5 of the Best Examples of Customer Acquisition

As the founders of many startups have learned, failure to plan ahead and craft a customer acquisition strategy can mean the failure of your company. It’s well known throughout the marketing world that without a solid base of new customers, it’s almost impossible to boost conversions or create brand loyalty.

Throughout the digital era, we’ve seen viral customer acquisition strategies that have helped create the digital giants which rule the web today. From Amazon to Shopify and Dropbox to Instagram, customer acquisition comprises a huge focus of the marketing efforts these massive companies put forth.

You know customer acquisition marketing is important, but how do you get started? We’ve compiled 5 of the best examples of customer acquisition we could find to get your creative juices flowing.

1. Use a Referral System like Dropbox

One of the most ubiquitous customer acquisition marketing methods is the referral system. A well crafted referral system campaign will incentivise your existing customers to invite their friends by offering some time of reward for doing so. The reward can contain monetary or digital value, and helps create a reciprocal relationship with your customers by inviting them to participate with your brand. One of the most successful examples of this strategy can be found when examining Dropbox. Dropbox offers customers a referral system that offers 500mb of additional storage once you’ve invited a friend. Not only that, but your friend gets 500mb of storage as well. By allowing both parties to gain value from a simple referral, Dropbox maximizes the likelihood that you’ll invite a friend to join. Customer acquisition at its most simple and streamlined!

2. Generate Leads With Custom Interactive Content Like Shopify

Another amazing customer acquisition strategy comes in the form of custom interactive content. Since the early days of the internet, people have enjoyed using simple generators and taking short quizzes. Your brand can capitalize on this need for digital entertainment by offering a custom built generator that will help your clients. The key here is creating a relevant tool that will generate leads. Shopify has one of the best examples of this method with their “Business Name Generator.” This tool allows Shopify’s customers to brainstorm a potential business name and check to see if it is registered. Since the tool provides value to the customer as they try to structure their new business, it boosts feelings of brand loyalty and therefore drives conversion rates.

3. Craft Thoughtful Personalized Email Campaigns Like Amazon

We all know Amazon is the king of interactive personalized emails. Consumers like to receive messages that are relevant to their lives and don’t feel like an intrusion in their inbox. Amazon has mastered this approach with a slew of personalized triggered email campaigns that remind a customer to finish up their purchase if there’s an item left in the shopping cart or asks them to renew their Prime membership. One of the most effective of these emails is the “Leave a Review” email campaign. After a consumer has purchased and received a product, Amazon sends a triggered email that prompts the user to return to their website and leave a product review. With a strong call to action, and a link through to Amazon’s home page, it’s easy to see why this method keeps users engaged. I mean, how often have you ended up accidentally online shopping when you thought you were just browsing? Amazon capitalizes on this trend and drives customer acquisition by re-engaging existing users.

4. Focus on Community (At First) Like Instagram

By now, if you haven’t spent time on Instagram, you’re way behind the trend. Sure, there are ads all over the social networking platform now, but it didn’t used to be that way. In the beginning, Instagram focused on building a community of engaged users. That marketing strategy worked out big time in their customer acquisition as the platform grew and grew. Despite such astronomical growth, Instagram started out with less than 20 employees. By focusing on building a digital community, the brand was able to foster feelings of investment in their customers by providing value in the form of entertainment. No frills approaches to community building like this will increase brand loyalty, and give you a foothold to monetize your services once you’ve built a strong base of users.

5. Use Marketing Psychology and Free Trials Like Amazon

Are you really surprised Amazon is on our list twice? This online shopping giant has excelled at utilizing marketing psychology since day one. One of their most successful customer acquisition methods comes in the form of the free trial, which utilizes marketing psychology like the Endowment Effect to create feelings of brand loyalty. Once you’ve invited a customer to interact with your brand and products, they’re more likely to experience feelings of ownership which therefore lead them to assign a higher value to the information you serve up. You can get their foot in the door by offering a free trial, much like Amazon does with their coveted Prime services. I mean, once you’ve purchased something online and had it at your doorstep in less than an hour, are you really likely to go back to a basic Amazon experience? The numbers prove that, no, you’re not. After being offered a free premium trial to your services, customers are more likely to purchase further services. Amazon has always had a good grip on what customer acquisition strategies are the most effective, and free trials are no different.

Now that we’ve examined these 5 stellar examples of customer acquisition, you’re ready to get out there and craft your next campaign today!