How much is customer acquisition really costing your company? While new customers are certainly important to your business, it can end up costing you far more than you bargain for in the long run if you do not have a plan in mind that also incorporates customer retention strategies.
Understanding the Cost of Customer Acquisition
In this mini guide, we take a look at the biggest lessons to learn in customer acquisition and the cost it has on your growing business. Some of the most important things to consider when it comes to customer acquisition include the following:
It costs more to acquire customers than retain customers
Something that many new businesses forget is that it costs far more to acquire new customers than it does to retain current customers. As important as it is to bring in new business, you may also drive value from strategies designed to keep current customers happy or increase average spend. Customer retention strategies such as retargeting, cross-selling and upselling are all worth considering. That does not mean you have to put no effort or costs into bringing in new customers, of course. It just means that the ideal strategy should ideally incorporate a mixture of acquisition and retention to achieve genuine growth.
Conversion rates have a huge impact on acquisition costs
Do not underestimate the role that conversion optimisation plays when it comes to keeping down your acquisition costs. From the very moment a potential customer interacts with your brand, whether it is from an AdWords text ad, a social media post, an online search, a landing page or a personal referral, you have a limited window to turn potential interest into a genuine converted lead. Ignoring lead generation and other conversion strategies is a sure way to lose out on the chance to capture interest as quickly as possible, which in turn reduces the risk of wasted time, budget and effort.
Cross channel marketing can also help you reduce acquisition costs
One way that you can reduce acquisition costs and get the most value for your efforts is to invest in cross channel marketing strategies that incorporate a wide range of high converting platforms. The most effective way to go about this is to first identify the channels that your ideal audience will be found. Lead scoring and personalisation can be very effective, while channels such as email marketing, social media, Search Engine Optimisation, Search Engine Marketing, lead generation and ecommerce marketing can all help you target new customers in a way that ensures the best results.
If you keep these considerations in mind, you should be able to get the most from your customer acquisition efforts without wasting precious resources.
