Did you know that 66% of consumers say they don't hesitate to turn to the competition when they feel a company's customer service isn't good enough? It's a fact: with access to an ever-expanding catalog, internet users no longer hesitate to turn to other companies.
They are increasingly volatile... In other words, to maintain your growth, you need not only to build loyalty in your database, but also to constantly find new contacts. What are the best ways to effectively amplify your database in a world that suggests more and more commercial alternatives in all sectors of activity?
The art of attracting the right customers through effective customer acquisition strategies is more crucial than ever. Enhancing customer experience and refining marketing efforts with the right information are key to success.
This article delves into various techniques that not only bring something unique to your business model but also ensure that your outreach efforts resonate with your target audience. Discover everything you need to know about creating a successful customer acquisition strategy here!
Definition of customer acquisition: What does it mean?
Customer acquisition is the process by which a business gains new customers, crucial for driving growth and generating revenue. It involves identifying possible leads, attracting them through various marketing strategies, and convincing them to purchase a product or service.
Effective customer acquisition strategies are tailored to the specific market and customer demographic, and may include advertising, promotions, organic social media outreach, content marketing, and more. The goal is to convert prospects into loyal customers.
Importance of customer acquisition
Customer acquisition is vital for a business as it directly influences growth and profitability. It helps expand your customer base, increasing market share and revenue. Effective acquisition strategies also enhance brand visibility and reputation, helping you gain customers online.
Furthermore, acquiring new customers can provide valuable insights into consumer behavior and market trends, which are essential for adapting products and services to meet changing demands, thereby ensuring long-term business sustainability and success.
What is the difference between customer acquisition and marketing?
Customer acquisition and marketing are closely related concepts, but they focus on different aspects of the relationship between a business and its customers.
Marketing encompasses a wide range of activities aimed at promoting and selling products or services, including advertising, content creation, public relations, and social media engagement. Marketing is all about communicating the value of a brand, building and maintaining relationships, and engaging a broad audience.
Customer acquisition, on the other hand, is a specific subset of marketing that focuses solely on gaining new customers. It involves strategies and tactics designed to convert promising leads into paying customers. While marketing casts a wide net to attract and engage consumers, customer acquisition zeroes in on boosting your conversion rate and expanding your customer base.
How do you acquire new customers?
Developing your customer base: this must be one of your primary objectives if you want to ensure the long-term future of your business. To do this, you need to prepare your physical and digital prospecting in advance, so as to transform each of your articles into a sales tool adapted to your target customers.
Perform market research to understand your target market's needs and expectations
Even before setting up your business, it's a good idea to identify your first future customers. To do this, we urge you to perform market research. It's an excellent tool for starting a more lasting commercial relationship as soon as you've created your brand. This analysis is going to enable you to validate (or not) your initial idea, or possibly adjust certain aspects. It's also very useful for keeping consumers potentially interested in your catalog informed about the launch of your product or activity.
The more precise the study, the greater the benefits. In particular, it'll enable you to do the following:
- better guide your ecommerce marketing and sales strategy,
- avoid wasting time on prospecting and developing your offer,
- identify your market,
- better meet the needs of your database,
- improve your visibility and brand awareness,
- adapt your marketing mix,
- increase efficiency,
- build customer loyalty to boost sales, and
- learn more about ecommerce.
Define your ideal customer profile
To better understand your prospects' needs and expectations, start by drawing up a profile of your personas, your target prospects. More concretely, this is a fictitious portrait of your typical customer. Give them a name, characteristics, habits, age, location, job, etc. This is going to give you a much clearer idea of the person you need to address. This step is an essential prerequisite, even before you consider recruiting an army of salespeople to extol the benefits of your products!
Before you rush headlong into selling your products and services, ask yourself the right questions:
- Who is your business model aimed at?
- What's your catchment area, where do you offer your products and services?
- What are your customers' expectations?
- What problems have your products and/or services solved?
- What results do you expect in the medium to long term?
The more precise you are, the more you can optimize your advertising spend. And your customer returns are going to be all the better for it!
Identify potential customers' preferred communication channels
Now that you know who you need to reach, you need to use the right communication channels to be seen and heard by your target audience... In reality, you'll have a choice between media communication (press, TV, radio) and non-media communication (website, catalog). You're also free to opt for a multi-channel strategy, using several channels simultaneously.
