How do you feel about 3D movies? Whether they be at home or in theater, it seems like the jury is still out regarding this viewing experience. Personally, I’m still a fan of the traditional 2D viewing experience. I enjoy watching movies without thinking that I may actually be struck by a semi coming out of the screen or the feeling of a bullet zipping past my head, but that’s just me. I may be down on 3D movies (for now), but you know what kind of 3D that I am excited about? That’s right, 3D lead scoring – the future of lead scoring!
Recently, I introduced how Right On Interactive scores leads and customers in 3D. We’ve discussed the important roles both profile and engagement play in 3D lead scoring so now it’s only appropriate to dive into the last piece of the equation: lifecycle stage.
It’s not enough to score leads and customers based upon their profile fit with your company or their level of engagement with your brand. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a good start, but the companies that are experiencing the highest growth have discovered this “3rd D.” In order to really reach your leads, prospects, AND customers with meaningful content, you have to know where they are in their relationship with your brand. Enter lifecycle marketing.
It’s imperative for any business to track relationships from start to finish. Isn’t that why customer relationship management software was created? Anybody can have a database of clientele but it’s difficult to track where someone is in their relationship with your products or services in an Excel spreadsheet. Assigning status or lifecycle stage to a lead or customer adds another level of insight that can greatly impact the way in which marketing and sales communicate with the contact.
Here at Right On Interactive, we utilize our own Customer Lifecycle Marketing software to track our relationships with both our prospects and our customers. Our current stages are the following (in order from unknown prospect to raving fan): Universe, Leads, Marketing Qualified Leads, Sales Qualified Leads, Onboard, Expand, and Appreciate. Specific gate criteria separate each of these stages, and our marketing and sales teams track these conversion rates closely as well as who is converting on a daily basis.
A lead (Marketing Qualified Lead stage) with a high profile score who is engaged with your brand should receive different communications than a current customer (Expand Stage) with the same profile and engagement scores. Likewise, a repeat customer (Appreciate Stage) who has provided you with referral business should receive different communications than a one-time customer. This is precisely why 3D lead scoring is so critical.
Gone are the days of blanket marketing approaches and batch-n-blast email marketing. Email marketing and automated campaign software are a dime a dozen each boasting about the simplicity of multi-step email marketing, but these platforms are quickly growing outdated with the evolving needs of current companies. Marketing and sales teams see more success in identifying “best fit” customers, building relationships with those who are already engaged, and streamlining one-to-one communications through automation.
Increase efficiency with fewer resources. Increase revenue by increasing engagement. Consider how your organization can employ the Customer Lifecycle Marketing stages in your marketing and sales efforts whether or not your company is utilizing a lifecycle marketing technology.
