Any organization that offers a product to a consumer knows that just as there are stages of the buying journey, there are several stages of the lifecycle for the consumer who becomes a customer, typically:

• First, the consumer has not yet had any exposure to the brand
• Then she is aware of the brand, but isn't yet interacting
• Next, she interacts and becomes a customer
• Finally, she is in the stage where the brand must retain her as a customer and she (hopefully) becomes an evangelist for the brand.

In tandem with retention is the stage where the brand will attempt to upsell and cross-sell her on additional products or services, increasing the lifetime value as well as the stickiness of the customer. By tapping into the online shopping behaviors of your existing customers, you can identify when a client is ripe for upsell or cross-sell to increase their lifetime value to your business.

For example, if you are an auto insurer, and you also sell homeowner's insurance, you now have a path to determine if your existing auto policyholders are actively online engaging in mortgage purchase shopping, indicating that they are looking to purchase a new home. If you had the ability to access your customers' relevant buying intent in other vertical markets, you would know to target those customers with special offers for homeowner's insurance. This ability exists today, are you aware of it?