Where should your next cost-cutting crusade focus itself ? You might set your sites on that most important of assets – customers. Yeah, loyal buyers have a price tag – a price determined by the marketing energy expended to convert them. Generally, the bigger the effort, the bigger the budget dent.
Now here’s the good news -- big effort doesn’t necessarily have to be a budget cruncher. By taking some common-sense steps, brands can trim customer acquisition expense by a hefty, accountant-pleasing margin.
First on the to-do list is kicking response times into high gear. Unfortunately, this might be easier said than done. The typical brand is sluggish about connecting with leads. On average, they take about 40 hours to touch base with these prospects. Which raises the question – what were they doing in the interim? Apparently, their best to be unproductive.
The reality is, brands should move like lightning, connecting with leads in five minutes or less. This interval is proven to boost the number of qualified leads by more than twenty times. And let’s face it, these are the golden nuggets – the ones who’ll likely convert. As all budget guardians know, the higher the number of conversions, the lower the overall customer acquisition cost. Just do the math.
Another great money-saving step is to reduce the number of inbound calls. Yes, person-to-person interaction might rate high on the friendliness scale. But it also can rate high on the expenditure scale, with all that direct conversation using precious, in-house resources in an excruciatingly unproductive way.
There is, however, a viable countermeasure – the chatbot. As is well known, bots aren’t income-dependent and therefore present an excellent cost-cutting option when direct communication is required. Interestingly, chatbots also are highly productive, with an uncanny knack for boosting conversion rates by up to 30%. Cheap, friendly, and productive – what more could you possibly ask for?
Finally, brands should capitalize on the buzz potential built into every lead. This, of course, stems for an individual’s natural inclination to tell others about great products – assuming your merchandise qualifies for the honor. Before long, you’re generating big buzz as referrals proliferate along infinite media channels. The cost of all that good-word spreading – zero. The gains from same – limitless. So ask for those referrals. It couldn’t hurt.
If you have questions or comments about reducing customer acquisition costs, or any other brand-related topic, feel free to send them our way. You can connect with the Young Company team at 949-376-8404 or bart@youngcompany.com. And be sure to follow us for the latest brand marketing news and tips.