21 Tactics to Acquire Customers

ReferralCandy PRESENTS 21 TACTICS TO ACQUIRE CUSTOMERS THIS INFOGRAPHIC IS BASED ON ANDREW DUMONT'S AWESOME POST ON THE MOZ BLOGI PART 1: THE LOW-HANGING FRUIT 1. WRITE TARGETED FA.Q. PAGES PROSPECTIVE CUSTOMER HOW DOES THE APP KEYWORDS CAPTURED HappyClient DETERMINE THE URGENCY)- OF CUSTOMER SUPPORT TICKETS? FAQ. PAGE ANSWER: WE USE NATURAL LANGUAGE PROCESSING. CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT OUR FULL FEATURESI 1. Using keyword research, create FAQ (or help forum) topics to target long-tail search queries 2. These potential customers are by nature usually pretty far along in the buying process 3. Include clear calls-to-action to sign up for your product or service 4. Use a custom domain that doesn't rob you of the indexed pages and content. THE SIZE OF THE LONG-TAIL THE LONG-TAIL OF 30% SEARCHES MAKE UP 70% 70% OF ALL SEARCHESI NUMBER OF KEYWORDS Source: http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/keyword-research USEFUL TOOLI uservoice INTEGRATES YOUR FEAQ, ANSWERS INTO WEBSITE FEEDBACK FORMS, REDUCING SUPPORT REQUESTS BY UP TO 49%41 Source: https://www.uservoice.com/tour/helpdesk/ CASE STUDY crazyegg CRAZY EGG HOME OR DASHBOARD CRAZY EGG INSERTED CALL-TO-ACTIONS IN ALL OF ITS FAQ. PAGES. SEE PLANS & PRICING CONTACT SUPPORT 2. MANUAL OUTREACH TO FIRST CUSTOMERS Thands for siging up fr Reach out to your first 100 customers. Do: 1. Email using your personal address 2. Ask for specific feedback DON'T: 1. Use a canned email 2. Use "[email protected]" If you do this well, you may turn happy customers into loyal brand advocates. THE POWER OF BRAND ADVOCATES TYPICAL WEB USER BRAND ADVOCATES 193X BRAND ADVOCATES ARE 93% MORE LIKELY TO SHARE INFORMATION ABOUT A PRODUCT. Source: http://www.bzzagent.com/blog/post/study-mind-brand-advocate/ CASE STUDIES MailChimp #WANTI MAILCHIMP MADE THEIR OUTREACH SCALABLE BY GIVING OUT FREE T-SHIRTS TO PAYING CUSTOMERS WHO SEND THEIR FIRST EMAIL CAMPAIGN. MORTON'S THE STEAKHOUSE MORTON'S RESPONDED TO A MAN'S TWEET (REQUESTING FOR A STEAK DINNER AT THE END OF HIS FLIGHT) BY SENDING A TUXEDOED WAITER TO GREET HIM AT THE AIRPORT WITH A FULL STEAK DINNER. Source: https://econsultancy.com/blog/64074-why-your-brand-should-use-social-listening-right-now#i.lln91lbjlei9cot 3. PARTNER DISTRIBUTIONS SIGN UP WITH ANY ONE OF US. AND GET DISCOUNTS FOR ALL OUR PRODUCTS! 1. Reach out to partners and negotiate win-win deals for your customers 2. Set up partner pages + custom URLS for each partner 3. Make sure the pages explain the offers and discounts * The only cost here is the trouble of reaching out, and the increased operating costs of offering free trials! PARTNER PROGRAM SUCCESS 7,0001 MOZ JUST UNDER A YEAR AFTER STARTING THEIR PARTNER DISTRIBUTION PROGRAM, MOZ ENJOYED OVER 7,000 TRIAL SIGN UPS AND 2,000 PAID CONVERSIONSI YEARS CASE STUDY Groove GROOVE'S PARTNER LIST GREW 2Y WITHIN 5 MONTHS SINCE 37 THEY'VE STARTED THEIR PARTNER PROGRAM, AND THERE ARE NOW 19 MORE THAN 400 COMPANIES ASKING TO BE FEATURED. FEB 2014 JULY 2014 Source: http://www.groovehq.com/blog/sbs-six-months-later 4. TRACK COMPETITOR MENTIONS SALESTEAM CUSTOMERDESK TIME 1. Monitor where your competitors are getting mentioned 2. Search for relevant subject matter (eg. Wordpress Hosting, Wordpress Development, if you're in the Wordpress hosting industry) USEFUL TOOLSI MOZ MOZ'S FRESH WEB EXPLORER HELPS YOU ANALYSE MENTIONS OF YOUR