8 Most Effective Customer Acquisition Channels (2024)

The Internet provides us with many opportunities to sell our products. However, if you’re not a big company with a huge budget, it’s impossible to reach every corner of the world. 

That’s why it’s important to choose the right customer acquisition channels for your online store. This decision directly affects your sales and overall profitability.

Today, we will discuss:

• What exactly is a customer acquisition channel.
• The eight best channels for attracting customers to your online store.
• Tips to make the most of each channel and improve your efficiency.

Let’s get started! 😉

👉 What are Customer Acquisition Channels?

Customer acquisition channels are the different ways businesses attract and convert potential customers into actual buyers.

In the world of e-commerce, these channels are crucial for driving traffic to your online store and increasing sales.

When we talk about customer acquisition, there are two main aspects to consider: recruitment and acquisition.

Recruitment focuses on strategies to generate website traffic, regardless of whether those visitors end up making a purchase.

Acquisition, on the other hand, focuses on the specific channels and methods used to find and close deals with new customers.

Here are some common user acquisition channels in e-commerce:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Optimizing your website to appear higher in search engine results and attract organic traffic.
• Advertising: Using paid ads on platforms like Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc. to reach your target audience.
• Content Marketing: Creating valuable and engaging content, such as blog posts, videos, or social media content, to attract and retain customers.
• Influencer Marketing: Collaborating with popular social media influencers to promote your brand or products.
• Social Media Marketing: Utilizing social media platforms to engage with potential customers, raise brand awareness, and drive traffic to your store.
• Email Marketing: Building and maintaining an email list to communicate with potential and existing customers, sending targeted promotions and updates.
• Referral Programs: Encouraging existing customers to refer your products or services to their network, providing incentives for successful referrals.
• Affiliate Marketing: Partnering with affiliates who promote your products and earn a commission for each sale they generate.

By strategically utilizing these user acquisition channels, you can effectively increase visibility, attract potential customers, and enhance the overall success of your e-commerce business.

Let’s explore them a little more!

👉 8 Acquisition Channels to Increase Your Sales

Now, let’s explore eight prominent channels that you can leverage to find new customers and enhance your sales.

✅ 1. SEO (and transactional keywords)

SEO is important for improving your website’s visibility on search engines and attracting relevant traffic to your online store.

But remember, our ultimate goal is not just to bring in more visitors, but to actually make sales.

To achieve this, it’s crucial to understand the difference between two types of keywords based on user intent:

• Informational Keywords: These are used by users who are seeking information and are not yet ready to make a purchase. They are in the research phase, gathering knowledge and forming opinions.

• Transactional Keywords: These keywords indicate that users have a specific buying intent and are actively looking to make a purchase.

Now that you know this, the question is: which type of keyword should you focus on to drive more sales? The answer is transactional keywords.

To optimize your SEO strategy for driving sales, it’s best to target transactional keywords on your category pages and product cards, rather than just focusing on blog posts.

By doing this, you can improve your conversion rate. Let’s take an example from Reebok to illustrate this:

For Reebok, a transactional keyword could be “women’s running shoes.” They create a category page that showcases different shoe models for users to choose from, as shown in the image.

Each category contains specific products, and each product has its own keyword, which is targeted through product listings or cards.

For example, in this case, the goal is to position the shoe model called “Zig Kinetica Assassin’s Creed Valhalla.”

By using transactional keywords on these pages, you can increase your chances of driving purchases.

➡️ Content Marketing as an Acquisition Channel

If you have a blog as part of your inbound marketing strategy, it’s important to create content that targets informational keywords, which are used by users in the research phase.

At this point, content marketing serves as a way to attract potential customers.

However, you can also strategically connect your blog posts’ topics to your products by linking them to relevant product listings and categories.

This helps guide users from informational content to the product pages, ultimately leading them to the “buy” button and increasing the likelihood of conversions.

✅ 2. Paid advertising

When it comes to internet advertising, there are two main options:

1. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) or Google Ads: This allows you to display ads directly within search engine results. It’s commonly referred to as “Google Ads” (formerly known as “AdWords”). You can create ads that appear when people search for specific keywords. For a more detailed guide on different ad placements, you can find additional resources.

2. Social Media Advertising: With social media advertising, you pay to have your ads shown on various social networking sites. For example, if you search for “vegan proteins” on Google, you might notice a slider at the top of the search results page displaying paid ads related to that topic.

Whether you choose SEM or social media advertising, the usual practice is to direct users to product listings or cards.

However, you can also opt for squeeze pages or recruitment pages, where you offer a free gift or lead magnet in exchange for visitors’ email addresses.

This allows you to build an email list and send updates about your products and helpful information to potential customers (we’ll discuss email marketing later).

Paid advertising helps you target specific audiences, increase your brand visibility, and drive traffic to your product pages or lead capture pages.

