully become your brand advocates. They’ll keep buying from you, become brand assets, and spread the word.

In the loyalty stage, happy customers keep using the product or renew their subscriptions. Loyal customers might also try extra services or buy more expensive options. Additionally, they recommend the product or service to others.

For example, the satisfied iPhone customer writes a good review on the Apple website, praising the smartphone’s performance, camera quality, and the exceptional customer support. They also recommend the iPhone to friends and family through word-of-mouth, social media, and even participate in Apple’s referral program, earning rewards for each successful referral.

During each of these stages, a marketing automation tool, such as Adobe Marketo Engage, helps you understand where your contacts are in the process of exploring your products, making a purchase or becoming loyal customers. You can track and monitor the origin of prospects as they progress through various phases. This information helps you notice patterns in how people behave, which can help you create better marketing campaigns.

Now let’s discover how you can build an effective lead lifecycle program with Adobe Marketo Engage.

How to Build a Lead Lifecycle Program in Adobe Marketo Engage

Building a lead lifecycle program in Adobe Marketo Engage involves creating a structured approach to managing leads throughout their journey, from initial contact to becoming a qualified customer.

Here are the steps involved in building an effective lead lifecycle program in Adobe Marketo Engage.

Define Your Lead Lifecycle Stages

Identify the key stages a lead goes through from the moment they enter your system to the point of becoming a customer. Common stages include:

• Subscribers
• Leads
• Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs)
• Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs)
• Customers

Set Up Lead Scoring

Assign scores to various actions and attributes that indicate lead engagement and readiness. Leads accumulate scores as they interact with your content, this helps you to determine their position in the lead lifecycle.

Create Automation Workflows

Use Adobe Marketo Engage’s automation features to move leads through different stages of the lifecycle. For instance:

• Design automated nurture campaigns to engage leads with relevant content.
• Trigger alerts or notifications when a lead reaches a certain score, indicating they are ready for sales engagement.
• Automatically update lead stages based on predefined criteria.

Segmentation and Personalization

Use lead data to segment your audience based on demographics, behaviors, interests, and engagement levels. This allows you to deliver personalized content and messages that resonate with each segment.

Lead Nurturing

Develop automated lead nurturing campaigns that deliver valuable content to leads at each stage of the lifecycle. Nurture campaigns help build trust and move leads closer to making a purchase.

Sales and Marketing Alignment

Establish clear criteria for passing leads from marketing to sales. Regular communication between marketing and sales teams is crucial to ensure that leads are handed off effectively and not lost in the process.

Lead Lifecycle Analytics and Optimization

Continuously monitor and analyze the performance of your lead lifecycle program. Adobe Marketo Engage provides analytics and reporting tools to track the effectiveness of your campaigns, conversion rates, and other key metrics. Use this data to refine your strategy and improve the program over time.

Testing

A/B testing different elements of your lead lifecycle program (email subject lines, content, call-to-actions, etc.) can provide valuable insights into what works best for your audience.

Wrapping Up

“In today’s world, where products and services are becoming increasingly similar, what sets businesses apart is the way they make customers feel.” – Annette Franz

The primary focus of every business should be customer satisfaction, while also ensuring continuous engagement with potential buyers at every stage.

And this is where Adobe Marketo Engage comes into play!

Adobe Marketo Engage offers a range of tools designed to assist you in crafting a seamless journey for potential leads, ultimately drawing in more satisfied customers. You can count on Adobe Marketo Engage to create more effective marketing communication and boost engagement & conversions.

Ready to Boost Your Conversion Rate With Marketo’s Lead Lifecycle Program? Talk to Us!