Customer Lifecycle Value

Depending upon on how well your know your business, a great discussion to have somewhat regularily is whether or not the customer lifecycle value is increasing or decreasing. To achieve this we need to know a few things...

• How much has the customer purchased from us?
  
• How long are they likely to stay with us?
  
• What does it cost us to serve them?
  

None of these are necessarily easy questions to answer, but that does not mean we should not talk about these items. Worst case, you should at least be looking at the average revenue and cost per client and see how those are changing. They are probably pretty good indicators of lifecycle value. If we look at the trends of our revenues, costs (COGS & SGA), and profits per customer this should certainly indicate if we are doing better or worse.

While most of us do this to some degree, we probably also throw in a great deal many more variables and business rules and end up discussing various concepts. What about once a month or once a quarter getting all the department heads together and discuss progress on only these items.

Align to Customer Value

On thing to consider in terms of developing KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) is how they are aligned to the customer's wants.  All to often we ignore this perspective, yet it is perhaps one of the most important factors.  

For example, one of the growing cost saving tools companies use is call automation services.   "For sales, press 1.  For customer service, please hold while we test your patience."  

Companies do this because they are measuring cost per call, or efficiency.  What the customer really wants is a convenient resolution to their call, or effectiveness.  Clearly these goals are working against each other and in most cases destroys customer loyalty and brand value.  

In the end, we need to balance costs with value, and we need to understand customer and corporate strategy.  Are we focused on customer intimacy as our core business focus, or operational excellence?  Are we measuring the business in a manner that reinforces our business model and customer value creation, or strictly by the bottom line?