What Is Customer Acquisition?

Customer acquisition is the strategy you would use to gain new customers. Acquiring a customer, sometimes called the acquisition funnel, begins by creating brand awareness and generating interest in your product. Customers then begin to consider purchasing, which becomes the intent to purchase. Finally, customers make a purchase and complete the process.

Explore this strategy in more detail below to envision how you might implement it for your own business.

What is customer acquisition cost?

Customer acquisition cost (CAC) represents the average expense of moving a customer through the acquisition funnel. It includes the money spent at each stage of the acquisition funnel: awareness, interest, consideration, intention, and purchase. It also 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), which is the total revenue a customer will generate in their lifetime. You’ll generally 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.

Marketing channels for customer acquisition

Choosing the proper marketing channels is essential to helping you connect with your audience. These tools are vital for distributing your marketing materials. 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 workshops 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 marketing channel also enables direct interactions with potential customers in a public forum.

Related Terms

• Pay-per-click

• Sales pipeline

• Conversion rate

• Marketing channel

• Customer lifetime value

Learn more about digital marketing

Customer acquisition is vital to connecting with new customers and growing your revenue. By understanding customer acquisition costs and employing effective marketing channels, businesses can optimise their customer acquisition efforts and achieve sustainable growth.

To learn more about customer acquisition and digital marketing, consider completing the Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Professional Certificate on Coursera. This seven-course series teaches you how to attract and engage potential customers in different marketing channels.