BRAND, COMPETITORS, AND KEYWORDS! Google GOOGLE ALERTS CAN ALSO BE USED TO TRACK MENTIONS OF KEYWORDS AND LINKS - AND IT'S FREE! 5. DOUBLE-SIDED REFERRAL PROGRAMS USE THIS COUPON AND WE'LL BOTH GET 20% OFF OUR NEXT PURCHASEI YAY, MORE *.. SALES FOR GREATI MEI -) WIN! WINI WINI Provide monetary value, from both sides, for your users to refer your product, and they just may. MOST TRUSTED ADVERTISING IN 2013, CONSUMERS TRUST RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PEOPLE THEY KNOW MORE THAN ANY OTHER FORMS OF ADVERTISING. RECOMMENDATIONS FROM PEOPLE I KNOW BRANDED WEBSITES CONSUMER OPINIONS Source: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2013/under-the-influence-consumer-trust-in-advertising.html USEFUL TOOLI S ReferralCandy TOOLS LIKE REFERRALCANDY (THAT'S USI) CAN EASILY HELP YOU SET UP AUTOMATED REFERRAL PROGRAMS, THAT LEAVES YOU TO FOCUS ON YOUR CORE BUSINESS FUNCTIONS! CASE STUDIES Dropbox DROPBOX INCREASED THEIR SIGNUPS PERMANENTLY BY 60% AFTER INITIATING A DOUBLE-SIDED REFERRAL PROGRAM, WITHIN A MONTH, THEIR USERS SENT OUT A WHOPPING 2.9 MILLION REFERRAL INVITES! DIRECTV DIRECTV GAVE EVERY USER WHO REFERRED A NEW CUSTOMER SI00 OFF THEIR BILL, THE REFERRED CUSTOMER ALSO GOT $I00 OFF. 6. HARO. (HELP A REPORTER OUT) HEY, I CAN GIVE YOU THAT EYPERT OPINION YOU NEEDI GREATI AND I CAN GIVE YOU THAT PRESS COVERAGE THAT VOU WANTI PRESS 1. Go to H.A.R.O. and sign up 2. Receive daily emails requesting for quotes and opinions 3. Reply 4. Get featured MAKE THE MOST OUT OF H.A.R.O. 1. CHOOSE A PUBLICATION THAT HAS YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE 2. CHOOSE A PUBLICATION THAT LOOKS GOOD ON YOU 3. RESPOND QUICKLY (WITHIN AN HOUR IE POSSIBLE) FNESS 4. USE PAST CREDENTIALS OF PRESS COVERAGE TO STAND OUT 5. MAKE A GOOD IMPRESSION - SAY THANKS IF YOU'RE QUOTEDI 6. BE HONEST - HARO IS A GREAT TOOL, SO DON'T ABUSE IT Sources: http://www.quicksprout.com/the-complete-guide-to-building-your-personal-brand-chapter-5/ http://shankman.com/haroforbes-can-one-idiot-ruin-it-for-everyone-no/ 7. SET UP A VERIFIED PROGRAM YIPPIE, I JUST GOT VERIFIED AS EMBEDDED LINK-BACKS A PRO-USERI VERIFIED LINK-BACKS TO YOUR SITE CAN INCREASE YOUR SEO RANKINGI TIME 1. Provide a verification process or educational program, and award those who go through it with a badge 2. Link those embedded certification badges back to your site, thereby boosting its SEO ranking CASE STUDY MEMBERS OF TWITTER'S CERTIFIED PROGRAM HAVE ACCESS TO TWITTER PARTNER ENGINEERS, GUIDANCE ON TWITTER'S APIS, AND INVITATIONS TO BETA PROGRAMS AND OTHER TWITTER EVENTS. Source: https://dev.twitter.com/programs/twitter-certified-products 8. SOCIAL PROSPECTING CUSTOMER SUPPORT SOLUTION Q CAN ANYONE RECOMMEND A GOOD CUSTOMER SUPPORT SOLUTIONP SMB HI JANE, GREAT CUSTOMER SUPPORT TACK MANAGERS ARE HARD TO FIND, I'D RECO НарруClient CUSTOMERYAY GREAT, WILL TRY THEM OUTI I'LL LOOK AT WHAT YOUR COMPANY CAN OFFER TOOI 1. Run a search on your favorite Twitter clients for terms related to your product or service (eg. cracked iphone screen) 2. Save the search to receive a constant feed of prospective customers 3. Provide helpful, relevant information and recommendations * DON'T blindly tweet links at people. That's spammy and nobody likes that. TWITTER'S POTENTIAL 500 MILLION TWITTER REACHED A RECORD OF 500 MILLION DAILY TWEETS IN 2013 THAT'S A LOT OF POTENTIAL LEADSI Source: http://www.internetlivestats.com/ twitter-statistics/#trend