Beauty and wellness brands, especially those that are emerging or substantially growing, are constantly faced with customer lead and acquisition challenges. Soaring costs of paid media on TikTok and Meta as well as escalating fees for influencer partnerships further intensify the struggle to grow and sustain the business. In my roles as a Strategic Advisor & Fractional CMO, I am constantly crafting low cost, high impact customer acquisition strategies to help clients overcome these hurdles and acquire new customers. In part one of 5 Effective Strategies for Customer Acquisition, I discuss how to acquire new customers by deeply understanding your customer.

Know Your Customer (At The Deepest Level)

Take a moment to ask yourself: "how well do I really know our customers?” If the answer doesn’t include their burning desires, life ambitions and keep-you-up-at-night problems, you need to dive deeper.

Consumers are more sophisticated and demanding than ever. They have high expectations, constantly changing preferences and wavering brand loyalty, which sits at 23% for the beauty industry. To give you perspective on how low that number is, retention rates across a variety of industries are typically between 60-75%. Further, a recent study by McKinsey & Company disclosed that for every 1 customer lost, brands need to acquire 3 new customers to replace them. With the cost to acquire new customers at an all time high and the effectiveness of these initiatives at an all time low, there is no better time to implement marketing strategies that invest in understanding the customer.

Audience segmentations created from market and focus group research need to be evaluated to ensure it is up-to-date. For brands that are just launching, this is important because you need to confirm your “estimates” are accurate. Below are several ways on how to collect customer data and preferences to do just that:

• Web Tracking: Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, Shopify, Fox Metrics
  
• Transactional Data: purchase history, return history, what discount code did they use, how time did they spend on product page, where were they referred from
  
• Marketing Metrics: insights from social media, email marketing platform, CRM software PR placements and brand mentions, to name a few
  
• Customer Engagement and Interaction: customer service, social media, clienteling, surveys, in person events and AI-powered quizzes.
  

The main takeaway is that from these marketing insights, you are able to then create a three-dimensional image as to who your customer is. You can use this customer persona to form deep meaningful relationships through hyper personalized messaging and tailored experiences. All of these initiatives will increase conversion, retention and brand loyalty.

You use this information to optimize your marketing initiatives and campaigns, including your customer acquisition strategy, to be hyper personalized.

For instance, after this exercise, you may realize that as much fun your 27-year-old city gal is having being single and jet setting around the world with her friends, she deep down is worried about finding a partner, getting that much deserved promotion at work and growing her wealth enough to live in her own apartment. You could discover that the unmet needs of your 36-year-old mom of 2 might be work-life balance, curbing guilt and finding personal time for herself. Or your 53-year-old C-Suite Exec is looking forward to an empty nest but is afraid that she and her husband won’t have a connection after spending decades pouring their energy into the kids rather than their relationship.

If you can speak to these deep set emotional concerns, you will create an intense connection with her and ultimately capture her as a customer.

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