What customer lifecycle segmentation shows about your base
The short answer
Customer lifecycle segmentation splits the base by time since last purchase into active, lapsing, inactive and churned groups, with windows set from your usual purchase cycle. Compare each group's size and value with the matching date last year. A shrinking active group, or a growing lapsing one, warns of revenue trouble ahead of the sales figures.
Why it matters
The lifecycle mix moves before revenue does. A rising share of lapsing customers today becomes lost revenue next quarter, so tracking the mix against last year gives leadership time to act on retention while those customers can still be reached.
The question to ask
Copy this into Lexi as written.
What the answer looks like
Illustrative output on sample data
Illustrative example: how Lexi answers this for a sporting goods retailer. It sorts customers into lifecycle groups by days since last purchase and compares with a year ago.
- Active, 0 to 180 days: 210,000, down from 228,000
- Lapsing, 181 to 365 days: 96,000, up from 81,000
- Inactive, 366 to 730 days: 140,000, up from 131,000
- Churned, over 730 days: 390,000, up from 362,000
What the data shows
The active group is 8% smaller and the lapsing group 19% larger.
What it means
Most of the lapsing growth comes from last year's holiday promotion customers who never made a second purchase.
What to do
Send lapsing holiday customers a second-purchase offer before they pass 365 days.
Want me to show how customers moved between groups?
Frequently asked questions
How do I measure customer base health?
Track the size and value of each lifecycle group over time, alongside new customer acquisition and reactivation. A healthy base keeps its active group steady or growing, and moves lapsing customers back to active faster than they slip to inactive.
Why compare the mix with last year and not last month?
Seasonality moves customers between groups. Comparing with last month mixes seasonal shifts with real change, especially around the holiday season. Comparing with the matching date last year holds seasonality constant, so the difference reflects how well you kept and won customers.
How should lifecycle windows be set?
From your own purchase cycle. Look at the typical gap between purchases, set active to cover most regular customers, lapsing to cover the next stretch, and inactive and churned beyond that. Brands with frequent purchases need shorter windows than furniture or outdoor equipment retailers.