What business would not seek to gain new customers? This is the only way to sustain your business. But the time it takes to acquire customers can sometimes be a problem. The process can be so long that it increases expenses while profitability is not there. Many entrepreneurs face this problem.
Customer acquisition includes all marketing and sales of your business. The goal is to grow your customer portfolio. But how to gain new market share ? How to run a customer acquisition campaign ? What are the lead times and costs for customer acquisition? So many questions that deserve adequate answers.
As a general rule, you should allow 4 to 6 months before your prospects reach maturity if you have never carried out a prospecting campaign. It is therefore important to start prospecting as early as possible . You can also do this before even designing the offer and then adapt it to the market if necessary.
What is customer acquisition?
Of course, customer acquisition is a procedure of attracting customers to your business. This means that the process already begins at the prospecting stage. Customer acquisition covers the entire customer journey , from the moment they become a qualified prospect until they become an actual customer. Throughout this process, different actions and strategies must be implemented. Otherwise, you risk spending a lot of money on your commercial prospecting, without obtaining good results .
Furthermore, the process of acquiring new customers may take more or less time. This varies depending on your product or service. But no matter how long the process takes, all stages of the customer journey are essential to your sales strategy . However, there are several ways to speed up this process…
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What is customer acquisition time?
Customer acquisition time is the time it takes for a business to convert a prospect into a customer. This is an important metric for any business because it tells you how many leads you can expect to convert in order to meet your revenue goals.
It is also one of the most important metrics in marketing. It is used to measure the effectiveness of a company's marketing strategy. But why should we measure customer acquisition? There may be several reasons for this:
- Determine the effectiveness and profitability of your commercial prospecting ;
- Evaluate and monitor the performance of your marketing efforts ;
- Adjust and improve your customer acquisition strategy .
As a general rule, you should allow 4 to 6 months before your prospects reach maturity if you have never carried out a prospecting campaign. It is therefore important to start prospecting as early as possible . You can also do this before even designing the offer and then adapt it to the market if necessary.
If you want to speed up customer acquisition time, you absolutely need to measure your results. To do this, there are key indicators that you can rely on. The following indicators are used by most companies in order to improve their strategy and achieve excellent results.
1 – The conversion rate
This metric is the percentage of visitors to your website who took the action you intended them to take. For example, the number of visitors who purchase a product or service on your site, who subscribe to your newsletter or who download a catalog or e-book.
To calculate it, simply divide the number of visitors received (who took an action) over a given period by the total number of visitors to your website. Then, multiply the result by ten. A conversion rate close to or above 10% can be considered good.
2 – The acquisition rate of new customers
This metric allows you to compare customer acquisition rates over different periods . The report is very accurate and can indicate whether your results are up compared to previous periods. To calculate this rate, you must divide the number of customers acquired during a specific period by the length of that period.
3 – The rate of product page visits
This is a great metric for tracking interactions with your prospects early in the buying process . It also allows you to measure the impact of your products, as well as the effectiveness of your landing page . In addition, this indicator allows you to identify areas for improvement , which is a great advantage.
What is the customer acquisition cost?
In addition to the metrics you just saw above, there is another very important key performance indicator (KPI). This is the customer acquisition cost !
In a customer acquisition campaign , this is the key indicator to follow. It allows you to analyze the effectiveness and profitability of your customer acquisition strategy . It must therefore be measured carefully in order to evaluate performance.
Customer acquisition cost or CAC expresses the average amount spent by a company to acquire a new customer. It can be calculated by dividing the total cost of customer acquisition by the total number of customers acquired . For example, if it takes $1,000 to acquire 100 customers and there are 120 customers in total, then CAC = $1,000 / 120 = $8.33 per customer.
The formula to calculate this rate is as follows:
- CAC = Total investments / Number of customers gained
Also, it should be noted that the total investment in customer acquisition includes the costs of marketing and sales . We can thus review the formula:
- CAC: (cost of marketing actions + cost of commercial actions) / Number of customers acquired
Calculating customer acquisition cost allows you to better manage expenses . Before launching the campaign, you can decide how much to invest in acquiring new customers. This indicator allows you to see the return on investment generated for each customer.
