lifecycle-marketing

name	lifecycle-marketing
description	Onboarding, retention, and winback playbooks — cadence templates, behavioral triggers, frequency rules per industry, sunset/suppression rules.
user-invocable	true
allowed-tools	["Read","Glob","Grep","Write"]

Lifecycle Marketing Skill

Owned by lifecycle-crm. Designs and operates the email / SMS / push / in-app cadence across the customer journey. Activated by behavioral triggers from the CDP/CRM (see audience-segmentation).

Three phases: Onboarding (acquire -> activate), Retention (engaged -> loyal), Winback (at-risk / churned).

1. Onboarding Cadence

Standard sequence for new signups / first-purchasers. Adjust thresholds per profile.

Day	Channel	Purpose	Template hook
D0	Email	Welcome + confirm	Brand story, what to expect, first-step CTA
D0	SMS (optional)	Confirm channel opt-in	"You're in. Reply HELP / STOP."
D1	Email	Activation push	"Take your first [action] — here's how"
D1	Push (in-app)	Activation reminder	"1 step left to get started"
D3	Email	Value reinforcement	Social proof, customer story
D3	Email (conditional)	Activation rescue	If D1 action not taken
D7	Email	Feature / category discovery	Curated path #2
D7	Email	First-purchase nudge (DTC)	First-time-buyer incentive
D14	Email	Community / advocacy invite	UGC, reviews, referrals
D14	Email	Educational	Power-user tip, advanced use
D30	Email	Milestone	"30 days with us — your stats"
D30	Email	Conversion to paid (SaaS) or repeat (DTC)	Tier upgrade or 2nd purchase

Onboarding Goals (by industry)

Profile	D7 activation target	D30 retention target
B2B SaaS	70%+ activate to AHA moment	60%+ engaged-user state
DTC	50%+ engage with second touchpoint	25%+ second purchase
Pro Services	n/a (consultative cycle)	80%+ engagement with onboarding doc
Regulated	60%+ confirm setup	adherence/usage benchmarks

2. Retention Playbook

Stages: activation -> engagement -> loyalty -> advocacy.

Engagement deepening (D30-D90)

• Weekly digest with personalized highlights
• Triggered comms on power-user behaviors
• Cross-sell to adjacent categories or features
• Educational content escalating in depth

Loyalty (D90+)

• Loyalty program enrollment (DTC)
• Account-expansion plays (B2B SaaS)
• VIP perks, early access, exclusive content
• Anniversary moments (account birthday, milestone reached)

Advocacy

• Referral program with double-sided incentive
• Review request post-positive-experience trigger
• UGC ask with branded hashtag
• Case study / testimonial outreach (B2B)

Retention KPI Targets

Metric	DTC	B2B SaaS	Pro Services
90-day repeat / NRR	30%+	105-115%	40%+
Engaged-user % MAU	n/a	50%+	n/a
Loyalty enrollment	30%+	n/a	n/a
Referral % of new	10-25%	15-25%	25-40%

3. Winback Cadence (post-churn)

Trigger: customer enters dormant or churned state (see audience-segmentation).

Day post-churn	Channel	Purpose	Offer
D30	Email	Soft re-engagement	"We've improved — see what's new"
D45	Email	Personalized value reminder	Their last action + what to do next
D60	Email	Incentivized return	DTC: 15-25% off; SaaS: extended trial; Pro Services: free assessment
D75	Email	Last-chance framing	"We don't want to lose you"
D90	Email + decision	Suppression decision	Reactivate or move to suppression

Winback success rules

• Stop the sequence at first re-engagement event (open + click + visit)
• Cap incentive escalation; never deepen beyond brand's discount floor
• Profile match: in regulated, no incentive plays — value-only winback

4. Email / SMS / Push Frequency Rules

Profile	Email/wk max	SMS/wk max	Push/day max	Quiet hours (local)
B2B SaaS	3	0-1	2	21:00 - 07:00
DTC	5	2-3	3	22:00 - 08:00
Pro Services	2	0	1	21:00 - 08:00
Regulated	2	0	1	per consent + regulation
Creative-Production	1-2	0	n/a	n/a
Ad-Commercial	n/a (client-driven)	per client	per client	per client

Hard caps; never override without HITL + recorded DecisionRecord.

5. Behavioral Trigger Taxonomy

Trigger	Definition	Suggested response
Welcome	account created	Onboarding D0
Activation	first meaningful action	Engagement deepening
Activation-rescue	signup but no activation by D2	Activation prompt
Cart abandon (DTC)	items in cart, no checkout, 1+ hr	Email +1hr, +24hr, +72hr
Browse abandon (DTC)	viewed category 3+ times, no purchase	Curated email +24hr
Wishlist back-in-stock	item returns to stock	Real-time email/push
Price drop	watched item drops 10%+	Real-time push
Milestone	usage / time / spend threshold	Celebratory + advocacy ask
Anniversary	account birthday	Personalized retrospective
Dormant	inactive 30+ days	Winback D30
At-risk	usage decay signal	Personalized re-engagement
NPS-detractor	NPS score 0-6	CS-handoff, no marketing send
Complaint / opt-out	explicit	Full suppression

6. Sunset / Suppression Rules

A subscriber moves to suppression when ANY of:

• Hard bounce (1 hard bounce or 3 soft bounces in 30 days)
• Marked as spam complaint (immediate)
• Explicit unsubscribe (immediate, all marketing channels)
• No open / click in 180 days AND no other engagement (sunset candidate)
• GDPR consent expired without renewal (immediate in EEA)
• CCPA "Do Not Sell / Share" requested (process within 15 days)

Suppression is never reversible without explicit re-opt-in evidence.

Sunset Workflow

1. Identify candidates (180-day no-engage)
2. Send "still want to hear from us?" re-permission email
3. If no click/confirm in 14 days, move to suppressed
4. Log suppression event in progress/events.jsonl

7. Industry-Specific Patterns

B2B SaaS

• Trial-conversion sequence: D-7 / D-3 / D-1 to expiry
• In-product over email when possible (higher engagement)
• Account-level signals (not just user-level)

DTC E-com

• Replenishment timing tied to product consumption cycle
• Loyalty-tier-aware messaging
• Inventory-aware triggers (back-in-stock, low-stock urgency)

Pro Services

• Sparse but high-touch; founder/senior signature emails
• Event-driven (industry news, regulation changes)
• Quarterly executive briefings

Regulated

• Consent re-confirmation per regime
• Adherence reminders (health) with required disclosures
• All marketing comms pre-cleared by brand-safety-compliance

8. Output Deliverables

• output/campaigns/<id>/lifecycle/cadence-map.md — full journey map
• output/campaigns/<id>/lifecycle/triggers.yaml — trigger -> message rules
• output/campaigns/<id>/lifecycle/suppression-policy.md — sunset/suppress logic

9. Anti-patterns

• Sending all triggers to all subscribers (no segmentation)
• Frequency caps not enforced cross-channel
• Re-engagement of suppressed users
• Lifecycle messages without consent-flag check
• Discount-laddering teaching customers to wait for incentives

References

• audience-segmentation (cohort definitions, RFM, behavioral states)
• experimentation-design (lifecycle A/B testing)
• brand-safety (regulated marketing rules)