Customer Acquisition Strategies

Coming to you again from ad:tech San Francisco... Jere Doyle of Prospectiv asserts that Customer Acquisition is the hottest/fastest growing segment of online marketing: 204% vs. 24% (CAGR). So how does he define Customer Acquisition? He includes the following tactics:

1. Vertical Websites that focus on a specific area of interest or industry.
2. Email marketing
3. Microsite (branded)
4. Polling (an odd member of the bunch)
5. Ad Networks

These are Jere's favorite strategies. He also offers the following 5 best practices:

1. Select vendors that apply best practices, will do pay for performance contracts, and are trusted by leading brands. I suspect this is a definition of Prospectiv.
2. Make sure you get the "right" customers.
3. Make sure you're collecting the "right" costumer data.
4. Analyze your results (don't just collect data)
5. Immediately begin a Web dialog

Other recommendations:

• Use targeting: Geographic, Demographic, Contextual and Behavioral, the latter of which is most effective.
• Use multiple channels Vertical websites, microsites, emails, etc.
• Give to get. Provide value
• Build over time. This is not a fast process.

At a minimum, collect the following information from registration. Test to see what affects your abandonment rates most.

• First Name
• Last Name
• Email address
• Gender
• Age
• ZIP Code

TIP: Use the phone number to track web visitors to retail outlets. TIP: Polls as ads have high conversion rates. They are interactive and provide immediate gratification (current results). For example: Lunesta asked the question: How did you sleep last night." Next, we'll hear from Timothy Healy of Lunesta.