Do marketers think of the long game when it comes to their customers? Maybe not, as only one-third (33%) of survey respondents report that customer lifetime value (CLV) is a measurable and reported KPI for their company, per a report [download page] from Econsultancy and RedEye.
Note: Econsultancy and RedEye surveyed 610 individuals, with the majority (66%) representing the client-side or working for an in-house team, and the remaining respondents representing agencies. For the purpose of this article, data will be based on company respondents only.
Despite the relatively low percentage of companies measuring and reporting CLV, the majority (76%) of respondents say that it is either a high priority (40%) or medium priority (36%). Only 18% say that it is a low priority, while a mere 6% say it is not a priority at all.
Even with companies prioritizing CLV, a negligible number (1%) of respondents say that their company has a mature approach to it. Some 44% of respondents describe their approach to CLV as developing, while more than half (55%) say that their company either has a basic (31%) approach or that their approach is non-existent (24%).
What Strategies Are Most Effective For Increasing CLV?
When asked what tactics or strategies their company has found to be most effective for increasing CLV, half (52%) of the respondents said more effective use of data was one of their top tactics. Three in 10 also say that they have found customer segmentation or personas to be effective. (Respondents were asked to select up to 3 tactics from a list of 12.)
There is quite a bit of research showing the benefits of personalization, with marketers reporting that it leads to positive ROI, increased conversion rates and customer engagement and improved customer satisfaction. Not only that, a little more than one-third (37%) of US consumers say they have responded to a personalized message. Close to 3 in 10 (27%) respondents from this latest survey also cite it as one of the most effective strategies to increasing CLV.
Meanwhile, some 18% of respondents say that multichannel/omnichannel marketing is one of their more effective tactics for increasing CLV.
What Tools Are Companies Using to Increase CLV?
With some companies finding multichannel marketing effective for increasing CLV, it only stands to reason that more than one-third (36%) of respondents say they are focusing on cross-channel customer experience.
One channel of note is social media, which is used by 53% of respondents to grow CLV. A report from the beginning of this year revealed that a slight majority of marketers believe that social media marketing is more effective than other types of marketing campaigns. Customer loyalty can also be influenced by how a company interacts on social media – a point that appears to be especially true with Millennials, the majority (66%) of whom claim that their loyalty to a brand is influenced by the responsiveness to feedback given on social media, and that they are more likely to recommend a brand that has an exceptional social media presence.
For B2B marketers, other research also shows CLV efforts are lagging. Just this week it was noted that only 14% of B2B marketers report CTV as a primary metric for their ABM marketing efforts.
To read more, download the report here.
About the Data: A total of 610 respondents were surveyed between February and March 2019. Two-thirds (66%) are client-side or work for an in-house team while the remaining one-third (34%) work for an agency or classify themselves as vendors or consultants. The majority (60%) of the respondents were based in the UK with the remaining respondents covering a range of other regions, including 7% from the US.
