Guide

Lifecycle marketing for product-led growth 

The secret to success for product-led companies is to provide customers with immediate and noticeable value, ensuring that they continue to recognize this value over time. That’s where lifecycle marketing comes in. When product-led growth and lifecycle marketing work hand-in-hand, customers are more likely to stay engaged for the long term.

Drawing on the expertise of companies like Whimsical, Air, and Chameleon, this comprehensive guide illustrates how to integrate lifecycle marketing into a product-led approach. Ultimately, you'll learn how this perfect pairing can help your company unlock sustainable growth.

Take a peek at what’s inside:

  • Activation and onboarding. Learn how to reduce friction from signup to onboarding by helping your customers find the "aha moment."
  • Retention and expansion. See how Whimsical, Air, and Chameleon use lifecycle marketing tactics to make incremental improvements that significantly boost retention and drive revenue growth.
  • Upgrades and cross-selling. Find out how to encourage customers to perceive upgrade suggestions as valuable enhancements rather than sales tactics.
  • Churn prevention and win-back. See how product-led teams at Whimsical, Air, and Chameleon identify and mitigate churn with lifecycle marketing while reducing cancellations with personalized offers.

If you can’t keep them around for the long haul, you’re going to have a big problem. The tiniest little tweaks and changes when you’re trying to retain customers can snowball over time. If you can make a 5% increase in retention overall, that’s 25% more revenue. That’s such a quick win.

Kirsty Finlayson
Kirsty Finlayson
Head of Marketing

More guides

Watercolor illustration showing fresh ingredients including avocado, eggplant, chili peppers, salmon, lemon, and purple vegetables arranged on a light green background representing AI marketing automation ingredients

The lifecycle marketer's AI prompt cookbook

Master AI-powered lifecycle marketing with ready-to-use prompts that help you segment audiences, automate campaigns, and optimize performance. Whether you're experimenting with your first ChatGPT prompt or building advanced Customer.io workflows, this cookbook gives you practical recipes to turn AI into your reliable marketing partner—one that preps ideas, speeds execution, and helps you deliver messages customers actually want.

Jeff Zats
Jeff Zats
Demand Generation Manager, Startups
Lifecycle Marketing for Product-Led Growth | Customer.io