Definition, Formula and Creating a Strategy (2023)

Paying prospects are the lifeblood of any enterprise, regardless of which business, area of interest, or occupation you’re in. Whereas each enterprise proprietor and supervisor is taking note of prospects, not everyone seems to be trying via the lens of a stable buyer acquisition technique.
With a buyer acquisition course of in place, you’re higher capable of flip your income right into a extra predictable, repeatable course of, as an alternative of a random incidence. You’ll even have a greater thought of the way it all ties into your funds, together with the typical earnings every buyer brings versus how a lot it prices to accumulate prospects and earn their loyalty.
For those who’re trying to construct a buyer acquisition plan, you’re in the fitting place. On this article, we’ll take a look at what it’s, easy methods to calculate it, and how one can begin implementing a buyer acquisition technique immediately.
What’s buyer acquisition?
In literal phrases, buyer acquisition is the method of changing potential prospects into paying prospects. However in actuality, a buyer acquisition technique has much more to it.
It’s a measurable, repeatable advertising course of that catches a potential buyer’s consideration, strikes them via the shopping for cycle, and turns them right into a long-term paying buyer.
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The shopper acquisition course of is commonly divided into three levels:
- Consciousness. A lead discovers your model and reveals curiosity.
- Consideration. The lead shifts into turning into a potential buyer as they begin to do analysis and think about making a purchase order.
- Conversion. The possible buyer converts right into a paying buyer. From this level, the model can shift its advertising efforts towards retention, or incomes their long-term buyer loyalty.
A profitable buyer acquisition technique takes all of those levels into consideration, implementing tailor-made advertising practices and curating the consumer expertise each step of the way in which.



Calculating buyer acquisition value (CAC)
Each enterprise wants to grasp easy methods to calculate its buyer acquisition value (CAC). It’s the way you get to know whether or not your advertising strategy is worthwhile.
To find out your CAC, divide the full value of selling incurred by the variety of new prospects acquired.
Buyer acquisition value components: Complete advertising spend / whole new prospects
Let’s assume our LinkedIn web page brings in 15 prospects a month and also you spend $200 creating content material. Your CAC can be: $200 / 15 = $13.33 per buyer.
When you’ve calculated your CAC, you need to use it to calculate your revenue on every order.
As an illustration, if a buyer spends $70 on common after they purchase from your corporation and you retain a 50% margin on every order, your revenue can be:
$70 (common order worth) x 50% (gross margin) – $13.33 (CAC) = $21.67 (revenue)
You possibly can know our buyer acquisition value for various advertising initiatives by utilizing monitoring/reporting instruments like Shopify Experiences.
6 buyer acquisition methods to strive
Prepared to start out your personal buyer acquisition efforts? Let’s take a look at just a few of the highest tried-and-true methods that manufacturers all around the world are utilizing.
1. E mail
E mail advertising is among the most worthwhile types of advertising on the market. Information from Statista reveals that manufacturers within the retail, ecommerce, and shopper items business earned a whopping $45 in return on funding (ROI) for each $1 they spent on e-mail advertising.
First, you’ll must generate an e-mail listing. You are able to do this via pop-ups and e-newsletter signup varieties in your web site, in addition to occasions like internet hosting contests and giveaways via your web site and social media.
When you’ve constructed your listing, there are many methods to make use of e-mail to construct relationships with leads, together with:
- Newsletters. Preserve prospects within the loop about what’s occurring in your corporation. Talk about information, new product launches, and get inventive with “behind the scenes” content material like how your merchandise are made and who your group is.
- Promotions. Have a sale or occasion arising? Generate curiosity via e-mail.
- Transactions. Use sign-up and buy confirmations as a chance to promote, upsell, and cross-sell extra items.
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2. Content material advertising
You recognize the saying “Content material is king.” Particularly in immediately’s world, the place customers are spending hours per day consuming content material on web sites, social media, and streaming providers.
A stable content material advertising plan is critical if you wish to seize folks’s consideration, have interaction them, and persuade them to make the leap and make a purchase order.
Your content material advertising plan can embrace:
- Blogs. Write useful and fascinating articles about your business, merchandise, and matters associated to your merchandise. For instance, for those who’re a magnificence model, you’ll be able to weblog about skincare suggestions and supply make-up tutorials.
- Social media. Create posts, movies, and interactive content material associated to your model. Remember to again it up with consumer engagement—for instance, reply to each remark and go away feedback on different posts to face out.
- Different varieties like podcasts, print publications, apps, press releases, and extra.
