Lifecycle stages

Lifecycle stages are milestones in a client's journey with your studio — from their first contact to becoming a long-term member. Unlike segments (which can overlap), each contact is in exactly one lifecycle stage at a time.

Stages vs segments

| | Lifecycle stages | Segments | |---|---|---| | Overlap | No — one stage at a time | Yes — can be in many at once | | Purpose | Track progress through your sales funnel | Group clients by shared behavior or attributes | | Updates | Manually or via automated transitions | Automatically as data changes |

Use stages to answer "where is this lead in my sales process?" and segments to answer "who are my most engaged members?"

Default stages

Arketa comes with three default stages:

| Stage | Who's in it | |---|---| | Lead | Someone who has engaged with your marketing but hasn't booked or purchased | | Booked Intro Offer | Has booked your intro offer — in your sales process | | Member (closed won) | Has purchased and converted to a paying client |

Create a custom stage

1. Go to Lead Management → Setup → Lifecycle Settings
2. Click + Lifecycle Stage
3. Enter a name, description, and color label
4. Click Add Lifecycle

Custom stages let you add nuance to your funnel — for example, "Trial Member," "Lapsed Member," or "Corporate Partner."

Edit a stage

1. Go to Lead Management → Setup → Lifecycle Settings
2. Click the three dots next to the stage → Edit
3. Make changes
4. Click Update Lifecycle Stage

Automate stage transitions

You can set up rules to move contacts between stages automatically when they take an action:

1. Go to Lead Management → Setup → Lifecycle Settings → Transitions

2. Click + Lifecycle Transition

3. Set:

   • From stage — where the contact starts - To stage — where they should move - Trigger — what action causes the move (e.g., purchased a pricing option, booked a class, submitted a form)

Example: A contact in the "Lead" stage who purchases a membership → automatically moves to "Member (closed won)."

Transitions run in real time — the moment a trigger fires, the contact moves to the next stage without any manual action from your team.