Lifecycle stages

Define and automate the stages a potential client moves through on their way to becoming a member.

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

[IMAGE TODO] Take a screenshot showing the Lead Management → Setup → Lifecycle Settings page with the default lifecycle stages listed (Lead, Booked Intro Offer, Member/closed won), including their color labels.

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

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

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

Edit a stage

Go to Lead Management → Setup → Lifecycle Settings
Click the three dots next to the stage → Edit
Make changes
Click Update Lifecycle Stage

Automate stage transitions

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

Go to Lead Management → Setup → Lifecycle Settings → Transitions
Click + Lifecycle Transition
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)

[IMAGE TODO] Take a screenshot showing the Lifecycle Transitions configuration panel with the "+ Lifecycle Transition" button and an example transition rule configured (showing From stage, To stage, and Trigger fields).

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.