This month, we’re discussing everything related to customer acquisition. We recently published our startup friendly guide and taught you how to calculate customer acquisition cost, so now let’s dive in even further.
Since you’ve read all of our posts, you already have a good understanding of how important customer acquisition is - and how much money you stand to leave on the table if you can’t close the deal. But how do you encourage customers to try out your products and services? What are some great customers acquisition strategies? Here’s what you need to know:
1. Tesla
Tesla has a valuation of $71 billion but it faced a lot of competition from automakers such as Chevrolet and GM - in the beginning.
While their vehicles’ possess superb features, Tesla only got people to try them through their double-sided reward referral program.
A Tesla brand advocate and referred customer both received a $1000 after a successful referral. Because one Tesla costs $85,000, the company got a 40x ROI for each successful sale.
Top referrers got special rewards like a new Tesla P90D Model S worth $130,000 and an invite to Tesla’s Gigafactory Grand Opening in Nevada.
In 2015, Tesla’s top referrer - Wei70644 - made 188 successful sales which amounted to $16 million!
2. Hubspot
Hubspot - a developer and marketer of software products - attracts marketers through custom interactive content. One example is their blog topic generator which lets content marketers enter up to five nouns to get blog ideas.
The results include a week of blog ideas like “The Next Big Thing In Email”. Those who want to get a year of ideas need to give their email address to download the entire list. This strategy helps them build their email list and connect with potential customers.
3. Spotify
Spotify’s rise to fame can be attributed to their freemium business model, which we talked about in our 10 Things to Remember About Customer Acquisition Cost article. Need a refresher? “Freemium” - a clever combination of the words “free” and “premium” - refers to a business model that offers both free and premium services.
Since Spotify’s basic features are free, they can easily onboard users. Those who want features like no add interruptions, unlimited skips and music downloads have to go Premium, and thus enter the Spotify sales funnel. Win-win, amiright?
4. Medium
Medium’s latest market valuation is reportedly worth $600 million. At least part of its success can be attributed to their personalized email campaigns.
Users can follow writers and publications on the site, making their user experience completely customizable. In their weekly email newsletter - Medium Digest - users are sent weekly highlights, trending stories from writers they follow and popular stories from publications. This fosters a weekly habit of returning to the site. Magic!
5. Instagram
Instagram’s is one of the top social media platforms in the world, but it wasn’t always super famous. First, they created a community of engaged users and focused on improving their platform and algorithm. By doing this, they created engagement, community, and we would argue… ownership. People bought their brand with their time, and were given entertainment in exchange!
They started out with less than 20 employees and consistently grew their customer base. In 2013, once that platform and algorithm were fine-tuned machines, they welcomed ads and businesses to gain profit.
6. Amazon
Loyalty programs with great offerings are one way you can attract potential customers.
The Amazon Prime loyalty program is one of the most successful loyalty programs in the world with 100 million subscribers globally in April 2018.
Its secrets to success are benefits like faster shipping, try before you buy clothes, exclusive deals on groceries, millions of ad-free songs, free games and access to Prime Originals and TV shows for as little as $12.99 per month.
7. GoPro
Not a GoPro user? No problem! You only need to check out their Instagram and Youtube channel to see what their cameras are capable of.
GoPro’s Instagram account boasts 15 million followers and features pictures or videos of adventures, destinations and wildlife.
Every post garners more than 100,000 likes because Instagrammers love to see travel destinations and thrill seekers.
What’s even better is that GoPro doesn’t need to create these high-quality posts themselves. They allocate $5 million annually for their GoPro Awards where their customers upload user-generated content in categories such as motorsports, travel, and animals among many others. Top winners are rewarded up to $5,000, GoPro gadgets and thousands of likes. I think we can all see the ROI here!
8. Glossier
Glossier’s story is unique because its founder Emily Weiss didn’t intend to create a business. She started a blog - Into the Gloss - to cover makeup, beauty tips and skincare.
But once she developed a community of more than 15,000 followers, she was able to become a successful retailer and build her own product line. The brand currently has 1.9 million Instagram followers and a valuation of $100 million. This was certainly a good example of, “If you build it, they will come”.
OK - we’re talking more about a business than a snowman, but you get our drift.
So, now that you know some of the snazziest ways to bring customers to your door, which one will work best for you? If you’re not 100% sure, feel free to head on back to The Startup Friendly Guide to Customer Acquisition to get a refresher course. I mean, if you haven’t already - download the PDF for easy reference! All you have to do is enter your email, and we’ll deliver it right to your inbox.
See what we did there?
Article written by Monique Danao
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