New customer acquisition is too much of a focus for most businesses. They tend to neglect their existing ones. A customer timeline is a powerful way to keep track of your customers’ activity and engagement with your business across all channels.
It allows you to see their interactions with you, when they are most active, and what kind of content they respond to best.
Continue reading to know why it’s important and how you could set it up.
What is a Customer Timeline?
A customer timeline is a record of a customer’s interactions with a business, from their first contact to their most recent purchase.
Businesses can use this information to improve customer service, target marketing campaigns, and even make product development decisions.
How to Setup a Customer Timeline
Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating a customer timeline for your business:
Define your customer segments.
The first step is to identify the different types of customers you serve. It will help you create separate conversation timelines for each group.
Identify the stages of the customer journey.
The next step is to map out your customers’ steps as they move from awareness to purchase. For each stage, think about what your customers are trying to accomplish and their needs.
Develop strategies for each stage.
Once you’ve identified the customer journey stages, you can start developing strategies for each stage. It might include creating content to educate customers in the awareness stage or offering discounts to encourage purchase in the decision stage.
A Simple Customer Timeline View
The following people need access to your customer timeline:
-Customer service representatives
-Salespeople
-Marketers
-Product managers
The Best Ways to Use Your Customer’s Entire History to Improve Your Business Operations
Every contact your business has with customers offers the opportunity to create value.
The challenge is recognizing and capitalizing on these opportunities to turn a one-time customer into a lifelong advocate.
Develop a complete understanding of your customer’s journey with your company.
It includes all details from their initial purchase, all the way through to their most recent interaction.
Identify patterns and trends that can help you improve your business operations.
For example, if agents notice that customers who purchase a particular product are more likely to return it, you can take steps to improve its quality. Or, if agents see that customers who interact with your customer service team have a higher lifetime value, you can invest in making sure those interactions are as positive as possible.
Examples of Events You Should Track within Your Timeline
Customer events, also known as customer-acquisition events, are key moments in the customer journey where a brand has the golden opportunity to make a lasting impression.
- First purchase
It is the moment when a customer first buys your product or service. It’s an important opportunity to make a good impression and start on the right foot.
- Free trial sign-up
If you offer a free trial of your product or service, this is the event that starts the clock ticking. It’s crucial to ensure your free trial is high quality and easy to use so that customers will want to stick around once it’s over.
- Customer service interaction
Every time a customer contacts your customer service team, it’s an opportunity to improve their experience. Track these interactions so you can identify patterns and make improvements.
- Product return
A product return is never a good thing, but it can be an opportunity to learn more about your customers’ wants and needs. Use this information to make changes to your product so fewer people feel the need to return it.
- Customer churn
It is the moment when a customer stops doing business with you. It’s important to track this event so you can understand the full context and take steps to prevent it in the future.
Closing Statement
Understanding your customer’s history is the key to unlocking the value they hold for your business. By tracking customer events and identifying patterns, you can improve your business operations and create a lasting relationship with your customers.
