This paper by Paul Kennedy at Callcredit explores how adopting a defined programme of ongoing customer communications - rather than taking a product-led, campaign-by-campaign approach - can drive better customer engagement, improve retention rates and increase revenue flows

1. White Paper
Reinventing
the customer lifecycle
The case for a coordinated approach
to customer communications
By Paul Kennedy
Head of Consulting at Callcredit Marketing Solutions
plan acquire verify manage collect

2. // 01 // White Paper // www.callcredit.co.uk
Consumers research online before heading
to a store to make a purchase, but the
reverse is equally likely

3. // www.callcredit.co.uk // White Paper // 02
Reinventing the customer lifecycle
The case for a coordinated approach • he role of channels and points of
T
to customer communications interaction in the buying process are
less fixed in the eyes of the consumer –
By Paul Kennedy,
many zig zag across the landscape as
Head of Consulting at Callcredit
they see fit. According to Econsultancy ,
The customer lifecycle concept is a consumers research online before
familiar one for many marketers. But how heading to a store to make a purchase,
many UK brands have a defined lifecycle but the reverse is equally likely.
programme in place as opposed to just
• eliance on direct brand presences
R
taking a campaign-by-campaign approach
to get what consumers need being
which is often product rather than
gradually substituted by comparison
customer segment led? What are the
sites, deal affiliates, social
benefits in taking an overall approach as
networks, etc.
opposed to tactical? Why should
organisations look again at customer
lifecycle approach to engaging?
This paper makes the case for a
Customer decision making has changed defined programme of ongoing
fundamentally over the last few years – customer communications to drive
not just because of the changing better customer engagement (and
economic environment but also because therefore improved retention rates)
of other factors such as: as well as incremental revenue flows.
All of these stack up to a compelling
business case.
© 2012 Callcredit Information Group Ltd. All rights reserved

4. // 03 // White Paper // www.callcredit.co.uk
Assumptions about consumer
decisioning are wrong – the old
model is broken
Price led offers do not Consumers have less money to spend There must be something else, e.g. the
necessarily encourage than ever. The net impact of price inflation brand adapting itself to the customer by
repeat purchase, they
(especially on categories such as asking what they like then building a
merely achieve short term
transport and fuel - the top two bespoke digital version of the brand
sales uplift at the expense
of profitability. categories of household spending around each customer through
according to ONS), lower wage rises and customised emails, profile pages, etc.
increasing employment uncertainty
Moreover, customers don’t just sit at
means that many established buying
home waiting for energy companies to
decisions are being reviewed and changed.
contact them about a better dual fuel
This is one of the reasons leading to the
deal or for their bank to offer an insurance
Customers don’t just sit rapid expansion of value focused or
at home waiting to be
quotation. Rather, many consumers will
discount brands such as Poundland,
contacted. Many will make make the first move themselves in
Greggs and Morrisons over the last 12
the first move themselves. response to something happening in their
months. Also in response to this
lives like moving home or getting a new
tightening, brands are wooing customers
car. The old funnel model is no longer up
in ever more sophisticated ways. Price led
to the job and needs to be enhanced by
offers do not necessarily encourage
something better such as a lifecycle
repeat purchase, they can merely achieve
thinking.
short term sales uplift at the expense of
profitability.
Main Actions / Intentions
Recognise Personalise Up/cross sell
Convert
Influence Dialogue Retain
Transact
Touchpoints Connect Optimise Refer
Web page - PC
Web page - Mobile
Email
SMS
Social
Phone/voice
Store/branch
Printed
Multiple touchpoints and multiple intentions lead to a complex web of
interaction between your brand, your customer and external influences.

