{"id":1734,"date":"2019-03-06T21:56:58","date_gmt":"2019-03-07T02:56:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yupingliu.com\/wordpress\/?p=1734"},"modified":"2019-03-07T02:38:30","modified_gmt":"2019-03-07T07:38:30","slug":"predicting-significant-customer-life-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yupingliu.com\/wordpress\/2019\/03\/06\/predicting-significant-customer-life-events\/","title":{"rendered":"Predicting Significant Customer Life Events"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The ancient philosopher Heraclitus<\/a> said that \u201cLife is Flux\u201d. That statement has important meaning to how a business should connect with its customers. Consumers’ needs change constantly depending on what is happening in their life at the moment. It is impossible to catch every ripple in life. But a business needs to anticipate and respond to the most significant life events in order to build long-term loyalty. The first step is to understand what it means to have a significant life event, what happens to consumers during that time, and how it manifests in consumers\u2019 activities. I will offer some answers in this article based on my own and others\u2019 research in this area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumers’ Experience of Significant Life Events<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Significant life events abound in everyone\u2019s life. Some of these are positive events, such as getting married, having a baby, or getting promoted at one\u2019s job. Some are not so happy, such as getting a divorce, losing a loved one, or getting laid off. There are also events with bittersweet feelings such as retirement and sending kids off to college. Whether good or bad, these events are considered \u201csignificant\u201d because they change our identity<\/a>. That is, who we are as a person. For example, getting married means the addition of a new role as a husband or wife. Losing one\u2019s job means the loss of an existing role as a worker and bread earner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such role transitions and identity shifts often create a sense of instability and can be quite stressful to the person going through the transition. To cope with the demand of role transition, existing research<\/a> shows that one can simply cope with the emotional stress itself, or one can take a more proactive approach to do one or both of two things: (1) clarifying what one\u2019s role will be following the significant event; and (2) adjusting one\u2019s resource mix to be prepared for the new role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Take having a baby for the first time as an example. A soon-to-be parent may talk to others to gain a perspective on what it is like to be a parent (role clarification). The future parent may also try to line up financial resources (e.g., more money in the bank) and human resources (e.g., getting onto the waitlist for a daycare or soliciting family support) to make sure that he or she is ready for the baby (resource preparation).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 4×3 View of Significant Life Events<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It is clear that people tend to make adjustments as a result of role transition as described in the last section. Oftentimes we can sense these significant life events through observable actions by customers. My colleagues and I have been working on predicting significant life events through changes in observable account activities. Our research has created a framework for analyzing manifestations of significant life events through a 4×3 matrix. One dimension of the matrix represents specific needs the consumer\u2019s manifested activities are trying to address. Most activities address one of three needs:<\/p>\n\n\n\n