The other day I logged into LinkedIn (desperate times, I know) and I came across this amazing post by Cherene Aubert:
Can you guess what the correct answer is?
If you said “Offer”, congratulations, you’re in the minority of marketers who got it right.
This was a long post which I won’t copy+paste here (I still suggest you read it), but I will give you some context:
Cherene was dealing with a supply crisis in a subscription-based business.
To avoid the death sentence of telling subscribed customers “sorry, we’re out of stock,” she had to hit stop on customer acquisition.
She turned off Meta and Google Ads. She stopped sending email campaigns and automations. She turned off all influencers and partnerships.
Guess what? New customers still kept rolling in…
Only when she turned off the acquisition offer, the demand went down immediately.
Why am I telling you this?
Us marketers believe we’re being productive when we obsess over every single channel tactic and detail, when in reality, it’s all 80/20.
80% of the results come from 20% of the actions.
If your goal is to hit $5M or $10M in annual revenue this year, your highest leverage activities aren’t building new birthday flows in Klaviyo or split testing subject lines.
Your highest leverage activity is to find a winning acquisition offer.
Because if you do that and combine it with a winning ad strategy, it can unlock millions of additional revenue.
And in Cherene’s words, this does not mean testing 10% vs 20% discounts.
It means finding creative ways to make your existing product assortment attractive to different customer segments.
For example, if you’re a beauty brand, the same bundle that attracts 20 year-olds likely won’t cut it for 40-year-olds who have different problems and more disposable income to solve them.
Some customers also spend less, others spend more.
Some are frequent users, others doomscroll and buy once on an impulse.
Which brings me to my point:
A great retention strategy supports customer acquisition.
A compelling acquisition offer will not only help you acquire more and better customers, it will help you retain them too.
If your CAC is the same for a customer who buys once on an impulse versus your biggest category users, that’s not a scalable strategy.
The brands that are maximizing retention are able to do so because they have a front-end offer that attracts high LTV customers.
Below are examples of brands who have mastered the acquisition offer.
7 Acquisition Offers That Attract High LTV Customers
#1 Free Samples (Example: Vidrate)
Free samples can work well for supplements brands + beauty companies. With this offer, you’re having the customer pay for the shipping only. It’s a strategy that lowers your CAC, but the profitability depends on the quality of your product e.g. is it good enough for the customers to buy again.
#2 Volume Discounts (Example: Graza)
With this acquisition offer, you encourage customers to buy more units. The more units they buy, the better deal they get. For example, Graza gives you 15% off if you buy one olive oil set, but if you buy 2, you get 13% off + free shipping on top.
Just keep in mind that when customers buy in bulk, the repurchase cycle depends on how long it takes for them to run out of your product. Your post purchase marketing should reflect that.
#3 Starter Kits (Example: Ryze)
Starter kit offers are popular among supplement brands. In this case, your goal is to increase perceived value. Customers think they’re getting a ton of free stuff for a good price. This can be great because you’re already converting them to a subscription, and if your product delivers, you’ll see high repeat rates.
#4 Discounts (Example: Ridge)
Sometimes, the only acquisition offer you can make is a flat discount. This tends to be the case with fashion brands/non-consumables. For example, wallet brand Ridge offers a flat 10% discount on the first purchase. It’s important to test the impact of these discounts, and whether offering them actually results in an incremental lift.
#5 Bundles (Example: UpCircle)
Bundles can be a great way to unlock new customer segments, especially if you sell beauty products. You can build new bundles for different use cases e.g. wrinkle-free skin, and target a new customer segment e.g. women aged 40+.
#6 Free Gifts (Example: Tiege Hanley)
This offer by skin care brand Tiege Hanley is kinda similar to the starter kit, but the emphasis here is on the free gift. What’s great about this offer is that you know exactly when the customer will run out of the products, so you can target them with timely post-purchase replenishment emails.
Also, free gifts don’t have to be physical. For example, a brand selling pizza ovens can send new customers a free recipe book PDF.
#7 Hybrid (Example: Primal Queen)
You can also combine different offer types. This acquisition offer by Primal Queen is one of the best ones I’ve seen. It takes the best of both worlds — buy one, get one free and a starter kit. Customers get free shipping, free gifts, and free one month subscription. If the product delivers, it can work really well for maximizing CLV on the backend.
What you should do next
Analyze your Shopify data with Lifetimely to identify which product your highest-LTV customers bought first. These are your whale customers.
What you’ll almost always find is that certain offers or products are gateway purchases that attract the customers who go on to spend the most. Your goal is to build a winning acquisition offer around that product.
If you need help with any of that, here’s a link to work with me.