5. // www.callcredit.co.uk // White Paper // 04
The funnel metaphor does not really help –
it’s more like snakes and ladders – decision
making is not linear not least because of
comparison sites and social networks
A more sophisticated So, the marketing database needs to In some instances marketing databases
approach is needed to evolve to include an overarching set of being used only as list management
deliver above average
rules to optimise the brand’s overall engines, with little regard for past
returns.
response to customer interactions. It’s communications, responsiveness etc, and
more like snakes and ladders – decision data still being held in product, line of
making isn’t necessarily linear not least business, maturity stage (e.g. acquisition,
because of comparison sites and social single product, multi product, lapsed) or
networks. The funnel is over simplified, channel silos.
leading to naive marketing. A more
Why does this matter and why bother
sophisticated approach is needed to
investing in putting infrastructure and
deliver above average returns.
business rules in place to raise
Without this, customers Callcredit’s observation is that only a performance? Without this, customers
may be over-contacted minority of organisations have well may be over-contacted often with repeat
often with repeat attempts
defined lifecycle programmes which guide attempts to sell the same thing in the
to sell the same thing in the
same way.
marketing activity – some are doing it for same way; in this context, content can be
selected product lines and others are perceived by consumers as bland and
reliant on rerunning a series of one off uninteresting, ending up in the spam box
campaigns to generate results. or bin.
© 2012 Callcredit Information Group Ltd. All rights reserved

6. // 05
07 // White Paper // www.callcredit.co.uk
New customer enabling technologies
have come on the scene – for consumers
and marketers
What brands know about Email marketing is long established and The proliferation of digital data that is
customers offline should has been embraced by most organisations now being collected about individuals’
be linked with what those
but many of these communications still contact with the brand across web,
same people do online.
fail to take into account customers’ mobile and social gives access to a whole
individual needs and interests leading to new view of their lives. Yes, a single
low open rates (recipients know what to customer view is still needed to
expect so don’t bother looking at the synchronise this data, but set it up
message) and unsubscribe rates which correctly and it can also drive personalised
are higher than they need be. and localised communications informed by
overarching rules governing what is
promoted to each member of the target
audience. The rapid evolution of
application and services oriented
platforms of late means it is now simple
to set up and operate real time multi-
channel interaction platforms – they’re no
longer just for those with large budgets to
invest; setup is a matter of weeks or days
not months.
Then there’s data. What brands know
about customers offline (such as where
they live and in-store purchases) should
be linked with what those same people do
online (such as browsing behaviours). The
answer lies in being able to create bridges
between these two domains using
Recent YouGov research everything from islands of data through to
big data and everything in between, e.g.
showed that 41% of the UK
by combining a range of methods
online population claim to be including channel data, cookies, web
getting bored of social media. analyics, social APIs, etc.

7. // www.callcredit.co.uk // White Paper // 06
Therefore, the time is now right
to rebuild your customer
lifecycle programme
Rather than just pushing out messages be getting bored of social media. Social is
and products, how can customers be ideal for peer to peer engagement whilst
pulled in? How can customers be treated digital marketing is best for selling.
as active participants rather than just
The business case is clear for a defined
submissive targets? One commentator
programme of ongoing customer
recommends focusing on customer
communications to drive better customer
behaviour, putting the right technology in
engagement as well as incremental
place (data and platform) and
revenue flows.
experimenting with new benefits and
analysing the impact on customer
engagement. Social media is important
but bear in mind that is not for everyone –
recent YouGov research showed that
41% of the UK online population claim to
© 2012 Callcredit Information Group Ltd. All rights reserved

