Do you want to boost conversion rates and gain a bigger customer base? If so, learning about online acquisition tactics should be your first step!
Online acquisition is an integral part of digital marketing. It’s how you convert potential customers into loyal clients.
Today, I’ll teach you the basics of online acquisition. I’ll discuss some of the most popular strategies and recommend future trends to look out for!
Table of Contents
What Is Online Acquisition?
Online acquisition is the process of gaining new customers through a digital marketing strategy. It’s a form of E-commerce that allows people to discover your business or visit your website.
There are many methods to attract your target audience’s attention. Online acquisition aims to use these methods to turn people into paying customers!
Why Is Online Acquisition Important?
Online acquisition is an essential process in modern businesses.
According to Forbes, 20.1% of retail purchases happen online. What’s more, 82% of consumers conduct online research before purchasing in-store.
Therefore, having a robust online acquisition plan will undoubtedly boost your sales.
Incorporating online acquisition into your marketing efforts may lead to higher brand awareness. It may also affect your customer retention and improve user experience!
What Is the Online Acquisition Process?
So, how does the typical online acquisition process work? Here’s an overview of the customer journey and what you can expect as a seller.
1. Awareness and Interest
During the first step, your goal is to boost your brand awareness through ads. This is when you target the right demographics and use various marketing strategies.
For instance, search engine optimization can make you more visible. Meanwhile, social media marketing can spark interest in your product.
2. Consideration
Your target market will consider purchasing your product and compare it to your competitors. This is when you should set yourself apart.
Marketing campaigns, webinars, or customer reviews may give you an edge, letting you influence customer decisions. Here, you’ll emphasize what makes your product unique and better.
3. Conversion
Conversion is when potential customers decide to buy your product. However, remember that there are still hurdles before closing a deal.
As an online business, you have to optimize your landing pages. Add clear call-to-action buttons and simplify the checkout process.
8 of the Most Popular Online Acquisition Strategies
Now that you understand the process, it’s time to learn about different acquisition channels. Below are just eight examples of customer acquisition strategies!
1. SEO
Search engine optimization, or SEO, is when you use keywords to boost your ranking results.
Simply put, when customers search for your product, having SEO can make you appear ahead of the competition. This will increase your chances of making a sale.
According to AdLift, websites with SEO reduce their customer acquisition cost by over 60%. In addition, SEO has an impact on long-term results. It’s a great way to drive organic traffic to your website and make you more visible.
To improve your SEO, you can do keyword research using various keyword research tools available online. Be sure to also target the keywords for your area to boost your local sales!
2. PPC Advertising
Pay-per-click advertising is a form of acquisition marketing where you pay a fee when a customer clicks on your ad. You do this by bidding for a spot to appear on search results.
In PPC, the highest bidder will have their ad displayed ahead of competitors. This places them in the most visible spot, increasing their chances of a sale.
PPC advertising is an affordable yet effective way to generate leads. It’s also easy to start.
You can try PPC advertising and widen your marketing channels using Facebook or Google Ads. You may even use tools to conduct automated bidding for you!
3. Email Marketing
Email marketing is when you use subscription emails and newsletters to promote merchandise.
Through these emails, you can tell customers more about the company and its products. This directly affects their loyalty to your brand.
Note that there’s a trick to getting customers to sign up and stay for all your emails.
One tactic is to strategically time pop-ups for first-time website visitors. Another is to offer exclusive sales and promos for members.
Remember, when doing email marketing, you should avoid spamming your customers. Maintain consistency and only write emails your target market will be interested in!
4. Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is using platforms like Facebook, TikTok, or LinkedIn to interact with your customers.
Today, 4.9 billion people globally have social media accounts. Out of this, 67% of users research products on social media platforms before making a purchase decision.
For this reason, having a social media presence is perfect for lead generation.
Through social media, you can better connect with your audience and increase your visibility!
5. Content Marketing
Content marketing is when you gain customers through videos and blog posts.
This content doesn’t necessarily have to promote the brand. Instead, their purpose is to spark the audience’s interest.
For example, you can create twists on existing TikTok trends. Other companies may also post funny memes of current events or run contests for user-generated content.
As your posts become viral, they will bring more attention to your brand!
6. Affiliate and Influencer Marketing
Affiliate marketing is a type of online acquisition where you partner with other popular pages or influencers.
To put it simply, a third party will promote your products. When they make a sale, they will get a commission from you.
You’ve likely encountered affiliate marketing on YouTube. It happens when an influencer asks viewers to click on their link for discounts.
What’s great about this is you’ll have tangible data on which influencers drive the most sales for your product!
7. Referral Marketing
Another popular marketing strategy is a referral program. Here, you encourage buyers to recommend your products to friends and family. You do this by offering them incentives or discount codes.
Referral programs are effective because they generate high-quality leads by word-of-mouth. It’s a great way to tap into an already loyal customer base!
8. Freemium Models
Freemium marketing is a strategy where you offer your services for free as a trial.
The potential customer gets full access to your product for a limited time. Afterward, they can purchase your product if they find it useful.
You may also offer basic packages and only give customers access to premium features once they subscribe.
Freemium models are advantageous because they allow you to scale the business without the extra marketing cost!
How to Tell If Your Online Acquisition Efforts Are Effective
The best online acquisition methods have measurable metrics. This means you can determine their effectiveness based on data and then apply changes if necessary.
Here are some online acquisition metrics to look out for.
1. Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
There’s no doubt that loyal customers will keep buying your product. It’s important to identify these high-value customers and form a stronger relationship with them.
Customer lifetime value is the total revenue you can expect from an individual over their life. You can calculate a customer’s LTV by checking their purchase history.
2. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Customer acquisition cost is the amount you spend on ads to get a customer to buy your product.
You compute it by adding all your costs, including salaries, marketing tools, and campaigns. Following this, you divide the cost by the total number of new customers you gain.
A lower CAC means higher profits for your business.
3. Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
Return on ad spend is how much revenue you earn for every dollar you spend on ads. To determine ROAS, you simply divide the revenue generated from a campaign by its cost.
Having a high ROAS means a campaign is successful. As such, you may invest more of your marketing efforts in it.
4. Conversion Rates
Conversion rate is the percentage of website visitors that decide to purchase a product.
In online marketing, the reality is not everyone will buy your product. Other people may just be browsing through.
You can use conversion rates to determine a campaign’s effectiveness. Better online acquisition methods will lead to higher conversion rates!
Future Trends in Online Acquisition
As a business owner, it’s important to know that online acquisition is ever-changing. You constantly have to keep updated on current trends to stay relevant.
Future trends in online acquisition may incorporate more AI for customer targeting. Using AI potentially minimizes the costs of advertising.
Additionally, there’s a growing interest in conversational marketing and voice search optimization.
Remember, staying ahead of your competition through online acquisition may just be what you need for success!
Conclusion
Online acquisition is an essential process in businesses today. To become visible to new customers, you should use various acquisition channels to promote your products.
Some of the most popular methods are social media marketing, email marketing, and SEO. Also, you can try PPC advertising, affiliate marketing, or Freemium models.
Lastly, always check essential metrics and adjust your strategies if necessary. Doing so will help your business become more adaptive and profitable!
Published on: 2024-11-06
Updated on: 2024-11-08
