Customer acquisition is the process of converting a potential customer into a paying customer, or a lead into a sale. Learn how customer acquisition relates to customer acquisition cost, and explore marketing channels for finding new customers.
Customer acquisition is the strategy you would use to gain new customers. The process of acquiring a customer, sometimes called the acquisition funnel, begins by creating brand awareness and generating interest in your product. Customers then begin to consider making a purchase, which becomes the intent to purchase. Finally, customers make a purchase and complete the process.
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) represents the average expense of moving a customer through the acquisition funnel. CAC includes the money spent at each stage of the acquisition funnel: awareness, interest, consideration, intention, and purchase. It involves marketing, property, equipment, and any other costs associated with the final purchase.
It’s important to compare the CAC to customer lifetime value (CLV), the total revenue a customer will generate in their lifetime. You’ll generally want to aim for a profitable 3:1 ratio CLV to CAC or higher to ensure your marketing decisions align with business goals and strategies. Understanding these metrics will help you make more cost-effective marketing decisions.
When you develop your customer acquisition strategy, consider these marketing channels to reach your intended audience:
Advertising: Buy advertising space across search engine results, social media, and video advertising. Many advertising channels offer tools to tailor your ads to your potential customers to help you narrow your intended audience.
Content marketing: Leverage your company’s blog and website to publish high-quality content, or offer seminars and downloadable content that your audience will find useful, interesting, and engaging. Content marketing can draw qualified leads organically while helping you position yourself as a thought leader in your industry.
Social media: Educate your leads about your products through social media platforms to gain valuable insights regarding audience engagement. This type of marketing channel also enables direct interactions with potential customers in a public forum.
If you’re ready to learn more about customer acquisition and digital marketing, consider completing the Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Professional Certificate on Coursera. In this seven-course series, you’ll learn how to attract and engage potential customers in different marketing channels.
professional certificate
Launch Your Career in Salesforce. Learn the foundational skills in Salesforce needed to start a new career.
4.6
(1,657 ratings)
67,864 already enrolled
Beginner level
Average time: 3 month(s)
Learn at your own pace
Skills you'll build:
Sales, Sales Operations, Salesforce, CRM, Salesforce Lightning, Opportunity Management, Lead Management, Reports and Dashboards, Customer Success, Salesforce Sales Cloud
Editorial Team
Coursera’s editorial team is comprised of highly experienced professional editors, writers, and fact...
This content has been made available for informational purposes only. Learners are advised to conduct additional research to ensure that courses and other credentials pursued meet their personal, professional, and financial goals.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalization. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.