The subscriber lifecycle is a series of stages a subscriber passes through in your email program. As a subscriber transitions into each stage, it provides you the opportunity to send email messages that cultivates and nurtures the subscriber's relationship with your brand.
The subscriber lifecycle has four distinct stages:
- Acquire: The subscriber relationship begins when someone signs up for your email program. At this stage, you need to ensure that you are acquiring high quality email addresses in order to increase the likelihood that subscribers engage with your email program.
- Onboard: Onboarding is the first experience a subscriber has with your brand. At this stage, you need to ensure you are setting the proper tone and expectations of the relationship going forward.
- Engage: Prove the value of your relationship by following through on the expectations you set during the onboarding stage. At this stage, your challenge is to make sure the subscriber becomes a lasting brand advocate by providing relevant and engaging content.
- Retain: Retention is a critical stage of the lifecycle because it is in your best interest to keep the subscribers you worked so hard to obtain. At this stage, work to deliver continued and added value in the relationship so your subscribers remain engaged with your email program and brand.
