The 5 Stages of Customer Acquisition for Enterprises

For any business to succeed, you must have a solid customer base. These individuals who continuously purchase your products or avail of your services serve as the lifeblood of your business. 

It’s now apparent that companies need to take their audiences seriously. You can properly attract and retain old and new clients by implementing key techniques and measures throughout your business’s lifespan.

One fundamental process you should adopt is customer acquisition. A good acquisition policy is vital for any organization since it has the potential to impact your business in the long term. The infographic and article below show the stages of customer acquisition and how it can affect your company. 

What is Customer Acquisition?

Customer acquisition refers to bringing or introducing new clients to your business organization. It’s the early stage of the customer lifecycle after consumers learn more about a business, known as the brand awareness stage, and before purchasing the product or service. 

Businesses acquire customers through a wide variety of ways. Usually, these take the form of marketing and advertising tactics, such as social media posts, flyers, display advertising, and other content marketing initiatives.

Why Does Customer Acquisition Matter for Enterprises?

Acquiring customers is foundational for any business enterprise. Without people buying your product, how can your business have any revenue? 

Customer acquisition paves the way for your company’s better brand awareness and investment opportunities. The volume of customers you get can determine how your business is faring in industry authority and current foothold in the market. 

With the rapid modernization of the world in favor of technology, digital methods of acquiring customers, such as social media, continue to be used more than other means. In fact, 44% of companies also seem to focus more on acquiring customers than retaining them. 

Adopting customer acquisition strategies may be the way to go if you want to stay competitive against your industry peers. As of 2022, 60% of global advertising spending is expected to be allocated to digital channels. By 2024, these numbers are expected to reach 65%. 

What Are the Benefits of a Good Customer Acquisition Scheme?

When executed properly, acquiring customers can have several benefits that don’t just include having more buyers. A good acquisition strategy can eventually benefit companies by using offline, online, or a combination of both.

An increase in sales, brand awareness, business operations growth, and investment opportunities are just a few evident perks your business can get with the help of a proper acquisition strategy. Here are some other advantages you can obtain:

• Attracts potential customers

Customers are a key driving force behind your brand, so having a pool of potential loyal clients should be considered a priority.

Having customers who also closely identify with your product or are more prone to becoming your business’s target audience can benefit both parties. Consumers who genuinely enjoy your product are more likely to become loyal followers of your brand, making for a steady income flow for your business. 

• Offers strategic advertising

Businesses can learn a lot from their strategies and use this trial-and-error period for better judgment-making in future initiatives. When attracting potential customers, your business can assess what works and doesn’t. Then, you can adjust accordingly based on the feedback or trends received. 

• Provides a comprehensive customer journey

As a business, you must create a strategic and comprehensive customer journey map of your potential customers to understand what your buyers go through and engage with them as much as possible. The customer journey is where consumers navigate your business from awareness to purchase.

What Are the Stages of Customer Acquisition?

You must first understand the process’s moving parts to implement an effective customer acquisition strategy. The practices listed below can greatly help your business save time and resources in bringing in new buyers. They can even be worth investing in if it means having a spike in new and old customer pools.

• Identify your target or ideal customers 

After starting your business, your enterprise should focus on audiences with preferences that your product and service can readily or closely accommodate. If your company sells gardening tools, you’re more likely to find sales driven by gardeners or those who garden as a hobby. 

Questions like “What does my business sell?” and “Who can benefit the most from my business?” can be simple questions that act as stepping stones for your enterprise. 

• Define the goals of your business enterprise

After your business identifies your ideal customers, you can now have a clearer picture of your desired end goal to build your acquisition strategy around. 

At this stage, consider your company’s scopes and limitations and establish the expectations you’d like to achieve over time. It can guide your business, motivate your employees, and provide clear direction for business targets. 

• Choose your customer acquisition channels

Whatever data was gathered through identifying your target market and defining your goals should contribute significantly to the platforms you’ll focus on and what type of content will be produced in each. 

Social media sites like Instagram and Facebook value eye-catching graphics that can attract potential customers. For streaming sites like YouTube, the content to be released should naturally be in video form. Meanwhile, SEOs prefer written content, such as blog articles.

• Attract leads

By definition, a lead is a person who expresses interest in your company’s product. You can identify a lead once you’ve nailed down the demographic you’d like to cater to. 

The ideal scenario for this stage is for the potential customer to come to you. When they approach you first, they show genuine interest in buying your product or service. You can also make the first move through effective lead-generation strategies. 

Lead generation is a part of your customer acquisition strategy. You can move your leads through the buyers’ journey through techniques like influencer marketing, paid advertising, video content, and referral programs. Through these examples, you can introduce people to your company in that they can gauge if your product or service is something worth purchasing. 

• Communicate with your customers

Your business’s acquisition strategy has finally taken off the ground, but that doesn’t mean there’s no more room for improvement. An open line of communication with your customers provides just as much insight as the initial research. 

You can interact with your customers in a variety of ways. The possibilities for engagement and feedback are endless, from surveys to contact forms. Moreover, taking the time to communicate with your customers can also give them the impression that they’re more than just a statistic to your business but actual people with valued opinions and comments.

As for your business growth, routinely asking for these feedback forms detailing customers’ comments, thoughts, and suggestions can greatly improve your product quality and service. These insights can also help you gauge the level of expectation they have with your current line of offers. 

Customers Are Your Business’s Lifeblood

Customers serve as an important factor for any company to succeed. They drive interest, demand, and sales for your business’s products and services. Taking the time to make them feel valued can go a long way. It can start with having an effective customer acquisition scheme.  

The amount of research needed to acquire customers can be both time-consuming and tedious initially but can reap significant benefits for your company. With data playing a big role in decision-making, find the ideal partner for the job in Inquiro, a brand specializing in supplying companies with the knowledge needed to make smart industry choices.