Customer acquisition is the process of converting a
person, who is not a customer currently, as a customer buying your products. This means that a person, who was not buying your
product earlier, because he or she was not using that kind of product at all,
or was buying an alternative brand of the products, starts buying your product. Customer acquisition requires focus on activities like
creating customer awareness about your product and convincing the customer about
its benefits through suitable marketing communication programs. It also
involves providing motivation and incentive to the customer so that the
customer will take positive action inform of decision in favour of your product
and try to buy it.
The importance of customer acquisition varies
according to the specific business situation of an organization. This process
is specifically concerned with issues like acquiring customers at less cost,
acquiring as many customers as possible, acquiring customers who are indigenous
and business oriented, acquiring customers who utilize newer business channels,
etc. The whole process should concentrate on the following considerations:
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Primarily it is
important to determine and focus on psychology of customers, like how the
customers feel and think and then selecting the product segment to be presented
to them
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Concentrating on how the customers are influenced by the surrounding environment
like the business culture, technology, media, etc.
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Analysis of
customer behaviour and tendency while buying specific range of product.
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Studying the
customer’s limitation of knowledge processing power which influence the
decision making power.
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Finally it is
very important to engage best strategies for effectively convincing new
customers and improving marketing campaigns.
Acquiring
a customers depends on how effective the organization is able to build a
comprehensive relationship with that customers. When service providers have
healthy relationship with customers, the revenue of the organization always
increases as customers tend to patronize such firm. There is possibility that a
satisfied customer seek to patronize the firm by purchasing special category of
related service, apart from the regular ones from that particular provider. For
instance, if a satisfied and loyal customer has a home insurance policy from an
insurance company, then there are positive chances that the customer could also
insure his or her property and car if he or she is fully satisfied with the
services of that insurance company. This will, definitely, result in growth of
business.
While acquiring, the nature of response provides to
acquisition is the key aspect to create an impressive opinion in the customer’s
mindset. Hence, the service providers should always have prompt, responsive and
experienced executives to serve customers. For example if a customer calls and
asks about some critical features of any service and the executive fails to
explain it or being non-responsive to most of the customer’s questions, the
customers could probably divert his or her attention and way to some other
organization for better repose which could definitely result in end of the deal
and relationship with that customer.
Improving customer acquisition is the primary
challenge which an organization faces. Hence, it is important to identify
critical approaches to enhance customer acquisition power this includes acquiring
more number of customers of more number of attractive.
CUSTOMER
ACQUISITION STRATEGIES
Customer acquisition is a broad term that is used to
identify the processes and procedures used to locate, qualify and ultimately
secure the business of new customers.
There are many different strategies used as part of
the acquisition process, with some methods being more effective with specific
types of potential clients. In spite of the many and sometimes contradictory
ideas that surround the central idea of how to ear a customer, there are few
essentials that are included in just about any type of customer acquisition
plan.
One of the basics of customer acquisition effort is to
identify and qualify potential customer. This is sometimes accomplished with
the use of telemarketing as a means of locating individuals and business who either
express interest in or already use services similar to those offered by the
organization. From this initial list, these leads are then qualified a little
further, using various research methods to determine if there is any solid
chance of making a sale with a given lead. If there is a good chance, and the
contact is interested in learning more about the services offered, his or her
status is usually upgraded to that of prospect, and assigned to a sales person for
further interaction.
Establishing rapport with the prospect is essential to
any successful customer acquisition effort. Here, the salesperson finds ways to
identify with the stated wants and needs of the prospect, and how the services
offered can relate to those wants and needs.
At the same time, the salesperson will go further and
attempt to identify unstated needs, based on data provided in ongoing
conversations with the prospect. This type of activity can lead to identifying
additional wants that can be met by other services that the salesperson has to
offer, or inspire additional ideas of how the prospect can obtain a greater
value from purchasing the services he or she already is considering.
Key to the customer acquisition process is
understanding the role of customer perception throughout the process. A
successful salesperson knows how to how that prospect feels about the potential
of the services offered for sale. Secing the relationship from the prospect’s
point of view makes it possible to proactively deal with possible objections
raised by the prospect before they are voiced or heard. In addition, the added
perspective can help the salesperson connect with the client in a manner that
is rarely possible otherwise. The end result is that understanding customer
perceptions makes it easier to forge a relationship that not only results in a
sale, but also in strong customer loyalty, provided the services live up to the
claims presented during the sales cycle.