To better understand the importance of making the right choice, let's take an example. Let's say you sell products for the elderly. Do you really think that a marketing campaign on social networks will have much impact? It's probably not going to be the ideal communication channel! On the other hand, if you're targeting the younger generation, social networks are a particularly good choice.
How do you recruit customers on the internet?
Now that you've got everything ready to go, it's time to get in touch with your potential clientele, presenting your arguments and strengths to find the most qualified prospects and future customers. And that's where the importance of digital marketing for your business comes in. Let us help you differentiate yourself and attract an ever-growing clientele to your shelves, especially with your online sales offer!
Determine what differentiates your offer from that of your competitors
Standing out from the crowd requires a well-thought-out, strategic approach. One of the most promising methods of achieving this goal is differentiation. As its name suggests, this strategy is based on the ability to offer a product or service that is distinct from those of your competitors. The first step is to find out what distinguishes your offer from that of your rivals. Don't hesitate to highlight the superiority of your proposition, as this could give you a significant competitive edge, speed up your sales process and strengthen customer loyalty.
Differentiation is not usually a single concept. It involves a combination of various marketing tools: a more competitive price, added service, superior quality, and many other elements. These factors are all likely to amplify customer commitment to your brand.
Prospecting is also a key factor in deepening your knowledge of your market and detecting opportunities for differentiation. A social network like LinkedIn or Instagram can prove particularly effective in understanding your customers, discovering their buying preferences, and identifying niches not exploited by your competitors.
And don't forget the vital role that writing articles about your product or company can play. Articles are an effective way of demonstrating the uniqueness of your offer and communicating directly with your target audience.
In an increasingly saturated environment, differentiation is an effective tool for standing out online, for better results. By combining a unique offer, the use of various marketing tools, prospecting on networks such as LinkedIn, and communication via articles dedicated to your product, you have a solid foundation for boosting sales and building customer loyalty.
Highlight the advantages and benefits of your offer
In the online marketplace, and unless you're really in a niche, there's often a lot of competition. If you want customers to choose you, you absolutely must offer them a value proposition. In a way, a value proposition is a promise of added value. It's all about highlighting your most convincing arguments, whether in a product description, a blog post, or a product video.
To do this, remember to prepare a solid sales pitch in advance, with all the advantages and benefits of your offer. This will help you win over not only customers during the consideration phase of the customer journey, but also partners and possible investors.
Where do you look for customers? How do you prospect?
Having a powerful message is great. What's even better, though, is to know how to get it across to as many people as possible!
Use social networks to reach your target at no cost
Increasingly used, social networks have become an essential marketing lever for businesses. However, not just anyone can be a community manager!
Having a Facebook or Instagram page is all well and good. It's even better to know how to manage it on a day-to-day basis and unite people around a brand... In fact, if you only publish a news item every six months, your professional account will be useless! Worse still, it could reflect badly on you and do you a disservice.
Similarly, avoid taking three weeks to reply to your customers. The whole point of having a page on a social network is to keep it alive, to create a link with your subscribers. Answer them! Keep them informed! Create contests! In this area, you need to be consistent, committed, and creative.
And don't hesitate to use influencer marketing. To keep costs down, why not give away a few of your products to influencers connected with your business? If they're happy with it, they might even mention it on their accounts. The repercussions could be exponential!
Insta, Facebook, Tik Tok, YouTube: don't forget to choose the right network according to the profile of your personas...
Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, blog: Create high-value content on the web
There are many benefits of content marketing for businesses, but only when the content provides real value!
Of course, your Facebook page will never replace your website. The latter is an essential showcase for your business and your expertise. What's more, it's a cornerstone of your brand image. Here again, remember to create quality content with high added value, perfectly presented and easily accessible.
For example, remember that a growing number of internet users today use their smartphones to go online. That's why it's essential to have a mobile-friendly site and why you need to create a blog that's optimized for mobile devices. Your search engine rankings will reap the rewards!
Don't forget that first impressions are often the right ones. So don't work with just anyone for your site design or communications. Sometimes it's wiser to invest a little money to get optimal results.
Choose a SaaS solution that masters the most effective practices for search engine optimization (SEO) and can create a state-of-the-art website for you, such as WiziShop. To be convincing, you'll need to create high-quality, optimized pages that are easy to navigate.
