REAN model

REAN is a customer journey model useful for defining product marketing funnels and metrics for user engagement analytics. The model consists of 4 stages (Reach, Engage, Activate and Nurture) and takes the name from the initial letters of each of the stages.

In the Cult of Analytics book, the author Steve Jackson credits the model to Xavier Blanc Baudriller, who invented it in early 2000s while working as a senior marketing planner at Satama Interactive Oyj, developing marketing programs for Nokia.

Using REAN for product marketing funnels

In the article Reach, Engage, Activate And Nurture User Journey Model, Jackson claims that using the REAN model can help organizations “improve customer satisfaction and help you develop long-term loyalty with your customers and prospects”.

Considering the Reach stage separately, Jackson suggests first understanding the demographics of the target audience, then understanding their motivations, and finally choosing the channels for communication. This helps to define an effective outreach strategy. Using tools such as the Prospect Awareness Scale can help to define the right content for reaching and engaging the target audience.

For the Engage stage, Jackson suggests mapping out a user journey to find out when and where to engage potential users to achieve the biggest impact, and then to create engaging experiences across the chosen channels.

For the Activate stage, Jackson suggests identifying key moments in the customer journey where users’ attention can be captured most effectively, and then developing content to most effectively turn initial interactions into “long-term engagement and advocacy”.

For the Nurture stage, Jackson suggests understanding how customer behaviour changes over time, and how different channels can influence the user journey, then develop ideas for sustained engagement such as targeted messages tailored to customer segments or incentives for returning customers.

Using REAN for product analytics

In the article Mapping Our Analytics Use Cases With The Rean Model, Jackson proposes using the REAN model to drive product engagement analytics.

For the Reach stage, Jackson suggests using analytics such as click-through rates, bounce rates, traffic share for each source where customers are reached, and overall how the traffic source engages its audience. By tracking those analytics, it’s possible to spot trends in customer behaviour and adjust marketing strategy, such as reacting to a sudden traffic spike from a single channel.

For the Engagement stage, Jackson suggests tracking metrics such as page views, time on web site, and page click-throughs. By tracking those metrics it’s possible to spot trends in engagement and outliers, and then optimize best-performing content for further activation.

In the Activate stage, Jackson suggests tracking conversion rates of the various items, and then “understand how to create meaningful experiences that drive results”.

Inn the Nurture stage, Jackson suggests tracking customer lifetime value, return on ad spend, customer satisfaction, and conversion rates for retention campaigns such as discount coupons.

Applicability and limitations of the REAN model

Compared to Pirate Metrics and similar methods, REAN puts greater emphasis on stages before activation, explicitly making a distinction between reaching users and engaging them. From that perspective, it can help design outbound marketing activities and funnels more easily than competing models.

Although customer actions that promote the product, such as word of mouth or explicit sharing, can be tracked either through the Reach or the Nurture stage, this model does not explicitly call out such activities, so it fits best products that are marketed via outbound activities. Models that track activities such as referral directly might better fit products that are expected to grow through virality or sharing.

Learn more about the REAN model

Related and complementary tools to the REAN model

Alternatives to the REAN model