As many of you may know, before I immersed myself in the world of CRM and loyalty, I earned a degree in Astrophysics. So every now and then, the cosmos calls me back — and occasionally, it offers a metaphor so perfect for customer engagement that I can’t help but share it.

Here’s one of those moments.

From March through December 2025, Saturn — the jewel of our solar system — will appear to lose its rings. These magnificent structures, visible since Galileo’s earliest telescope sketches, will seemingly vanish from view. But let’s be clear: the rings aren’t gone.

This is a phenomenon known as a ring plane crossing. Saturn’s rings sit in the same plane as its equator. And as the planet orbits the Sun, its tilt changes relative to Earth. Every 14 to 15 years, the rings become edge-on from our perspective, so thin — only about 10 metres thick in places — that even powerful telescopes struggle to see them. To the human eye, Saturn becomes plain. Ordinary. A little underwhelming.

But the rings are still there. Just hidden by perspective.

Sound familiar?

In every customer-brand relationship, there are phases. Peaks of activity, moments of dormancy, periods where even your most loyal fans seem to disappear. Open rates drop. Purchase frequency stalls. The CRM dashboard gets quieter. It’s tempting — dangerously so — to assume they’ve left.

But often, like Saturn’s rings, they’re simply out of view.

The truth is, most customers don’t travel in linear journeys. They orbit. They loop in and out. Life gets in the way. Priorities shift. The inbox fills up. But invisibility doesn’t always mean disengagement. The customer is still there — just not visible in the metrics we tend to chase.

This is where mature CRM thinking needs to evolve. Too many brands treat quiet customers as lost ones, triggering reactivation campaigns laced with desperation: “We miss you!” “Come back for 10% off!” Instead, we should be listening more carefully. Watching for subtle signs of life — a browse without a buy, a login without a purchase, a quiet click on a product recommendation.

In other words: not all value is immediately visible. Not all loyalty is loud.

Strategically, this means building lifecycle frameworks that are resilient to quiet phases. It means personalisation that respects the customer’s pace, not the brand’s sales calendar. And above all, it means recognising that just because a customer isn’t currently transacting doesn’t mean they aren’t emotionally connected.

Because here’s the thing: Saturn’s rings will reappear in 2026. They always do. And so too do most customers — if we’ve built a relationship based on relevance, not just urgency.

So the next time your reports show a drop in activity, take a breath. Zoom out. Consider that you might be in a ring plane crossing of your own.

They haven’t disappeared. You just need a different perspective.

By gianfranco cuzziol

Keywords: Business Strategy, CRM, Customer Loyalty

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