Use SEO to highlight your offers
On your pages, web users need to be able to quickly find the information or product they're looking for. To do this, you need to optimize their user journey. This is crucial to guiding them to the point of purchase, and to building customer loyalty! Similarly, the better organized your site is, the more Google's algorithms will highlight it.
It's also worth noting that Google is very fond of well-chosen words. So remember to vary your lexical field around your main theme. The richer and more interesting the content you publish, the higher your ranking on search engines. Likewise, the more referral links you have to your site, the more Google will recognize your legitimacy. So think about link building too. It makes a major contribution to SEO.
As one of the top customer acquisition channels today, SEO is something you definitely won't want to ignore. To find out more about central SEO techniques, follow our SEO blog dedicated to helping you improve your search engine optimization.
Email, SMS: Use marketing tools to promote your business
Of course, simply being listed on Google isn't enough to get your name out there. You'll also need to use a whole range of marketing levers to promote your offer. There are more or less "aggressive" methods of doing this. Email marketing can be appreciated for its non-invasive nature. However, these days, internet users are literally inundated with them! So your offer is likely to be quickly forgotten...
Phoning, on the other hand, is often resented for being too intrusive. For it to work, prior targeting must be ! As for SMS, it seems to be a good intermediary. More widely read than emails, they are not, for the time being, considered too intrusive. As a result, they are well received by the public, and offer good returns at lower cost.
Invest in pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to reach shoppers quickly
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is a model of internet marketing where advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked. Essentially, it’s a way of buying visits to your site, rather than attempting to “earn” those visits in an organic fashion. Examples of PPC ads include sponsored search engine results (like Google Ads), banner ads on websites, and promoted posts on social media platforms in the form of Facebook ads, Instagram ads, etc.
PPC advertising can be a very effective customer acquisition strategy because it allows for precise targeting of potential customers based on factors like demographics, interests, and search behaviors. This targeting ensures that ads are shown only to those most likely to be interested in the product or service, maximizing the efficiency of advertising spend.
To make the most of PPC advertising, consider these tips:
- Keyword research: Spend time researching and selecting the right keywords to target specific audiences.
- Ad copy optimization: Craft compelling ad copy that clearly communicates the value proposition and includes a strong call-to-action.
- Landing page relevance: Ensure that the landing page linked from your ad directly addresses the promises made in the ad, to improve conversion rates.
- Budget management: Regularly review and adjust your budgets based on the performance of your ads to ensure optimal spend.
- Testing and analytics: Continuously test different ads and strategies, using analytics to track success and iterate based on what brings the most optimal results.
By focusing on these areas, you can significantly enhance the effectiveness of your PPC campaigns and attract new customers.
How do you get more customers in the long term?
It's probably one of the most well-known figures among retailers: building customer loyalty costs on average three to six times less than recruiting new ones. In fact, your existing buyers are a veritable gold mine for developing your business and attracting new customers into your fold. Here are a few keys to keeping your contacts over the long term and turning them into true ambassadors for your company.
Understand the importance of customer loyalty for business development
New customers are absolutely essential. On the other hand, winning new customers is very expensive. New buyers can be difficult to attract. That's why you need to reward your efforts by maximizing the loyalty of your existing customers. To do this, pamper them!
In sales, loyalty is the key to success. Keep in mind that today's market is highly competitive. In 2019, businesses had an average of 18 direct competitors, compared with just 6 in 2014 (Source: Hubspot Research). To avoid volatility, put the customer at the center of your attention and offer them the greatest possible customer experience! Roll out the red carpet for them, make them feel valued, and remember to always maintain a special bond with them!
Encourage customer reviews to win over new prospects
Customers are also fond of recommendations. In fact, many of them now read reviews on Google. So why not use your most loyal users to turn them into true ambassadors? According to Nielsen, 83% of potential buyers trust recommendations.
Do your customers appreciate you? Make it an asset! To do so, invite your happy customers to leave a review of your company, directly on your Google My Business page. Also consider appearing on specialized sites such as Trustpilot or Avis-vérifiés.
Create events to meet your VIP customers
Just because you're present online doesn't mean you can't meet your customers in real life from time to time! In-real-life events are another form of advertising during which consumers expect advice, appreciation, and personalization. Be creative here: discovery workshops, VIP evenings, private pre-Christmas shopping... These are excellent ways of winning over people who may be reluctant to accept conventional marketing methods!
