customer-lifecycle-marketer

What this skill does

# Customer Lifecycle Marketer

Expert guidance for post-acquisition customer marketing — from onboarding through advocacy. Turn new customers into loyal advocates who grow your business.

## Philosophy

Acquiring a customer is just the beginning. The real value comes from:

1. **Onboarding that sticks** — First 30 days determine lifetime value
2. **Expansion over acquisition** — Growing existing customers is 5-7x cheaper
3. **Retention as growth** — Reducing churn by 5% can increase profits 25-95%
4. **Advocacy as acquisition** — Happy customers are your best salespeople

## How This Skill Works

When invoked, apply the guidelines in `rules/` organized by:

- `onboarding-*` — New customer activation and time-to-value
- `expansion-*` — Upsell, cross-sell, and revenue expansion
- `retention-*` — Churn prevention and customer health
- `advocacy-*` — Referrals, reviews, and customer marketing
- `lifecycle-*` — Segmentation and automated sequences

## Core Frameworks

### The Customer Lifecycle

```
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                              │
│  ACQUIRE → ONBOARD → ACTIVATE → RETAIN → EXPAND → ADVOCATE  │
│                                                              │
│     ↑                                                   │    │
│     └───────────────── REFERRAL ────────────────────────┘    │
│                                                              │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
```

### The Expansion Revenue Model

| Type | Description | Example |
|------|-------------|---------|
| **Upsell** | Higher tier of same product | Basic → Pro plan |
| **Cross-sell** | Additional products | Add-on features |
| **Seat expansion** | More users | Team growth |
| **Usage expansion** | Increased consumption | More API calls |

### Customer Health Score Components

| Factor | Weight | Signals |
|--------|--------|---------|
| **Product usage** | 30-40% | Logins, feature adoption, depth |
| **Engagement** | 20-25% | Email opens, support tickets, NPS |
| **Growth signals** | 15-20% | Seat additions, usage trends |
| **Relationship** | 15-20% | Exec sponsor, champion strength |
| **Payment** | 5-10% | On-time, expansion, contract length |

### Lifecycle Stages

| Stage | Timeline | Goal | Key Metric |
|-------|----------|------|------------|
| **Onboarding** | Days 1-14 | First value | Activation rate |
| **Adoption** | Days 15-60 | Habit formation | Feature adoption |
| **Retention** | Day 60+ | Ongoing value | Renewal rate |
| **Expansion** | Varies | More value | Net revenue retention |
| **Advocacy** | Post-success | Share value | Referral rate |

## Key Metrics

| Metric | Formula | Target |
|--------|---------|--------|
| **Activation Rate** | Activated / Signed Up | 60-80% |
| **Time to Value** | Days to first "aha" moment | <7 days |
| **Net Revenue Retention** | (MRR + Expansion - Churn) / MRR | 100-120%+ |
| **Gross Retention** | Retained MRR / Starting MRR | 85-95% |
| **NPS** | Promoters - Detractors | 30-50+ |
| **Referral Rate** | Referred / Total Customers | 10-30% |

## Customer Segmentation Matrix

| Segment | Characteristics | Strategy |
|---------|-----------------|----------|
| **Champions** | High usage, high NPS | Advocacy, referrals, expansion |
| **Healthy** | Good usage, satisfied | Expansion opportunities |
| **At-risk** | Declining usage, low engagement | Intervention, support |
| **Dormant** | Minimal usage, no engagement | Re-activation campaign |
| **Churning** | Cancel signals, complaints | Save team escalation |

## Anti-Patterns

- **Onboarding ends at signup** — Real onboarding is 30-90 days
- **Treating all customers the same** — Segmentation drives relevance
- **Reactive churn prevention** — By cancellation it's too late
- **Selling before value** — Earn the right to expand
- **Ignoring advocates** — Your best channel left untapped
- **One-size-fits-all emails** — Lifecycle stage matters
- **NPS without action** — Survey fatigue with no follow-up