Customer acquisition provides a key response to the
challenges of competition. At every point, companies face the demands of
keeping current customers balanced with using tactics to find new customers. In
general, three basic forms of customer acquisition are:
1. Developing existing or new markets,
2. Developing existing or new service and
3. Branding programs.
Customers are acquired through the analysis of
existing markets and new markets. New customer can be located in existing
markets some may be found through the efforts to increase brand switching.
Others can be identified when new needs arise as situations change, such as
when ATMs are used to dispense cash to bank customers as against the
conventional method of cash withdrawal by customers at the counter, inside the
banking hall. Further, a service may be featured as being different and better,
which is another way to attract new customers in existing markets. Finding new markets,
the second approach to identifying markets, consists of geographic expansion
into domestic markets and international markets. When a company does not
operate nationally, domestic markets are assessed to see which will be the most
viable for entry. International markets require careful study prior to setting
up any kind of export arrangement.
Acquisition of new customers often results from the
implementation of service quality. Services attract new customers by offering
new features, elimination old problem, and solving different needs. Service
will be matched with viable market segments.
Branding programs are an other source of acquiring
customers. A strong brand can influence the acquisition of a customer.
A brand is the name given to an item or, is some case,
an organization. Brands are assigned to individual products, lines of products,
companies offering products individual services, and companies that offer
services. The term used to identify an entire company is the corporate name,
which may or may not also be a brand.
CUSTOMER
ACQUISITION AND CUSTOMER SERVICE
Perceptions of excellence will be not only based on
tangible product features but also emerge from in tangibles. To acquire
customers, service providers must go beyond offering superior services and make
sure the services are delivery on time, in accurate amounts, with correct
billing procedures, and with quality service after the sale.
The importance of a brand reaches a premium for companies
that vend services. Services are intangible, which makes the name the primary
means by which a company and its services are identified.
A connection also exists between pricing and company
services. Customers paying higher prices expect the best service. In general,
any time a customer considers a new company, product, or service, several
factors influence the final choice. The one common denominator for markets,
products, brands, and prices is the connection to customer service. The company
that delivers the most memorable quality service automatically has an advantage.
CUSTOMER RETENTION
Customer retention refers to keeping an existing
customer happy so that he or she continues to buy your product. On the hand,
customer retention requires focus on ensuring that the customer is satisfied
with the service quality provided by a company. Here the stress is on service
quality. The focus of marketing communication function shifts from creating
awareness and providing information about the service to assuring the customer
that the choice made by him or her to buy or Purchase the service is the right
choice.
Customer retention also requires attention to
cantering the actions of your competitors to win over your customers.
CUSTOMER
RETENTION STRATEGY
Many companies have adopted customer relationship management
(CRM) systems that can support both acquisition and retention by gathering data
from every contact with prospects and customer. Just collecting data should not
be an end unto itself, however. The real focus should be on developing a data
strategy and tuning the CRM system to help your company acquire and retain the
right types of customers.
While looking at data for individuals can help you
better understand their needs and interests, analyzing data in the aggregate
can show which groupings or classes of customer respond best to your company’s.
This step can help you to develop services that meet the needs of specific groups
of customers or prospects.
As the focus of a company’s program shifts from
acquisition to retention, the goals become those of establishing loyalty,
advancing the relationship and building sense of community, participation and
affinity. As with prospecting, however, the data strategy should help determine
whether customers do or do not meet the company’s criteria for retention.
The development of the data strategy as it relates to
retention issues should address questions such as:
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What
characterizes our best customers, and what keeps them loyal?
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How do the
information and service needs of new customer differ from those of established
customers?
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Is it necessary
to keep all prospect information once a customer relationship is established?
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What changes does
the organization need to make as the relationship goes along?
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Were any service
rejected and why?
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How many service
calls did customers place?
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How were they
resolved?
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What was the time
to resolution on those calls?
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What is the
potential for developing other customers such as these?
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Why does one
group or class of customer respond to opportunities when another does not?