YEARS 9. VIDEO SYNDICATIONS НаpруClient HOW TO MAKE YOUR CUSTOMERS FALL IN LOVE WITH YOU HAPPYCLIENT VIEWS: 564,392 SURSCRIBE 24506 1 12 Increase your brand's exposure: 1. Produce educational video content 2. Upload then to educational platforms like Coursera, Grovo and Udemy COURSERA IS BOOMINGI 9 MILLIONI COursera THE NUMBER OF USERS EXPLODED FROM m000 IN OCTOBER 2011 TO OVER 9 MILLION IN SEPTEMBER 2014! YEARS Source: http://blog.coursera.org/post/64907189712/a-triple-milestone-107-partners-532-courses-5-2 https://www.coursera.org CASE STUDY MOZ MOZ UPLOADED THEIR WEEKLY WHITEBOARD FRIDAY CONTENT TO UDEMY, WHICH BECAME QUITE A HIT. 10. COMMENT MARKETING WELL, I THINK THIS PIECE HMM, DO YOU THINK THE SPEED OF HI GUYS, IN MY EXPERIENCE. OF CONTENT IS EXCELLENTI CUSTOMER SUPPORT IS CRUCIAL? THE QUALITY OF CUSTOMER SUPPORT MATTERS MOREI 1. Use the same profile avatar & username, so that people can recognise you 2. Don't be afraid to disagree 3. Target the right blogs & communities 4. Don't pimp your products 5. Don't use the term 'SEO' in your profile, because it (unfortunately) has a bad rep Source: http://moz.com/blog/comment-marketing-as-an-inbound-tactic-whiteboard-friday 11. IN-APP SHARING CONGRATULATIONSI MOST SATISFIED USERS YOUR CUSTOMER SATISFACTION RATINGS ARE I5% ABOVE THE INDUSTRY AVERAGEI SHARE THIS BADGE NOWI 1. Award users with badges when they hit milestones 2. Encourage social sharing to incentivize a user to share your site * It's a win-win situation: you boost your users' ego, and they drive up your brand impressions. CASE STUDY Runkeeper AFTER EACH WORKOUT, A New Personal Best for THE APP ENCOURAGES Running! wwww c wwwwwww YOU TO SHARE YOUR Fentest Dtanceina Ma 11.25 km PERFORMANCE WITH Losget Daiee ina Marh Ở 1:12:15 FRIENDS ON SOCIAL MEDIA, 12. WINBACKS HEY PETER, I KNOW YOU CANCELLED YOUR TRIAL ACCOUNT LAST MONTH, I'VE GOT A NEW DEAL FOR YOU - 50% OFF THE FRST 3 MONTHSI HMM, THAT DOES SOUND LIKE A GOOD DEALI Win back users who've cancelled their accounts: Offer them a good deal that can convince them to come back. * Just because the product wasn't a fit at one time doesn't mean that it'll never be a fit! HIGH CHANCES OF WINBACKS THE LIKELIHOOD OF WINNING BACK LOST 40% CUSTOMERS IS ESTIMATED TO BE 40% 20% - 40%. Source: http://saleshq.monster.com/training/articles/89-the-secret-to-winning-back-customers CASE STUDY MOZ MOZ'S VERSION OF WINBACKS IS AN EXTENDED FREE TRIAL PERIOD (45 DAYS INSTEAD OF 30 DAYS) FOR THEIR SEOMOZ PRO SERVICE. 13. CUSTOMER THANK-YOU CARDS Hay Amys Ijust wanna thank yok for using our services. Here's a cuta little hairpin for being НарруClient aresama! Cheers Jaha Saith 1. Send your customers a "thank you" card 2. Make sure it's handwritten, for that extra delight • There's no better marketing than word of mouth CONSUMERS ARE NOT IMPRESSED IN 2012, ONLY 23% OF CONSUMERS FELT 23% THAT COMPANIES VALUE THER BUSINESS AND WILL GO THE 7% EXTRA MILE. Source: http://about.americanexpress.com/news/docs/2012x/axp_2012gcsb_us.pdf CASE STUDY WUFOO WUFOO SENDS OUT M vamt is Cha me f e denlgprs HANDWRITTEN THANK-YOU than y iag swven Yuve ttwh line N and wie ed 4 hur ard sech kust w ya halp hr A pd r u w Ld thal thunk va an CARDS, MUCH TO THE DELIGHT OF THEIR CUSTOMERS! Source: http://www.newmediacampaigns.com/page/wufoos-customer-service 14. INFLUENCER PROGRAM HappyClient 1. Use tools like Followerwonk and Klout to find the influencers in your space 