8. // 07 // White Paper // www.callcredit.co.uk
Cross sell Target
Reengage Acquire
Customer engagement?
Up sell
Retain
Customer
Lifecycle
Retention Welcome
Welcome
Acquire
Target
Cross sell Up sell
Customer lifecycle?
Consider a consumer’s interaction with brand over time.
The lifecycle/engagement relationship has evolved from linear, to beyond cyclical.
It’s about intelligently Behavioural and demographic insights built So, what does an evolved environment look
merging customer service up over time can be used to inform customer like? It can be characterised by real time
and selling.
communications, messaging and content capture (e.g. email opens and clicks) and
rather than just selecting customers use of data in communications, alongside
tactically for specific product based purchase and demographic data. It may also
campaigns. There are two opportunities to include socially generated data, e.g. drawn
apply these insights: from Facebook via API.
• utbound communications in batches
O Creation of appropriate rules of engagement
(e.g. email campaign or outbound is crucial: consider a consumer’s interaction
telemarketing) as well as with the brand over time. Identify the
most crucial customer interaction points
Creation of the rules of • re-generated ‘lie in wait’ offers so that
P
engagement are crucial. and design a programme of content and
when a consumer visits the brand and
communications to ensure consumers are
identifies themselves, there is a relevant
engaged effectively when they choose to
call to action. We can’t predict when
make the move.
customers are going to do this – few now
sit at home waiting for that brochure or
email to arrive.
It’s about intelligently merging customer
service and selling. It seems obvious to
say it now but customers are for the most
part empowered and have access to digital
media. There are exceptions to this, e.g.
the 10 million that are not online who may
be more dependent on doorstep selling or
traditional retail experiences.

9. // www.callcredit.co.uk // White Paper // 08
Consider these five key elements
of a customer lifecycle programme
Callcredit’s framework for setting up a
customer lifecycle programme includes Moving from campaigns to lifecycles
the following elements: means adopting new metrics which
gauge success at each handoff point
1. Goals:
and allow marketers to identify those
Defined business objectives and targets
customers who are likely to look most
that can be mapped down to each and
like good ones.
every marketing activity.
There can be little doubt that taking a
2. Products:
customer lifecycle approach will deliver
How they fit, what hierarchy, what needs
better return on investment when
being met, what natural affinities exist
compared to ‘batch and blast’.
between product areas and what are the
most profitable combinations or bundles. Recent research backs this up,
showing that those brands operating
3. Listening:
lifecycle programmes, e.g. welcome
Data gathering strategy – how can data
and triggered communications,
gathering and capture from customers be
outperform those who do not.
interesting and even fun? What tracking
data can be picked up and how can it be
matched back to other ‘offline’ data?
4. Scenarios:
Business rules that determine the
conditional sequence of actions and
responses to cover all likely scenarios
5. Focus:
Brands operating lifecycle
Allocation of customers to defined modes
of engagement – acquisition, welcome, programmes outperform those
upsell, retention, regeneration, etc. who don’t.
Different customers will travel through
these at different speeds. Dynamic
segmentation rules will help marketers
think about different need groups and
demographies. Predictive models will be
needed to help rank customers, eg churn,
cross sell, etc
© 2012 Callcredit Information Group Ltd. All rights reserved

10. To find out more about Callcredit’s Marketing Solutions
email info@callcreditmarketing.com call 0845 60 60 609
or visit www.callcredit.co.uk
Callcredit Information Group
Enabling Smarter Decisions
About Callcredit Information Group
Callcredit Information Group has a leading edge approach to using consumer
information in credit referencing, marketing services, interactive solutions and
consultative analytics. This enables our clients to cost-effectively identify,
engage and convert more new customers and optimise existing customer revenues.
Callcredit offers intelligent solutions across the customer lifecycle as follows:
• Plan
• Acquire
• Verify
• Manage
• Collect
References
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_lifecycle_management
http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/9152-the-high-street-is-central-to-multichannel-retail-strategy
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/apr/18/discounters-take-over-uk-malls
http://news.sky.com/home/business/article/16184632
http://wallblog.co.uk/2012/03/05/research-says-40-of-britons-getting-bored-with-social-media-points-to-rise-of-nich-sites/
http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/03/how_top_brands_pull_customers.html?cm_mmc=npv-_-AWAREN-_-BONCHEK_POST-_-030512
http://wallblog.co.uk/2012/03/05/research-says-40-of-britons-getting-bored-with-social-media-points-to-rise-of-nich-sites/
http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/9215-email-census-shows-link-between-email-best-practice-and-strong-roi
© 2012 Callcredit Information Group Ltd. All rights reserved