{"id":47004,"date":"2023-03-09T13:38:43","date_gmt":"2023-03-09T13:38:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/glosario-digital\/customer-acquisition"},"modified":"2026-10-01T11:29:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T11:29:16","slug":"customer-acquisition","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/customer-acquisition","title":{"rendered":"Customer Acquisition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-63550 size-full alignright boxpad\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/customer-acquisition.jpg\" alt=\"Customer acquisition\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/customer-acquisition.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/customer-acquisition-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/> <strong>Definition:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Customer acquisition<\/strong> is the set of actions a company uses to identify, attract, and convert interested people or organizations into new customers. It covers the journey from selecting the audience to the first purchase or contract and combines research, communication, commercial channels, and performance tracking.<\/p>\n<p>Acquisition is not limited to collecting contacts. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/lead\">lead<\/a> may still be at an <strong>earlier stage<\/strong>, while acquisition is completed when the defined <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/conversion\">conversion<\/a> occurs, such as a signup, purchase, or contract. The number of opportunities should therefore be distinguished from their quality and from the customers they ultimately generate.<\/p>\n\n<h2>How customer acquisition works<\/h2>\n<p>The process starts by identifying <strong>the audience<\/strong> for which the offer can create value. Defining the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/icp-ideal-customer-profile\">ideal customer profile<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/target\">target audience<\/a> helps select messages, channels, and qualification criteria. Not every business needs the same journey, and not every person requires the same amount of information before making a decision.<\/p>\n<p>A customer acquisition process usually includes these <strong>basic stages<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Identification:<\/strong> determine the segments, needs, and problems the company can address.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Attraction:<\/strong> generate attention through content, advertising, referrals, outreach, or other channels.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Consideration:<\/strong> explain the value proposition and answer questions with information suited to the decision stage.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Qualification:<\/strong> assess fit, interest, and the real ability to move toward a purchase.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Conversion:<\/strong> make it easy to complete the action that turns the opportunity into a customer and record its source correctly.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Marketing and sales may participate in different parts of the journey. To prevent information from being lost, both teams need to agree on what counts as a <strong>valid opportunity<\/strong>, when it is handed over, and how the outcome is attributed.<\/p>\n<h2>Cold and warm customer acquisition<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Cold acquisition<\/strong> targets people or organizations that have not yet shown explicit interest. It may use outbound prospecting, advertising to new audiences, or awareness activity. It requires a clear explanation of the problem and offer, respect for privacy, and avoidance of indiscriminate contact.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Warm acquisition<\/strong> works with prospects who have already shown an interest signal, such as requesting information, registering, downloading a resource, or repeatedly visiting a relevant page. That signal can guide the follow-up, but it does not automatically turn the prospect into a customer or guarantee a purchase.<\/p>\n<p>The distinction between cold and warm describes the <strong>level of interest<\/strong>; it is not a universal classification with identical boundaries for every company. An existing customer falls outside acquisition: activity designed to maintain or expand that relationship mainly belongs to loyalty, retention, or customer development.<\/p>\n<h2>Customer acquisition channels<\/h2>\n<p>A strategy may use a <strong>channel mix<\/strong> of owned, paid, and earned media. The choice depends on the market, decision cycle, budget, and ability to handle opportunities. An effective <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/campaign\">campaign<\/a> is not defined by the number of channels it uses but by a consistent proposition and comparable measurement.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Content and search:<\/strong> address existing needs and help users find the offer while researching a solution.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Digital advertising:<\/strong> extends reach and makes it possible to test audiences, messages, and offers with controlled investment.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Email and automation:<\/strong> support contacts who have agreed to receive communications as they move through their decision.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Social media:<\/strong> supports discovery, conversation, and distribution when the channel matches the intended audience.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Sales outreach:<\/strong> contacts selected accounts or profiles with a relevant reason and a defined follow-up.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Referrals and partnerships:<\/strong> use the trust of customers, professionals, or partners who recommend the solution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Each channel should use landing pages, messages, and calls to action that fit <strong>its context<\/strong>. The same creative or argument rarely works equally well for a high-intent search and an audience that has not encountered the company before.<\/p>\n<h2>Customer acquisition vs. customer loyalty<\/h2>\n<p>Acquisition aims to add <strong>new customers<\/strong>; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/customer-loyalty\">customer loyalty<\/a> aims to maintain and strengthen the relationship after the first purchase. They are connected functions, but they are not equivalent. A promotion to reactivate an inactive customer, a points program, or an upsell should not be counted as new acquisition when the person is already part of the customer base.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Separating both stages<\/strong> prevents results from the existing customer base from being attributed to acquisition. It also helps determine whether growth depends only on adding customers or whether they remain long enough for the investment to be sustainable.<\/p>\n<h2>How to measure and improve acquisition<\/h2>\n<p><strong>New-customer volume<\/strong> should be assessed together with spending and outcome quality. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/cac\">Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)<\/a> relates the costs assigned to acquisition to the number of new customers gained during a period. Its calculation requires a consistent time frame and a clear decision about which costs are included.<\/p>\n<p>Other useful measures include the <strong>conversion rate<\/strong> between stages, time to purchase, the share of qualified opportunities, and performance by channel or segment. Comparing these figures with margin, repeat purchases, and the value generated by the customer gives more context than optimizing only the cost of each contact.<\/p>\n<p>Improvement requires testing one variable at a time, documenting attribution, and identifying where opportunities are lost. Adjusting the audience, simplifying a form, clarifying the proposition, or shortening response time may be more valuable than increasing traffic without fixing the process. The aim is to build a <strong>measurable, repeatable<\/strong> system rather than accumulate contacts that never convert.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Definition: Customer acquisition is the set of actions a company uses to identify, attract, and convert interested people or organizations into new customers. It covers the journey from selecting the audience to the first purchase or contract and combines research, communication, commercial channels, and performance tracking. Acquisition is not limited to collecting contacts. A lead [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"template":"","encyclopedia-tag":[1317],"class_list":["post-47004","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","hentry","encyclopedia-tag-lead-acquisition"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/47004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"encyclopedia-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia-tag?post=47004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}