Ultimately, it aims to boost your chances of generating sales and growing your business.

✅ 3. Remarketing (Don’t Let Potential Customers Fade Away!)

Let’s talk about remarketing, which is a slightly different approach to advertising than we’ve discussed so far.

Remarketing is all about reconnecting with potential customers who have previously shown interest in your products but didn’t make a purchase for some reason.

The idea behind remarketing is to use paid ads to entice these users to come back to your online store and remind them of the products they were interested in.

The goal is to reignite their interest and encourage them to make a purchase this time.

These strategies will help you effectively engage with potential customers who have already shown interest in your products, giving you a second chance to convert them into satisfied customers.

✅ 4. Affiliate Marketing (+ Referral Programs)

Affiliate marketing is a strategy that allows you to sell your products through other websites or individuals who are relevant to your industry.

It’s like partnering with influencers or trusted websites.

Here’s how it works: they promote your products and earn a commission for every sale they generate.

➡️ Referral Programs

Referral programs are slightly different. They involve customer references without the need for commissions.

It’s when you ask your existing customers to recommend your business to their friends or family.

In return, you offer them rewards such as discounts, loyalty points, or even free products as a way of saying thank you.

Both affiliate marketing and referral programs are effective ways to tap into the networks of others and attract new customers while rewarding those who support your business.

✅ 5. Email Marketing (More Than Just Sending Discounts)

Email marketing is an incredibly effective tool for boosting sales and engaging customers.

Once you have potential clients’ email addresses, you can reach out to them directly, without relying solely on remarketing or SEO tactics. We recommend that you read the following article on SEO for ecommerce for more info 😉

Email marketing offers several advantages:

1. Building Trust: You can use emails to showcase success stories, demonstrate product usage, and build confidence in your offerings.
2. Fostering Loyalty: By providing valuable information and resources through emails, you can nurture a loyal customer base and keep them engaged with your brand.
3. Brand Enhancement: Email marketing allows you to communicate your brand values, share your story, and highlight your team, giving your brand a stronger identity.

By leveraging tools like autoresponders and conversion funnels, you can maximize the impact of your email marketing efforts and drive even more sales.

✅ 6. Social Media (Your Shop Window)

Social media platforms are like virtual shop windows where you can showcase your products and generate sales. 1

They offer more than just community building and engagement—they provide an opportunity to reach a wider audience and promote your offerings.

However, it’s important to remember that content is key in social media marketing.

To make the most of it, we suggest following the 80/20 rule.

This means that 80% of your social media content should be valuable and engaging, such as informative posts, helpful tips, or entertaining content. The remaining 20% can be focused on direct sales promotion.

By providing valuable content and building a strong connection with your audience, you establish trust and credibility, making your social media presence more effective in driving sales and enhancing your brand reputation.

✅ 7. Chat & Phone Calls

Customer service channels are essential for driving more sales. Sometimes, customers are highly interested in a product, but they may have some concerns holding them back from making a purchase.

To address these concerns and overcome sales objections, using a chat tool is a perfect solution.

It allows you to interact with customers in real time, answer their questions, and provide the information they need to feel confident about buying.

Often, this personalized assistance is all they need to make the final decision.

Similarly, offering a phone number for customers to call is a valuable way to close sales.

Speaking directly with potential customers instills trust and works well for selling higher-priced or complex products that require detailed explanations.

It enables you to have meaningful conversations and guide customers through the buying process.

By incorporating chat tools and providing a phone contact option, you can offer exceptional customer support, build trust, and increase the chances of converting potential customers into happy buyers.

✅ 8. Marketplaces (Online Shopping Malls)

Marketplaces are online platforms where multiple stores can showcase and sell their products.

Examples of popular marketplaces include Amazon and eBay.

Here are some key advantages of using marketplaces as acquisition channels:

• Increased Traffic: Marketplaces attract a large number of visitors, providing you with more opportunities to sell your products and reach a wider audience.
• Simplified Setup: Marketplaces handle the technical aspects of setting up an online store, making it easier for you to display your product catalog and start selling.
• Enhanced Trust and Authority: Selling through established marketplaces helps build credibility and confidence among customers, as they trust the platform and its reputation.

However, there are some downsides to consider.

You typically have to pay a commission on each sale, face competition from other sellers leading to pricing wars, and you won’t have direct access to customer details as they belong to the marketplace.

👉 Which user acquisition channel do you prefer?

It may seem like there are no wrong choices, right?

But now you must be wondering which channel would be the best fit for your business.

The truth is, there are no inherently good or bad channels. Some channels are simply more profitable than others.

That’s why it’s crucial to measure the return on investment (ROI) for each channel and then work on optimizing your investment. Once you have done that, you can consider expanding to different channels.

When it comes to marketing, it’s all about continuous measurement, making adjustments, and repeating the process. Keep measuring and tweaking to find what works best for your business. 😉