A typical customer goes through four distinct phases in their relationship with an organisation:
New: how long a customer is considered new depends on your organisation but can last from a few days to a few months.
Existing: customers that are in a relationship with your organisation and who are buying products and services on a regular basis.
Exiting: Customers who are in the process of reducing their relationship with the organisation. In a bank this may be customers who are closing some of their accounts in a retail setting it may be customers who are not coming to the locations as often as they had in the past.
Customers in this situation are generally good candidates for a save program.
Exited: customers who are in face no longer customers.
At each step in the lifecycle there are different and specific programs that can be undertaken to increase the value and tenure of the customer lifecycle.