Set up a loyalty program
But how do you talk about customer loyalty without also mentioning the all-important loyalty program, also one of the top strategies for ecommerce growth? This is undoubtedly one of the most effective ways of improving customer retention over the long term and keeping them coming back to your site. A customer who joins such a program is offered exclusive advantages, which encourages them to buy from you again, rather than from your competitors.
Loyalty programs are an excellent way of forging a stronger relationship and creating a more powerful emotional bond. What's more, it's an ideal medium for implementing a cross-selling strategy. Through the loyalty program, you'll find it easier to collect valuable information on your buyers. Your communication and product recommendations will be all the more targeted. It'll also show your customers just how much you care!
Launch a referral program
Another one of the best ways to both boost customer retention and bring in new customers, a referral program involves rewarding your current customers for introducing new shoppers to your company.
Businesses that have a large base of happy and loyal buyers often employ this word-of-mouth approach to achieve cost-effective customer acquisition. In exchange for their referrals, existing customers typically receive rewards such as free products, gift cards, discounts, or promotional merchandise. Sometimes the new customers being referred can receive rewards as well.
Launching a referral program can be a highly effective customer acquisition strategy because, as mentioned previously, people tend to trust recommendations from people they know far more than any advertising. This trust can lead to higher conversion rates and more loyal customers. What's more referral programs can increase customer retention as existing customers feel valued and involved in the brand's success.
To make the most of this customer acquisition method, be sure that the rewards you offer are desirable and relevant both to the referrer and the referee. You'll also want to simplify the referral process with clear instructions and accessible sharing tools.
Next, regularly remind customers of your referral program through various channels like email, social media, and during purchases. Don't forget to also show appreciation to those who participate in the referral program, which can encourage continued engagement and positive word-of-mouth strategy!
Conquer new markets with new offers
Last but not least, don't forget to keep your sights set on the bigger picture, and to keep reinventing yourself. If you don't want to be overtaken by your competitors, you need to be constantly on the lookout. To broaden your potential buyer base, there are several options to consider:
- Extend your product range, to reach a wider customer base or increase the average cart value of your customers' online shopping carts.
- Position your business on new sales channels (via marketplaces, specialized sites, wholesalers, etc.).
- Expand to foreign markets: Why not start exporting? To do this, you can rely on freelancers in the destinations you're targeting to help you better understand the expectations of these markets, as well as of each person concerned by your potential offering.
Don't be afraid to think big, as long as you prepare for the changes in advance!
What is the right way to decide what methods are ideal for your business?
These days, businesses have a wide range of techniques at their disposal when it comes to building a strong customer acquisition strategy. So how do you know which are going to be the best ways to acquire new first-time buyers for your specific ecommerce store?
Here are several things to consider:
- Target audience: It's crucial for you to understand the demographics, interests, behaviors, and preferences of your target audience. This is going to help you choose strategies that are most likely to reach and resonate with your leads and provide an enjoyable customer experience.
- Budget: As customer acquisition cost can widely vary, be sure to evaluate your financial resources available for marketing efforts. Some strategies, like PPC advertising, require a significant budget, while others, such as content marketing or social media engagement, can be more cost-effective tactics for your marketing efforts.
- Business goals: Align your acquisition strategy with your overall business objectives. Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, driving sales, or entering new markets, your methods for acquiring new customers should directly support these goals.
- Resources and capabilities: Assess the internal resources and expertise you have available. This includes your team’s skills, the technology at your disposal, and the time you can dedicate to executing and managing these strategies.
- Competitive landscape: Think about what your competitors are doing and how well it’s working for them. This insight can inform your strategy selection, helping you to differentiate your offerings and capitalize on gaps in the market.
When you own a physical business, listening, trust, and empathy are essential qualities in building lasting relationships with consumers. On the internet, it's exactly the same thing! Just because your customers aren't "really" in front of you doesn't mean you shouldn't give them the attention they deserve.
When it comes to developing a top-notch customer acquisition plan, never forget to question yourself, keep your finger on the pulse of trends, and keep a constant eye out for the best customer acquisition channels and marketing levers. Finding new customers and building customer loyalty must remain a daily priority. But don't rest on your laurels...