Tips to Improve Customer Acquisition Time
Now that you know the importance of customer acquisition for a business, here are some tips to increase customer acquisition speed:
1 – Use advertisements on social networks
Social networks remain a veritable gold mine of prospects likely to purchase your products or services. This is the perfect place to run paid ads to promote your business. Facebook, for example, has approximately 2.912 billion users worldwide in 2022. Studies have shown that 78% of marketers much prefer this social network over others. Facebook ads potentially reach 34.1% of the global population aged 13 and over, with a majority of men aged 25 to 34 (Source: HubSpot).
Furthermore, there is also LinkedIn which is a channel not to forget when you are prospecting. It is the professional social network par excellence used by more than 21 million members in France alone. According to statistics, 45.6% of B2B buyers confirm that LinkedIn is the social network most encouraging to purchase. This explains the fact that the main users of LinkedIn are mainly professionals looking for business opportunities.
Social networks such as Twitter or Instagram are not kept on a leash. Indeed, it is not necessary to be present on all networks. Hence the importance of relevant targeting . You won't gain anything from being present on Facebook, for example, if your target audience isn't even there. In this case, you will only waste more time. When in reality, investing in a customer acquisition strategy via social media should customer acquisition time
In other words, social networks are easily accessible and the cost of acquisition is not exaggerated at all. You can even sell your product or service without going through paid campaigns. A free account may be sufficient, but if you are looking for great performance, a premium account is always recommended.
2 – Create content that attracts prospects
The goal of customer acquisition is to convert your prospects into customers. But first, you need to attract to your business. You need to adopt an inbound marketing strategy to make them come to you, instead of going looking for them. This methodology has become a benchmark in customer acquisition . It is based on creating content that is relevant to your audience. Content marketing will thus become the best ally of your acquisition strategy.
What matters most in content creation is quality . With the evolution of the web, buyers have become more savvy. do their research first before making a purchasing decision. To hope to interest , you must work on your offers and especially the approach that you will use to present them. We must respond to customer needs and offer them the best solutions . Remember that competition can be very tough. You need content that stands out from the crowd to establish your presence.
In addition, content can promote your brand to your target audience . It gives you the opportunity to educate your prospects while working on your company's reputation So offer quality content to your audience to engage with them. Don't forget to work on your SEO so that your content is clearly visible on the web. natural referencing (SEO) technique which does not require a very large budget.
But you can also opt for advertisement or the paid referencing (SEA) if you have them means. Whatever your choice, the goal is to boost your visibility and of generate traffic on your website. THE SEO techniques will help you attract potential customers and to them convert into customers.
3 – Offer discounts or sales
Price reductions , when you go to stores, are always nice to see. A product with a sale label will attract prospects more quickly. Even for a simple visitor, it arouses curiosity . On the Internet, sales are always interesting. They express a win-win agreement for the seller and the buyer. Businesses can sell more and customers can save .
During the sales period , customers are more motivated to make purchases . Product discounts can range from 5% to 60% in general. Prices are very attractive during these periods. Additionally, you can target key events to boost your sales. For example, digital days such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday increase online purchases by 36-50%. Targeting these dates e-commerce companies .
If you want to attract leads, use promotions and coupons as bait. Before purchasing, customers tend to do a price comparison If your offer is much cheaper than your competitors , you may win the auction . But don't forget that the quality of your products remains essential. Customers are looking for products with good value for money . So give them what they are looking for and you can grow your customer portfolio.
This article in summary
To summarize, this article serves as guide to help you in your acquisition strategy customer. We show you through these lines the essential elements to achieve your objective: develop your customer portfolio.
- Customer acquisition is an essential process for any business.
- The development of your business depends on the new customers and sales you will make.
- You must continually conquer new market shares.
- Your customer acquisition strategy must be developed with methodology to obtain the expected results.
- To get a better return on investment, you need to track the performance of your customer acquisition campaigns.
- Customer acquisition can take a lot of time, so if you have less time, you should choose a tool that will allow you to optimize certain repetitive tasks.
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