Part 1: What is the customer acquisition strategy?
In most cases, customer acquisition strategy describes the media acquire new customers, channels and tools. In the traditional sense, customer acquisition strategy is a series where and how to obtain customer channels and technology.
However, this definition is incomplete, in general, plan to get the message through certain channels and customer orientation which is usually a good idea. However, SaaS company must also deliberately designed the initial interaction between potential customers and their products.
Customer acquisition strategy is an important part of your marketing (GTM) strategy. Prior to the development of customer acquisition strategy, your team must clear the four basic elements GTM strategy. Reminder, GTM strategy covers the following elements:
# 1 client (WHO)
issues:
- Who is your ideal client?
- What are your customers experience pain?
- Can you describe one day target customers work in it?
- How does your product meet customer's daily activities and work flow?
Results:
- ideal customer profiles (ICP) - Strategic Information
# 2 market (WHERE)
questions:
- What are the market you want to pursue? - Your addressable market, how much? Whether it is growing, stable or declining?
- Who is the biggest market participants?
Results:
- Market segmentation and analysis - Competitive positioning
# 3 Product Offering and Pricing (WHAT)
issues: - You are selling what products? The unique value proposition of your product what is?
- How would you describe the value of the product?
- Your competitors and what is the difference?
- What (based on usage, functionality, capacity, location, etc.) your pricing strategy?
- How do you know what features to build next?
result: - Product Supply
- Value Proposition
- Pricing Strategy
- Products Vision / Roadmap
# 4 channels (HOW)
issues: - What is the most effective access to target customers are?
- What target customers read the most popular publications?
- What are your clients most often use social media channels?
- Which channels can achieve optimum customer acquisition cost (CAC)?
- How do you get marketing channels and transactions associated with product registration rate linked?
result: - Demand Generation Strategy
- Content and distribution strategies
- Paid media strategy
- Public relations plan
we will not spend too much time to break GTM strategy. However, to understand your target audience, location, product and fashion will help you design an effective customer acquisition strategies. Customer acquisition strategies describe how all these elements work together, but also describes the first interaction between the potential customer and product should look like.
Another important aspect of the design customer acquisition strategy is to focus on potential customers buying patterns, rather than how companies sell their products. This means that you need to understand the customer's lifecycle. Customer life cycle has four phases:
1. the acquisition stage, the buyer's goal is to quickly evaluate the suitability of the product and obvious benefits, and take practical action to evaluate the product.
2. Using stage, the buyer's goal is to learn how to use the product, the initial value of experience or interest, evaluate and make purchasing decisions.
3. Leave the stage, the customer's goal is to continue to get value from the product and benefit from it.
4. expansion phase, the customer's goal is to explore how to enhance the functionality and success through product and new features.
So, why should we discuss customer life cycle? Simply put, your customer acquisition strategy should be developed from your customers and not your company's point of view. But keep up with your customers is very difficult, especially in the SaaS industry is especially true, you think you can sell to the organization rather than individual sales. This is why your sales organization is more likely to create a sales process without following reasons purchase process. Customer acquisition strategy in the first and second stages of the customer life cycle to zero, the final push to buy.
Customer acquisition strategy is a way to attract potential customers and convert it to the customer's plan.
Customer acquisition strategy in four steps:
1. raise awareness and demand (in other words, your brand into account factors)
2. Design the initial potential customers interact with products, so that potential customers can try your product
3. Design is a potential customer value creation journey
4. convert potential customers to paying customers
- part 2: Why is customer acquisition strategy is very important?
Obvious, why spend a lot of effort to design customer acquisition strategies. But let's focus on the most important factors have been identified, effective customer acquisition strategies will achieve the following four points.
Promote product growth
early stage companies can add value by offering free trial option or the minimum requirements, as well as obstacles to the trial of the product produced, potentially generate more interest and demand. If a competitor requires potential customers to fill out a long form and potential customers through complex processes free trial, then the self-service trial easy to use you can make your company unique and promote your product growth.
