5 Proven Customer Acquisition Strategies

Growing the customer base is an integral part of all successful business strategies. While there are many ways that can attract customers through the door, the keys to successful acquisition involve not only attracting them but keeping them for the long term, thus improving your customer retention rates.

Taking the time to define exactly who your target market is and what their needs are will go a long way to ensuring that your customer acquisition efforts bear maximum results.

Once you have defined your target market, you can tailor a customer acquisition strategy that suits your business.

Here are five proven ways to improve customer acquisition.

1. Provide Outstanding Service To Your Existing Customer Base.

There is no greater business driver than word of mouth. When you continually provide outstanding service to your clientele, they are bound to recommend you to their friends and colleagues.

It costs nothing to get unsolicited referrals from your existing customer base other than a commitment to providing outstanding service and genuine recommendations tend to carry greater weight than any other form of advertising.

By providing outstanding service, you also are taking steps to protect and solidify your existing customer base.

2. Customer Referral Programs

Some businesses seek to leverage their current customer loyalty by providing incentives for customer referrals. How this is done is dependent upon your business model and the average cost of getting a new customer in the door. Some examples include:

Offering dollar discounts for new referrals. This can work in a variety of ways but the premise should be easy to understand – my friend will get $10 off their first purchase and I’ll get $10 off my next one.
Running a customer rewards program that includes incentives for new customer referrals. Offering exclusive free products or services for customer referrals.
A well-run customer referral program backed by superior customer service offers substantial growth possibilities, particularly when backed by a targeted social media campaign.

3. Targeted Social Media Campaign

Done properly, social media can and does work with customer acquisition. While social media has been likened to the modern day equivalent of word of mouth advertising, many social media campaigns fail because they adopt a splatter gun approach to social media marketing.

Social media campaigns should be designed to engage with potential and existing clients. It is crucial that before embarking on a social media campaign appropriate research is done on not only who your ideal customer is but where they are likely to be found. Every social media platform is different and they all have slightly different audiences. Tailoring your campaign around your customer’s likely social media platform will assist in reaching them.

An interesting and growing trend within social media is the use of social media influencers to endorse the use of specific business products. This can be very effective if the social media influencer is a good match for your business and its target market.

4. Consistent Clear Messaging (Branding)

It won’t matter what channels you choose to get the message out to your potential audience if your messaging is unclear and confusing. Consistent clear messaging of who you are, what you do and what your unique selling proposition is will help identify who you are and to solidify your appeal to your target audience.

5. Delivering On Your Promise

Customers expect competency. Ensuring that your sales process is seamless and that your salespeople are capable of delivering what you say you will deliver is an often overlooked facet in customer acquisition. Regardless of whether your sales are face to face or online, the process should be simple and hassle-free.

Many customers have been lost to businesses because the sales process falls at the final hurdle or the right paperwork is not available or the product is out of stock.

First impressions count – make sure that your business makes a good one from the get-go.

The key to customer acquisition is first and foremost providing outstanding service that sets your business apart from your competitors – each of these strategies aims to build on that core component of your business strategy.

ASTIA’s senior leadership team has more than 40 years combined experience in managing sales and acquisition campaigns across some of Australia’s biggest financial services brands, with budgets exceeding $40 million per year. Whether you’re just starting out in business or just want to give your sales a little boost, we can provide you with a proven customer acquisition campaign tailored for your specific needs.