Whether you’re building your first lifecycle campaign or your hundredth, there are always improvements to be made—and even the most experienced marketers can make mistakes that hinder the effectiveness of their lifecycle marketing efforts. We asked ten seasoned marketers about the biggest mistakes people make when building lifecycle marketing campaigns and their advice for overcoming them.

Selling, not nurturing

The biggest mistake we made was being too information-driven. The natural default is to talk about your product. Still, in most cases, people falling into the lifecycle bucket either don't want to hear about your product or are fully activated.

We focus on broader industry education through webinars, community through our private Slack channel, and entertainment with memes or cheeky newsletters. To execute these more nuanced strategies, the largest barrier you will encounter is clean and actionable customer data. — Zachary Murray, Founder of Foreplay.co

Having unrealistic expectations

Trying to build a full-funnel campaign right away. My recommendation is to identify the most problematic stages and start removing the bottlenecks first. Similarly, not giving yourselves enough time to see the results. This is especially relevant for channels like SEO and organic social. — Yulia Olennikova, Head of Marketing, N.Rich

Another mistake is not having realistic expectations for the campaign. You should set measurable goals such as X number of clicks, conversions, or signups, then create campaigns that are designed to meet those goals. — Tristan Harris, Demand Generation Senior Marketing Manager, Thrive Internet Marketing Agency

Siloed data

One of the biggest mistakes is not having a unified view of customer data. Overcome this by integrating your marketing platforms and using a CRM to centralize data. Many marketers also make the mistake of sending generic content—you can overcome this by leveraging your data to personalize content to each lifecycle stage. — Aaron Gray, Founder and CEO of Pursuit Digital

A lack of comprehensive customer data can make it challenging to segment audiences effectively and create personalized campaigns. Overcome this by implementing data collection methods, such as customer surveys, website analytics, and purchase history tracking. Use marketing automation tools to centralize and analyze customer data, enabling better segmentation and targeting. — Marc Bishop, Director of Business Growth, WYTLABS

One tricky challenge is dealing with data integration, which makes it a bit tough to create those seamless experiences across different channels. But hey, teamwork saves the day- I teamed up closely with our analytics folks, and together we got a comprehensive view of our customer's behavior. — Lana Gerton, Founder at lanagerton.com

Lack of segmentation and personalization

Not segmenting the audience properly and using a one-size-fits-all approach. Invest time in thorough audience segmentation based on behavior, preferences, and demographics. Tailor content for each segment to ensure relevancy. Utilize marketing automation and customer relationship management (CRM) tools to deliver targeted messages and track customer interactions. — Vaibhav Kakkar, CEO, Digital Web Solutions

Without a clear understanding of the customer journey, marketers may struggle to deliver the right message at the right time. Conduct thorough research and use customer feedback to map out the customer journey and identify pain points and touchpoints. Leverage this knowledge to develop relevant and timely campaigns that resonate with customers throughout their journey. — Sahil Kakkar, CEO, WebSignals

Neglecting your customers post-purchase

One barrier we often see is the tendency to overlook the post-purchase phase. Many marketers focus heavily on the acquisition and onboarding stages, while the post-purchase experience—which is crucial for customer retention and loyalty—is often neglected. To overcome this, we focus on providing continuous value to our customers even after they've made a purchase. We employ strategies such as personalized tips, tailored recommendations for future purchases, and specialized community content. This helps us build long-term relationships with our customers, enhancing their post-purchase experience, and fostering loyalty. — Coty Perry, Chief Marketing Officer, Anglers.com

Customers with different needs have different expectations. So our team also reaches out to clients regularly to better understand their ongoing experiences with our products and services. These insights enable us to personalize follow-up communications, offer deals they'll want, and suggest the right products to help them grow their business. This way, we ensure their needs are met while inspiring more frequent purchases, making it a win-win. — Jas Banwait Gill, Growth Manager, SwagMagic

Final word

Ultimately, building successful lifecycle marketing campaigns is a multifaceted process that hinges on having strong foundations in place. Integrated customer data and a comprehensive understanding of the customer journey are paramount to crafting effective strategies.