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Chapter 11Stage 7—Lifetime Customers

If you do build a great experience, customers tell each other about that. Word of mouth is very powerful.

—Jeff Bezos, CEO, Amazon.com

Organizations in this stage optimize the connected cross-channel customer experience by using real-time data and predictive analytics to anticipate the needs of customers and create timely relevant one-to-one dialogue (see Figure 11.1).

Figure 11.1 Sitecore® Customer Experience Maturity Model™—Lifetime Customers Stage

The Lifetime Customers Stage

Any business that wants to endure and profit must strive to reach Stage 7, Lifetime Customers. But it isn't easy. Reaching Stage 7 can be a long and arduous climb. Your organization's culture must be unified in giving the customer a great experience. All divisions and departments use a single view of the customer that crosses online and offline touch points. The customer experience is aligned with organizational objectives. So giving your customer a great experience drives success in your organizational objectives. Everything you have built in the previous six stages is working together.

In Stage 7 most of your customers are not only loyal to your organization, but they also are active advocates for you. At this stage your customers think of themselves as customers for life.

Author Ron Person relates the following.

In the same week, I had one of the best customer ...