Business owners are under constant pressure to evolve, react to trends, and, most importantly, make sales. In recent times, the constant conflict between customer acquisition and customer retention has been even more pressing.

Although food retail businesses like Ocado experienced record-breaking profits amid the pandemic, businesses that offered non-essential products were not as fortunate. Arcadia was one of the first and largest UK corporations to fall victim to COVID-19. Other British staples like Victoria’s Secret and Bonmarché followed the same worrying trend. 

While some businesses boom, others fall short of their targets and become just another figure. The Office for National Statistics noted that total retail sales fell by 1.9% in 2020 compared to 2019, which is the largest annual fall on record. As more businesses crumble under the pressure of increasingly fierce competition, owners wonder how to handle the conflict between customer acquisition and customer retention.

Anyone who is in the business world knows about customer acquisition. In simple terms, this phrase refers to a company’s ability to secure new clients. Large organisations have entire marketing departments dedicated to enticing prospective clients.

Customer acquisition strategies include email campaigns, targeted Facebook ads, refreshing old content, and any other marketing tactic that is done with the intent of persuading potential customers. Savvy marketers will employ the skills of their finance department to work out an average customer spend formula to decide whether their efforts are worthwhile.

To work out your average customer spend formula, simply divide your total sales by your customer headcount.

Once a business has succeeded in acquiring customers, it must retain them. Acquisition and retention operate in tandem; acquisition does not end when retention begins. Both play a vital role in the smooth running of businesses all over the UK.

In our free market, customer retention strategies are more important than ever. Customer retention rates tell business owners the percentage of customers that return for extra services and goods. Another way of looking at this concept is customer loyalty and retention.

Online retailers know better than most that capitalism breeds innovation. This oft-quoted phrase has been stretched to the limit in recent years. The free market, which was once upheld as a symbol of opportunity for entrepreneurs all over the UK, has since entrapped them.

Consumers are bombarded with thousands of options and services. More often than not, their options sound similar, look similar, and accomplish the same end goal. Copycat brands, which are also known as cheater brands, mean that competition is fiercer than ever before in the online space.

Hopeful entrepreneurs only need an internet connection and a supplier to operate a direct to consumer (DTC) business. The number of DTC businesses has grown in recent years alongside the pandemic. Fierce competition has encouraged business owners to reconsider their customer acquisition and customer retention strategies. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted one industry as a stand-out success.

The gaming industry presents online retailers with a working model of success, even during the hard times of the pandemic. Covideogamers, who make up 18% of current gamers in the UK, pushed the video game market to a record £7bn in 2020 and made gaming the UK’s most lucrative entertainment sector.

One thing is clear: marketers in the gaming industry are ahead of their time. Mobile gaming accounts for 50% of customer acquisition spending, whereas e-commerce only accounts for 16%. In this article, online retailers can learn about modern, effective customer strategies in the gaming industry.

Habits create loyal customers. Game developers collaborate with marketing experts to develop promotions and alerts that encourage users to return to their games. If you can encourage a user to return three or four times, the chance is that they will develop a habit.

So, can online retailers integrate this tactic into their customer retention strategies?

Lots of online retailers already attempt to entice customers back to their websites. Email marketing leads the way in this type of strategy. Retailers might use discounts, promotions, or even urge customers to check out their basket before it expires.

By combining industry-standard strategies with a more game-like aesthetic, online retailers can create habits and boost business. Take, for example, the standard prize box games that gambling apps utilise every day. Apps like Bet365 offer users a choice between three presents. If players pick the right box, they can receive anything from free spins to money that they can stake in a game of their choice.

Online retailer prizes could include discounts, free items on purchases over £20, or exclusive access to new products. If you implement a time-sensitive mystery prize, customers will regularly return to your site.

Proponents of growth loops disregard standard marketing funnels. Funnels, which have been widely accepted as an essential marketing strategy for the last decade, present a linear view of customer experiences. Growth guru Brian Balfour pointed out that acquisition, marketing, and revenue actually exist in a loop. In this self-contained loop, customer acquisition strategies and products work side-by-side to bring in more customers.

In his own words, ‘Loops are closed systems where the inputs through some process generates more of an output that can be reinvested in the input. There are growth loops that serve different value creation including new users, returning users, defensibility, or efficiency.’

Customer acquisition costs pay for themselves when you implement a growth loop. Here are some examples of the different types of growth loops.

Personal viral loop - Fantasy football comes with an in-built personal viral loop wherein players invite friends so that they can play as a collective.
Financial viral loop - League of Legends gives users an exclusive skin (that they would otherwise have to pay for) if they refer a friend.
User-generated content loop - Glu’s Design Home is an interior design app that allows users to create their dream space and publish it for other players to rate. Players can win keys by reviewing other people’s efforts, and in doing so buy better furniture for their own homes.

Online retailers can develop loops by incentivising customers to post pictures of recent products on social media channels. By offering customers 10% off their next order with each post, retailers can boost their social media strategy and drive traffic to their sites.

People in the UK spend on average 4.2 hours per day on apps. This figure has increased by 30% in the last two years alone. Since the COVID-19 pandemic first began, more and more people seek entertainment from the comfort of their own homes.

Mobile games have proven to be an effective opportunity for retailers that want an on-trend customer acquisition strategy. Mobile app CTRs exceed website CTRs in most industries. Gaming is no longer a stereotypically young male pastime, which means that all sorts of different online retailers can create tailored ads for their target audiences.

Cross-selling is a central customer retention strategy in the gaming industry. Cross-selling occurs when a company researches customer behaviour and transitions specific subsets to more valuable games. This tactic aims to turn a single product customer into a multi-product customer.

In simple terms, cross-selling asks customers, ‘If you like X, why don’t you try Y?’

Online casinos and social games are the main proponents of this marketing model. Paddy Power uses in-game notifications and email offers to nudge users towards different casino games.

Cross-selling is difficult for online retailers to implement with success. Fashion companies already utilise the less-invasive, ‘people who viewed X product also viewed Y product’ tactic. To truly succeed in cross-selling, fashion retailers could create a ‘fashion PA’ style email system that introduces consumers to complementary products.

Most companies will struggle to execute this tactic across the board. It is best suited to companies that have a large marketing spend per customer budget. When done right, it can add real value to your company in terms of customer loyalty and retention.

The simplest strategy is often the most effective. Social media integration seems like a no-brainer, but lots of online retailers are still falling short. In 2020, the average person spent almost two and a half hours on social media per day. Online communities present an opportunity for retailers who want to develop brand awareness.

Fortnite’s Party Royale feature is one of the best examples of social integration. Party Royale gives users a space to meet their friends and play with non-lethal weapons. This integration has increased play time by 130%.

Social spaces allow users to feel like they are part of a community. Implementing this customer acquisition and retention strategy is as simple as adding a forum page to your site. This tactic is best suited to businesses that sell hobby-based products like sewing supplies and mountain bikes. You can start discussions by posting evergreen content like FAQs and how-to guides that provide value and boost organic traffic.