Understanding the Customer Lifecycle: Conversion

Ahhh, conversion.

Probably the most important part of the lifecycle. No big deal, right?

If you’re trying to keep up with the many stages of the lifecycle, we define them as:

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

By the time you reach conversion, your potential buyer has decided to take a shot with your company. All that education paid off! Quite literally.

Your focus now is on activating that customer as a recurring one.

It should be the start of a lasting customer-brand relationship.

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Why Care About Conversion?

Because this is when you prove yourself. You convince your customer that you’re worth it.

They’re continually educating themselves about your brand and receiving any automation that is relevant to them.

These are your people.

But more than half of your customers will give up if you don’t give them the type of support they need during this stage.

Making it Frictionless

While the customer experience is important to focus on throughout the lifecycle (have we said that enough yet?), it’s critical that you get it right in conversion. 

You’ll want the buying process to be as smooth as possible.

Have you ever tried to buy something on a website, but you just could not figure it out? Same. 

We’re guessing that frustration finally convinced you to shop somewhere else. 

That’s called friction. It’s what we want to avoid at all costs.

Consider the types of people who will be visiting your site and making purchases. Use what you know about them to make the site simple to use and the buying process easy-peasy. Just a couple of clicks. 

Then move forward from there.

Key Concepts During the Conversion Stage

Remember you’re nurturing a customer-brand relationship.

The contacts you acquired through education are now converted to your brand as customers. They may not be repeat customers yet, but they’ve definitely made a decision.

And they want to know they’re getting value.

You need to continue nurturing them throughout the buying process because this stage leads to onboarding -- when they’ll go all-in.

At this point, you’ve probably gathered a lot of information about their interests based on website actions, email sign-ups, and actual purchases. Use this to your (and more importantly, their) advantage!

Have you ever read through a list of reviews? 

94% of people say that a negative review has caused them to avoid a business. 

On the other hand, positive reviews can lead to consumers spending 31% more on a product.

Ensure that your customers are satisfied with their experience so you can be in on the latter.

Meet their needs.

Before you even think about upselling or cross-selling your customer, be sure they know you’re not just in it for you.

A few good options:

• Send a welcome video or email.
• Keep in contact with them across touchpoints.
• Ask for feedback (and act on it!)
  

Make your value clear.

Nobody goes into a long-term relationship thinking they won’t get something out of it, too. 

Your job is to show the converted customer what’s in it for them. 

How you can do this:

• Give them continued support & communication
• Highlight why you’re different from the competitor (whether through nurture campaigns or your website)
• Make necessary changes
  

Conversion is crucial to both the relationship you make with your customers and the survival of your brand. All the more reason to pencil in a strategy meeting ASAP.

Do you need help converting more customers? Schedule a call with Jive to get started! In the meantime, get a running start with the rest of this series.