One of the most important variables in your customer database is the plus/minus indicator.
- Plus = Customer just did something positive (signed up for rewards, visited your website, viewed your community blog, put something in a shopping cart).
- Minus = Customer is about to fall from a good segment to a not-as-good segment.
The “plus” bump lasts about 30 days, sometimes more, most of the time less. You have a short window to do something with the positive action.
The “minus” indicator happens to all customers as they degrade and ultimately lapse. You want to prevent this continuous slide. When the customer is about to migrate from Loyal status to Quality status, the customer has a lower chance of repurchasing and consequently has lower long-term value (and therefore, requires you to find a new customer to make up the difference).
Action Streams apply to both plus and minus situations. You try to quickly convert a “plus” customer, you try to rescue the “minus” customer.
Does that make sense?
When you hire me for an Action Streams project, the plus/minus variable is probably the most important variable … you use it to drive the Action Streams.