Magnificence model Magnificence Pie blogs about all the pieces from buyer spotlights to skincare, to dietary supplements to myth-busting investigations within the magnificence world.
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Influencer advertising is an enormous business, particularly on social media apps like Instagram, Fb, and TikTok. With this buyer acquisition channel, manufacturers companion with influencers to advertise their services or products. By definition, an influencer is a web-based persona or entity that has their very own loyal, engaged following.
For those who discover the fitting influencers to companion with—those that are in your area of interest and are related to your model—you will get in entrance of lots of or hundreds of potential prospects.
You possibly can have an influencer create content material about your model or merchandise in change for cost or free items. You can too strive internet online affiliate marketing, the place influencers get a reduce of your gross sales.
Simply be careful for the pitfalls: it may be robust to trace ROI, and also you’ll must put forth some funding upfront.
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4. Conventional promoting
Promoting isn’t lifeless. You possibly can nonetheless profit from buyer acquisition channels like print promoting, TV adverts, billboards, and junk mail. These will after all rely upon the kind of enterprise you might have and the ROI potential for utilizing these less-scalable, extra geographically focused methods.
It will include some trade-offs: for instance, you gained’t be capable of monitor impressions, views, and engagement along with your bodily adverts the way in which you’ll be able to with digital advertising methods.
However you need to use omnichannel advertising to tie all of it collectively. For instance, a printed advert that leads prospects onto your web site or app, and into your digital funnel.
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5. Viewers constructing
With social media platforms like YouTube, Instagram, and Twitch, ecommerce manufacturers have been capable of construct enormous on-line followings of potential prospects.An actual-world instance is Gymshark.
Gymshark has greater than six million followers on Instagram and cultivated a group of brand name ambassadors who endorse the model in every single place.
This not solely lends its model authority, however it additionally creates a base of shoppers Gymshark can attain each time it needs to extend gross sales or promote a brand new merchandise.
Though most audience-building methods require time, effort, and consistency, they’re typically thought-about worthwhile since they may help you create a buyer group you’ll be able to attain at any time without spending a dime.
6. Paid promoting
Paid promoting has emerged as a preferred approach for ecommerce manufacturers to draw new prospects.
Paid adverts supply a number of advantages that may assist companies develop shortly, equivalent to driving publicity to your model and providing concentrating on talents that allow you to tailor choices to folks’s pursuits and behaviors. So it isn’t a shock that many ecommerce firms are utilizing them as a part of their buyer acquisition efforts.
As an illustration, make-up model Glossier makes use of Fb adverts to search out new prospects on-line.
Whereas Fb and Google reign as probably the most outstanding platforms for paid adverts, there are different choices to contemplate. The selection of which web site to make use of will depend on understanding the viewers and the place they spend their time on-line.
Construct the method, reap the advantages
Whenever you strategy it thoughtfully and methodically, a buyer acquisition technique can have main advantages for your corporation. You’ll be higher capable of systematically deliver prospects within the door and preserve them coming again for extra. You’ll even have a greater understanding of the monetary elements, like your buyer acquisition value and the way it ties into your income.
All that’s left to do is begin constructing your plan, implementing the steps, and measuring your outcomes—then preserve repeating the method, bettering somewhat extra with every cycle.
Buyer acquisition FAQ
What’s a buyer acquisition technique?
A buyer acquisition technique is a plan to draw and convert potential prospects. It entails utilizing numerous ways tailor-made to your audience’s preferences to information them via the shopping for course of. The purpose is to seize their consideration and switch them into loyal shoppers.
How is buyer acquisition completely different from buyer retention?
Buyer acquisition focuses on figuring out and changing new prospects, whereas buyer retention is the method of satisfying and nurturing current shoppers to make sure repeat enterprise. Each are essential for enterprise development and sustainability, however they require completely different methods and ways to realize success.
What are one of the best buyer acquisition instruments?
- Shopify E mail: That is an e-mail advertising app constructed for ecommerce shops. You need to use it to create elegant, branded emails to ship to your subscribers.
- Shopify Inbox: A free Shopify app, Shopify Inbox permits you to flip guests into prospects by way of real-time chat. You possibly can ship reductions and proposals out of your Shopify retailer inside chats with only a few clicks, turning looking periods into procuring sprees.
- Referral Sweet: This can be a instrument for constructing referral merchandise for your corporation. You need to use it to create enjoyable, participating loyalty packages that assist you attain new prospects by way of phrase of mouth.