2. Provide them with early access, a free account or anything else to encourage them to use your product INFLUENCERS' SUPERIOR REACH CONTENT THAT IS SHARED BY INFLUENCERS HAVE UP TO 6X MORE TRAFFIC THAN THOSE SHARED BY CASUAL USERS. IX Source: http://www.eloqua.com/resources/ NOT SHARED marketing-insights.htmlfinfluencers-impact-conversions SHARED USEFUL TOOL! followerwonk>» FOLLOWERWONK IS A GREAT TOOL TO SEARCH FOR INFLUENCERS WITH SPECIFIC KEYWORDS. CASE STUDY Groove FOUNDER ALEX TURNBULL IDENTIFIED MORE THAN 90 INFLUENCERS, ROLLED OUT HIS ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY, AND BUILT RELATIONSHIPS WITH THEM, BECAUSE OF THAT, GROOVE GOT MORE THAN 5,000 SUBSCRIBERS AND 500 TRIAL USERS IN 5 WEEKS OF THEIR BLOG LAUNCH. PART 2: THE LONG-TERM INVESTMENTS 15. GUIDES GET A FREE COPY OF THIS WOW, SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT DEAL! AWESOME GUIDE IF YOU SUBSCRIBE TO OUR BLOG! MAS VOUR CUSIOMERS EAL IN OVE WIN VOU Beginner's 'how-to' guides are a huge investment of time and design resources, often taking months of work But if executed well, they can contribute significantly to signups "From the data l've seen first-hand, it's well worth the investment" Andrew Dumont GUIDES DRIVE CONVERSIONS ODITEBA DITEBA RESEARCH LABORATORIES SAW THEIR CONVERSIONS 3X INCREASE 3X AFTER PUBLISHING GUIDES AND EBOOKS. IX NO WITH GUIDES GUIDES Source: http://seamlesssocial.com/inbound- marketing-9-conversion-success-stories/ CASE STUDY Help Scout HELP SCOUT PUBLISHES A WEALTH OF FREE (AND VISUALLY AMAZING) 10 Ways to Convert More Customers USING PSYCHOLOGY RESOURCES ON THEIR WEBSITEI Source: https://www.helpscout.net/resources/ 16. O.E.M. DEALS НарруClient NOW COMES PRE-LOADED FOR EVERY ONLINE STORE SET UP ON THESE PLATFORMS: BestCommerce SuperCart ShopiBag Getting your product bundled with a software (or hardware!) provider as part of their offering is a heavy investment. It requires co-branding work, a separate billing infrastructure, and the negotiation of complex agreements. It's a costly, difficult path to take, but could be lucrative if executed properly. CASE STUDY MOZ IN 2010, MOZ ANNOUNCED A PARTNERSHIP WITH DISTILLED, WHICH WILL HANDLE ALL OF MOZ'S CONSULTING LEADS. THAT FREED MOZ TO FOCUS ON THEIR SEO SOFTWARE. Source: http://moz.com/blog/the-end-of-consulting-a-new-partnership-our-focus-on-software 17. INDUSTRY SURVEYS HERE'S THE LATEST UPDATE ON THE STATE OF THE CUSTOMER SUPPORT INDUSTRY: 1. Create an industry survey 2. Evangelize it until it has enough data to make an impact 3. Put time into the analysis 4. Visualize the data in a meaningful way * This is a massive time and resource investment. But if you do it right, you become the point of reference for thousands of people in your industry. TIPS TO MAXMISE SURVEY RESPONSE 1. OFFER PRIZES TO INCENTIVIZE RESPONSES NOTE THAT THEY HAVE TO BE BIG ENOUGH TO WARRANT WHAT YOU'RE ASKING 2. GET PARTNERS ON BOARD THEY'LL HELP YOU WITH PRIZES AND OUTREACH 3. REPEATEDLY PROMOTE YOUR SURVEY BUT DON'T JUST PARROT - CREATE NEW, VALUABLE CONTENT AND INSERT A CALL-TO-ACTION TO YOUR SURVEY Source: http://grooveha.com/blog/survey-post-mortem CASE STUDY HubSpot RELEASES ANNUAL “STATE OF INBOUND MARKETING" REPORTS THAT SUMMARIZES THE TRENDS AND TACTICS RELTING TO INBOUND MARKETING. SUBSCRIPTION IS REQUIRED FOR ACCESS TO THE FULL REPORT. Source: http://www.stateofinboundmarketing.com 19. PRODUCT INTEGRATIONS OUR APP INTEGRATES WITH