+/-

In the NBA, players are occasionally evaluated on a "+/-" metric. If you come into the game with the score 42-34 and you leave the game with the score 54-44, your +/- is +2 (you were ahead by eight when you came in and you left leading by ten).

In Action Streams, +/- represents a change in customer state.

• A "+" is when the customer does something positive, like visiting your website or interacting with your community or watching one of your videos on YouTube or clicking through an email campaign.

A positive action requires a new Action Stream. If the customer has not purchased in eighteen (18) months and suddenly appears on your website, you suspend your normal email cadence with a new Action Stream. You already do this when the customer abandons a shopping cart. Why not extend the concept when the customer visits your website and looks at low-priced Home merchandise (for instance)?

• Contact 1 = Show customer what the customer looked at.
• Contact 2 = Show customer related products.
• Contact 3 = Your best discount/promotion (since your lust for discounts/promotions requires action).
• Contact 4 = Show customer content options to keep the customer engaged.

In Action Streams, a "-" represents a customer who is about to lapse to a lower / less responsive customer segment.

Remember the segmentation strategy I use to classify customers?

• Elite:  75%+ Annual Rebuy Rate + 12 Month Buyer.
• Loyal:  60% - 74% Annual Rebuy Rate + 12 Month Buyer.
• Quality:  40% - 59% Annual Rebuy Rate + 12 Month Buyer.
• Average:  20% - 39% Annual Rebuy Rate + 12 Month Buyer.
• Struggling:  0% - 19% Annual Rebuy Rate + 12 Month Buyer.
• Lapsed Spend:  12%+ Annual Rebuy Rate (worth spending money on).
• Lapsed Experiment:  5% - 11% Annual Rebuy Rate (worth testing ideas on).
• Lapsed Save:  0% - 4% Annual Rebuy Rate (don't spend money, they are unresponsive).

Any customer with a "-" is a customer in the lowest percentage point of the band. The customer is about to drop down to a lower segment.

• Example:  A Loyal customer drops to a 61% annual rebuy rate. This customer is graded with a "-". This is your signal to DO SOMETHING to prevent the customer from falling from Loyal to Quality status next month.

In your customer database, you flag any customer with a 76% / 61% / 41% / 21% / Lapsed 13% / Lapsed 6% rate ... you flag them as "-", and then you DO SOMETHING to stop the customer from sliding down to a lower customer segment. You set up an Action Stream to mitigate the demise of the customer.

Does that make sense?