Customer Success Glossary

In the wake of technological advances, the definition of customer lifecycle has shifted from the perspective of the seller to that of the customer. At one time, customer lifecycle models took a seller-centric perspective which split the pre-sales phase of the customer’s journey from the post-sales phase. In today’s cloud-based environment, SaaS business models have increased awareness of how the pre-sales and post-sales phases form a unified experience from the customer’s perspective."

Phases of the Customer Lifecycle

In this new holistic view, the unified customer lifecycle can be conceived as fluid, which includes a self-sustaining series of phases:

• Awareness: your prospect becomes aware of your brand and value proposition
• Conversion: persuaded by your value proposition, your prospect makes their first purchase and becomes a paying customer
• Onboarding: your new customer takes their first steps towards becoming an active user deriving practical value from your SaaS product
• Nurturing: your customer actively adopts your SaaS product into their regular workflow, increasing the value they derive from their initial purchase
• Renewal: your customer decides to renew their subscription or license so they can continue deriving value from your product
• Expansion: your customer expands the value they derive from your brand by adopting advanced features and purchasing new products

Learn More

• Understanding Your Customer Lifecycle in 2021
• Managing B2B Customer Lifecycle Stages
• How to Select a B2B Customer Lifecycle Management Solution
• Making the Most of the Customer Lifecycle Management Process
• Getting Started with Customer Lifecycle Management feat. Mingus Software