Understanding the Customer Lifecycle: Awareness

Customers have 99 problems, and finding the right solution shouldn’t be one of them.

You might remember the seven stages of the customer lifecycle:

• Awareness
• Education
• Conversion
• Onboarding
• Retention
• Brand Advocacy
• Word-of-Mouth
  

It follows customers through these stages from the moment they discover your brand all the way to telling everyone they know about how you changed their life. Picture it as a continuous circle, each stage flowing into the next. 

The circle of e-commerce life.

As they cycle through, you find your true fans.

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Searching for the Right Solution

While you work hard converting people to your brand, prospects search hard for the brand that can get the problem gone.

Their to-do list: 

• Google
• Scroll social media
• Ask their friends
• Try to remember what ads they’ve seen
  

They’re weighing their options based on a few things:

1. Does the product or service look good?
2. Will it work?
3. Did I have a good experience with the brand?
   

Why Care About Awareness?

This is the first step to getting noticed. Without getting noticed, you’re not getting any traffic, and without any traffic, you’re not getting any business.

It puts you in front of the audience. 

And, if you put in the effort, it places you in front of your competitors.

The Hype Stage

Getting that much exposure takes listening to your customers, making a long-term plan, and executing it.

Your job now is to create things that will stop people in their tracks for your brand.

Here’s an example. 

You’re the marketing director for a fitness tracker. Fitness trackers help people gauge their activity and physical health so they can improve their lives.

Your target audience is young, health-conscious people. They have fitness goals but live busy lives. 

They know they’re not paying as much attention as they should to their health, and they’re looking for something to give them a routine so they can move forward without distractions.

This is where you come in. 

Your job is to find the way to be the solution that catches their eye.

Your best bet is to show the tracker improving users’ lives. Giving them more time to themselves, better sleep, control over their health, and less stress. 

So, you might choose a quick social media product video to pump them up for exercise.

They’re left wondering, where has this been all my life??

Now, you’re on their radar.

Throughout the lifecycle, you have to send the best message at the best time. Knowing where the customer’s head is at any given time will help you stay on track.

Key Concepts During The Awareness Stage

Now is the time to start being proactive.

Potentials see a lot of competing brands. You need a strategy to ensure you’ll get those clicks.

Take time to understand your target audience.

You’re one step closer to conversion if you fully understand who you’re working with. Give yourself an edge: know what they want before they want it.

A few ways to do this:

• Analyze the customer base
• Do your research
• Monitor social media
• Use surveys or free offers to get to know them
  

Offer freebies.

Do you market to teens? Millennials? Maybe a mix of both? 

Figure out who exactly you want to reach. Then head over to their most commonly used social media apps. 

Start using those to promote your business in creative ways. TikTok, anyone?

The more exposure you get, the more likely they are to hit you up.

Watch your analytics.

Once you know what your audience likes, where they hang out, and what to offer them, pay attention to what makes them bite.

Then, you’re moving seamlessly into the education stage.

Remember this is only the beginning. It’s your chance to set your brand’s tone and make that first impact. 

To learn more about the lifecycle, head over here. While you’re at it, why not get started on your own customer lifecycle management? Schedule a call with Jive.