Customer Experience Lifecycle

1. Discovery

This is when a customer begins searching for a product. They'll compare products across competitor brands, as well as read customer reviews. Eventually, the customer will reach out to a certain brand with questions and concerns.

2. Education

The brand will respond to the customer's questions and concerns, as well as inquire for more information on the customer's needs. Following that, the brand will offer the best products or services to satisfy the customer's needs, as well as educate the customer on the uses of those products or services.

3. Purchase

Having gained all necessary information, the customer makes a purchasing decision. Post-purchase, the company follows up to ensure that the purchase went smoothly for the customer.

4. Post-Purchase Engagement

The company checks in with the customer later, asking how their experience is with their new product or service. Using information directly from customers, as well as social media engagement, the company continuously makes improvements to their products, services, and customer service experience.

5. Advocacy

The customer feels like an important asset to the brand and makes additional future purchases with the brand. In addition, to help influence others, the customer posts on social media about their experiences with the brand and writes their own product reviews, which later inform a future customer in their discovery phase.

Although these are the typical steps -- albeit, sometimes, with different titles -- that a customer follows in their journey with a brand, this process can be very fluid. With an excessive amount of media in existence today, customers can come to learn about a brand in several ways: family or friend recommendations, social media, advertisements, research, etc.

This is why it's essential for a company to be very aware of the customer lifecycle and, more importantly, customer lifecycle management.https://blog.hubspot.com/service/customer-lifecycle-management#:~:text=Customer%20lifecycle%20management%20is%20the,lifecycle%20to%20different%20measurable%20metrics.&text=By%20providing%20them%20with%20value,customers'%20best%20intentions%20at%20heart.