How Does Customer Acquisition Work?

When parsing out the phases of online customer acquisition, marketers often refer to a funnel. Starting at the top of the funnel, the following steps are ways to move through leads, prospective customers, and, finally, purchasers.

Awareness (Top Funnel)

During the awareness phase of customer acquisition, a business owner advertises and networks its services to a target audience. For example, a seller of kitchen utensils might want to target older people who live in an area where people have a lot of kitchen space, such as the Midwest. Honing in on a target audience will help a business owner find their ideal customers and create awareness.




Consideration (Middle Funnel)

Customers who go through the awareness phase have shown interest, but haven’t purchased a product yet. They may have shared an email through the company website, for example, or inquired about a service through the company chatbot system. At this point, they’re in the consideration phase, and your goal is to coax them into a purchase.




Purchase (Bottom Funnel)

A potential customer is very close to converting if they’ve made it to this stage of the funnel. Perhaps they already have products in a shopping cart, for example. Businesses will typically send these customers further incentives such as a discount code to encourage deal-seekers to make a purchase.


Strategies for Improving Customer Acquisition

Advertise to a Target Audience on Social Media

Targeting an audience on social media is a quick, affordable way to advertise widely. Businesses can buy targeted ads through Facebook and Instagram and adjust their budgets depending on the results. Business owners can also network with audience-relevant influencers who advertise their products in exchange for a fee, revenue, or traffic share.




Stay on Top of Trends

Customer acquisition technologies evolve constantly, so it’s important to stay on top of the trends. For example, TikTok is emerging as a critical platform for businesses because it has a massive audience and its advertising market is not quite saturated.




Further, evolving trends in data collection, such as analytics, may help companies predict their audience’s behavior and adjust their customer acquisition strategies accordingly.




Improve Presentation and Accessibility

Customers are more likely to make a purchase and remain loyal if a business’s product is presented well and the process is seamless. The company’s website ought to be professional and highly functional, for example. Advertising content should be high quality, any shipping ought to be timely, and a customer should be able to reach a customer service representative easily for help.




Have a Call to Action

When creating advertising content, businesses will want to have a call to action, such as a free consultation, a sale of 25% off, or an announcement of a new line of themed seasonal products.