Reduce customer acquisition costs (CAC)
CAC SaaS company can become a silent killer. In the design of customer acquisition strategy, keep in mind the cost of customer acquisition is critical. Consider a simple, inexpensive way to expand your growth is worth it, for example, are encouraged to invite colleagues or potential customers to share their experiences on social media. That's all marketing growth (or growth ***) is: make your potential clients and customers to share your products with their influence.
Shorten sales cycles
and efficient self-service options can significantly shorten the sales cycle. Think about how long the first time if I need to talk to and watch the demonstration and sales staff. Self-service options do not apply to all companies. In other words, SaaS customer acquisition strategy should aim to reduce the potential customers realize the value of the product time, reduce product time to see the actual operation.
The initial focus on the interaction
initial interaction between the potential customer and the product can be said to be the most important step in establishing long-term relationships with customers. That is why the first interaction design should be part of your customer acquisition strategy. Good initial experience can be a powerful competitive advantage.
Part 3: How to design customer acquisition strategy
in addition to the potential customers' expectations and requirements often try to enterprise software, consumer products, like as they try to get the policy adding value to your customers for free or free trial can help your company more effectively sell .
In fact, why invite potential customers to try your software can bring great benefits to your organization, which has several psychological reasons, we explore four.
3.1 psychological four customer acquisition strategy
1. The endowment effect
Simply put, the endowment effect describes more people will have value simply because these things when attributed to things. Dan Ariely, Daniel Kahneman and Richard Thaler, who conducted extensive research in this area. Surprisingly, even though the "proximity ownership" and complete possession of the goods, but also make us pay more attention to them. For example, in a classic experiment, a scientist to provide students with a half cup, but the other half empty-handed. Students receive a coffee cup unwilling to sell for less than $ 5.25 a cup, and students who did not receive the coffee cup is not willing to pay more than $ 2.75.
Then this acquisition strategies What is the relationship with the customer? Offers a free trial version or free version of the product adds value to the product in the eyes of potential customers.
2. behavior-driven approach
according to the traditional view, marketers believe will promote brand loyalty behavior. However, some recent studies have shown Familiarity breeds people love the product, but also familiar with the use of the product will breed familiarity of people and brand awareness (which in turn is also true). In other words, prior knowledge of the brand so that people on this slightly favorable.
Let potential customers in the buying process as early as possible to experience your product can increase the familiarity and usage. Better yet, talk to potential customers do not need anyone to experience your product, which allows potential customers to better participate in your product, and in the long run, potential customers are more likely to turn into paying customers.
3. loss aversion
compared to the value we obtained, we are more worried about the loss. Compared with joy receive $ 100, a loss of $ 100 make you more unhappy. This is why we often see marketing materials and messages focused on how to avoid customers get negative results rather than how to use the product can get a positive result.
That's why so many companies tend to provide free and value-added reason for a free trial, because they know that extend out from a free trial of the product is a powerful driving force to buy prospects. In other words, loss aversion is the main argument to support free trial.
4. Cost vs impact
Your potential customers need to spend much effort to try and then buy your product? What kind of benefits do your users get? Whether your company uses what the initial approach to the design of products to interact with potential customers, potential customers understand the different types of efforts to bring the different interests of the company is essential.
The following frame shows the potential customers to try / possibility to buy the product, depending on the user needs to pay the cost and extent of impact on users.
Cost + Low Impact = "I'm not going to try your product!"
A low-cost low-impact + = "Maybe I'll try"
high-cost high-impact + = "Maybe I'll try to"
low-cost high-impact + = "Yes, Come on! "(similar to" shut up! take my money! ")
Interestingly, the previous generation of the fastest growing SaaS company (eg Slack, Asana, Zoom) are all low-cost, high-impact categories. But not all products are suitable for low-cost enterprise SaaS category. Some products are very complex and require customers to pay a high cost to build and integrate into their organizations to achieve product value.
How do you feel compared to the cost of your product and try to purchase spent and expected impact on potential customers and their organizational aspects of it?
Original author: Myk Pono
description link: Freemium vs Free Trial vs Hybrid Customer Acquisition Model in SaaS
Translator: MadPecker
This article is a bug management tool dubbed MadPecker team product manager, reproduced, please indicate the source