THESE 20 НарруClient ECOMMERCE PLATFORMS, SO YOU CAN USE US NO MATTER WHICH ONE YOU'RE ONI Bigcommerce Etsy M Magenta amazon É shopify Yvolusion O Magerto YAHOO! sdcart AmeriComnerce FRES BOOKS R foxycart! OULTRACART zen cart NEKTERNAL Integrating your product into an existing, larger product can be simple, requiring only a token time investment. Hootsuite sees an average of 100 to 500 installs per day of each application in their gallery. You could potentially acquire thousands of users through a single integration. Product integrations are often the entry point to a deeper relationship. CASE STUDY sale force OVER 2,000 BUSINESSES HAVE INTEGRATED THEIR SERVICES WITH SALESFORCE, IN THE FORM OF ADD-ON APPS. Source: https://appexchange.salesforce.com 19. CREATE FREE STANDALONE TOOLS USE THIS FREE TOOL TO FIND OUT HOW SATISFIED YOUR CUSTOMERS ARE! WOW, GREATI Happinessindex Free services can act as funnels to pre-qualify customers for your product. Build a tool or service that gives your customers a free assessment of the problem that your product solves. Once they do it, they'd become qualified leads who'll naturally be interested in seeing how your product can help them solve the problem you've helped them map out. CASE STUDY Hubspot CREATED FREE TOOLS LIKE MARKETING GRADER (ANALYZES THE QUALITY OF YOUR INBOUND MARKETING EFFORTS) AND RETWEETLAB (EINDS PATTERNS IN THE RETWEETS YOU'VE GOTTEN). 20. BUILD YOUR BRAND AROUND A CAUSE AIM FOR THAT INTERSECTIONI SOCIAL CAUSE BUSINESS CUSTOMER HappyClient 1. Identify your brand's values (easier said than done!) 2. Identify a social cause that is aligned with those values 3. Host events and initiatives that help the cause. This is great PR for your brand. * Remember, it has to be genuine. You and your brand have to actually care and make a real difference, not just pose for photo ops. CONSUMERS ALIGN WITH VALUES UP TO 76% OF CONSUMERS SAID THAT THEY MAKE IT A 71% POINT TO BUY BRANDS WHOSE VALUES ARE SIMILAR 29% TO THEIRS. Source: http://www.cmo.com/articles/201/4/5/the-positive- effects-of-cause-related-marketing.html CASE STUDY GNIP O00 GNIP, A SOCIAL DATA POWERHOUSE, STARTED THE BIG BOULDER INITIATIVE, BRINGING EXPERTS AROUND THE WORLD TOGETHER TO DISCUSS SOCIAL ISSUES. 21. TAP INTO THE VIRAL LOOP RE: CUSTOMER SUPPORT HI PETER GREAT, LET US KNOW IF YOU NEED ADDITIONAL HELPI REGARDS, JANE POWERED BY HappyClient 1. Map and study the natural 'flow' of your product (who uses it, in what context, for what purpose, etc.) 2. Identify the instances where your customers might potentially interact with other people while using your product (eg. sending an email, sharing a file, etc) 3. Use those instances to market your product to your customers' peers. Eg: "Powered by X" badges. CASE STUDY 20,000+ Windows Live Hotmail THEIR "GET YOUR FREE EMAIL AT HOTMAIL" FOOTER HELPED THEM GET 20,000+ SIGNUPS A DAY JUST 5 WEEKS INTO THE CAMPAIGNI WEEKS Source: http://techcrunch.com/2009/10/18/ps--love-you- get-your-free-email-at-hotmail/ MailChimp USERS HAVE THE OPTION OF INCLUDING POWERED BY MAILCHIMP' IN THEIR EMAILS FOR MONKEYREWARDS, WHICH CAN BE USED TO GET CHEAPER BILLS. THESE 21 TACTICS CAN HELP YOU ACQUIRE MORE CUSTOMERS. VISIT REFERRALCANDY.COM TO LEARN HOW YOU CAN USE EXISTING CUSTOMERS TO DO THE SAME! Source: http://moz.com/blog/how-to-grow-21-tactics-to-acquire-customers SIGNUPS CONVERSIONS TRAFFIC USERS SLI3ML ATIVO PARTNERS TRIAL SIGN UPS SEO RANK MENTIONS