3 Customer Acquisition Research Strategies You Should Be Using Now

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Customer Acquisition Planning: 3 Research Strategies You Should Be Using

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New industry terms get tossed around so much that their meanings become muddled. People use “media plan” and “strategy” interchangeably. (People refer to “optimization” when they mean “ongoing strategy.”)

 
It may seem pedantic to quibble over these phrases, but distinctions matter. 
 
My company builds strategies around clearly defined segments, including objectives, media plans, optimization initiatives, and ongoing performance monitoring. Each serves an important function in the overall strategy. If you treat these aspects as synonyms, you’ll wind up with incoherent campaigns. 
 

We develop unique strategies based on companies’ long-term objectives. But before we sketch out a blueprint or launch even the smallest initiative, we execute the research phase to allow us to develop the key insights that drive strategic planning. 

Research-Minded Strategies 

The first question my team asks partners is “What are your goals for the upcoming strategic period?” It sounds simple, but whether they’re working on quarterly or 12-month timelines, we need to know what they want to achieve. Once we’ve established their objectives, we revisit everything we know about them. 

Everything moves faster with digital. You might think you know who your client’s top competitors are based on projects you completed for them six months ago, but the market could have shifted since then, and all of your assumptions might be wrong. 

If my team isn’t informed about what the competitors of our partners are doing, we might rule out a particular call to action or consumer offer that’s actually performing well among core audiences. Word of mouth and social factor heavily into our research, too. We need to know what consumers are saying about our partners and their products. Then we can identify potential growth pockets and address concerns people have shared publicly. 

Finding the Right Data 

Customer Acquisition Planning: 3 Research Strategies You Should Be Using

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To develop the strongest research set, look at internal and external data. You should have records of past campaigns and which channels performed well. Review those, and combine them with broader market research to create a complete picture of the environment in which they work. 

On-site research enhances your data by giving you insight into the buying process. We use Google Analytics and SessionCam, which records browsing sessions to identify friction points. Qualaroo allows us to add surveys to our partners’ websites. We then can ask people questions around the results and get direct consumer intelligence.

Some companies skip this research phase because they think it’s too expensive. But you can scale your research strategies as your company grows. You don’t need to use every analytics system out there when you’re a small startup, but you may want to take your research deeper at some point. 

Fortunately, there are plenty of cost-effective research tools available. Here are some of the best:

  1. General research tools: One great resource for conducting general industry research is eMarketer. Another is Google Trends, which is made up of proprietary data that Google collects on searches. It’s also a good idea to set up Google News alerts involving your clients and competitors so you can stay on top of industry changes.

  2. Social analysis:  Brandwatch is a powerful tool for monitoring word-of-mouth and social mentions. However, it’s more robust and costly than a small agency would need, so keep it in mind as you grow your base.

  3. Paid search spend estimation:  SpyFu is my company’s preferred tool for intelligence in the paid search advertising space. It updates you on competitor activity as well as estimated spend data, so you know roughly how much your peers shell out for search engine strategies. SpyFu also shows which ad copy and promotions competitors are using, which can help you get the pulse of the market. The Search Monitor and Google AdWords are also helpful in this regard, and SEMrush and Hitwise are versatile tools as well. 

Of course, with all of the research you can collect, it might make sense to incorporate a data visualization tool like Tableau, Business Objects, or IBM Watson. These tools take mountains of data and put them into a visual format, which help analysts see patterns and anomalies.

Research provides the backbone for every successful strategy. You need the right information to build targeted campaigns. Meeting your campaign goals always begins with research. Without it, even the best-intentioned strategies fall apart.


This is Part 1 of a three-part series.
Part 2: Turn Research Data into Relevant Customer Acquisition Insights
Part 3:  3 Steps to Guide Your Customer Acquisition Planning Process

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