When Growth Hits a Wall, It’s Time to Develop a Customer Acquisition Strategy
When we think about successful customer acquisition strategies, we often shove those to the beginning of a business – the launch. That’s not wrong; new customer acquisition is vital to business growth at the start. But eventually, those new customers become repeat customers, and you reach a business plateau. That’s when you have to revisit your customer acquisition efforts.
Naturally, it’s important to nurture your current customers – your loyal clients – but it’s equally essential to acquire new customers regularly. Basically, customer acquisition tactics should be built into your marketing and operations, and not a fun activity that you employ at the start; it’s an organic, growing thing, that takes place at different milestones in your selling journey.
If you’ve hit a plateau, it’s possible you need to acquire customers – and it’s not just about ad spend. Here are some tips to help you come up with a solid customer acquisition strategy of your own.
Speaking of ads, have you heard about Amazon Video Ads and their benefits for sellers?
What Is Customer Acquisition? (Get Ready for a Math Lesson)
Understanding the Customer Acquisition Process
Customer acquisition is the process of attracting, converting, and retaining buyers. A good customer acquisition plan is a sustainable engine that brings in the right traffic, turns them into customers, and keeps them coming back.
This includes:
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Lead Generation: Capturing attention from qualified prospects across your target markets
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Conversion Tactics: Turning browsers into buyers through optimized listings, persuasive content, and seamless UX
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Post-Sale Retention: Following through with stellar customer service, post-purchase engagement, and loyalty-building initiatives
Why Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) Matters
Your CAC is a good way to measure customer acquisition methods. Get ready for a slew of formulae.
CAC measures how much you’re spending to acquire each new customer.
Formula:
CAC = MC / CA
Where:
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MC = Total Marketing Costs (ads, creative, software, agency fees, etc.)
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CA = Customers Acquired during the same period
If your CAC increases without a proportional increase in Customer Lifetime Value or LTV, your acquisition strategy is becoming inefficient.
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LTV = Average Purchase Value × Purchase Frequency × Customer Lifespan
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LTV = (ARPU × Gross Margin) / Churn Rate
Where:
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ARPU = Average Revenue per User
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Gross Margin = Revenue – Cost of Goods Sold (as a % or absolute $)
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Churn Rate = Churned Customers / Customers at Start of Period
So if:
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Customers Acquired (CA) = 10
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Marketing Cost (MC) = $50
→ CAC = 50 / 10 = $5
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ARPU = $75
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Gross Margin = $25
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Churned Customers = 3
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Starting Customers = 10
→ Churn Rate = 3 / 10 = 0.3
So:
LTV = (75 × 25) / 0.3 = 1875 / 0.3 = $6,250
The LTV:CAC ratio is the ultimate effectiveness benchmark. It tells you how much revenue you’re making for every $1 spent on customer acquisition.
Formula:
LTV:CAC Ratio = LTV / CAC
Here’s a helpful table, because the math can get a bit confusing:
| LTV:CAC Ratio | What It Means |
|---|---|
| 1:1 | You’re breaking even. Not sustainable. |
| 2:1 | You’re doing okay. Some margin, but not amazing. |
| 3:1 | Sweet spot. Healthy growth with room for reinvestment. |
| >4:1 | Great, but you might be under-spending on growth. |
| <1:1 | 🚨 You’re losing money on every customer. Fix this fast. |
Following the example above:
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CAC = $5
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LTV = $6,250
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→ LTV:CAC = 6,250 / 5 = 1,250:1
This means you’re massively under-investing in customer acquisition, or not measuring churn/customer behavior over a long enough period. Your CAC is probably extremely efficient, but it’s also time to scale more aggressively, assuming LTV estimates are accurate.
So, in other words:
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By itself, CAC tells you cost-per-customer.
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Compared to LTV, it tells you if that cost is worth it.
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The LTV:CAC ratio is your true ROI metric.
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Refining CAC means reducing waste (bad leads, wrong channels) or increasing LTV (better retention, upsells, referrals).
3. Have You Started to Plateau? Check Your Metrics
Has your business started to plateau? You’ve done everything right, from balancing organic marketing with paid marketing, engaged your customers through customer service best practices, localized product inserts, packaging, and even your product, made sure your listings were mobile optimized, paid attention to stock and pricing, and followed the eCommerce SEO best practices to ensure your listings were found. You’ve checked all the boxes, yet your sales are starting to even out, with no new interest, eyeballs, or traffic to your listing and storefront.
At this point, you have to look at the numbers. Do you have any of the below?
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📉 Rising CAC with flat revenue
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📉 Declining repeat purchase rate (RPR) or LTV
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📉 Ad costs increasing, conversion rates decreasing
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📉 High traffic, low sales in listings, both international and local
Granted, there are other reasons for a plateau, including economic and political events such as Trump’s reciprocal tariff list, which may be stopping new customers from checking out your products. Nevertheless, now’s a good a time as any to develop a winning customer acquisition strategy.
4. A Global Acquisition Campaign is Not a One Size Fits All Approach
Another time to improve your customer acquisition efforts is when you’re scaling globally. A one size fits all approach just won’t work with all markets. Your customer acquisition marketing needs to be adjusted – even minimally – to suit each country you sell in.
That’s when adept localization enters the chat. Localization isn’t just translation; it’s strategic positioning. It’s developing a relationship with your customers, so you acquire customers and actively invest in customer retention strategies. In all markets, and all disciplines, the flow is clear: attract new customers, convert them into loyal customers, reward and nurture current customers, rinse, and repeat. It’s pretty clear that effective customer acquisition strategies don’t stop after the launch; they’re switched on, no matter what stage of the selling journey you’re in, no matter what country you’re selling in.
International marketplaces differ in keyword behavior, which is why listings need to be localized to include the keywords that every culture and every nationality uses to find products like yours. They also differ in price sensitivity; if tipping is an indication of how generous (and willing to spend) a culture is, you can rely on (in order of generosity) the Germans, Americans, Russians, Brazilians, French, Brits, Spanish, and Italians to look past the price and eyeball quality and brand authenticity instead (source: Yahoo! News). On the other hand, the Dutch and Swedes are known for being pretty tight-fisted with their money. That’s why localizing price points is also important. Furthermore, there are certain trust factors that you need to tweak per culture depending on what they prioritize the most, from reviews, to guarantees, to freebies, to brand voice.
The best way to measure this is through Conversion Rate per marketplace:
CVR = Total Orders / Total Sessions
5. Best Practices of a Scalable Global Customer Acquisition Strategy
Here are some customer acquisition tactics to help you as you expand your business to other countries – but these customer acquisition techniques work just as well at home.
a. Localized Listings That Convert
When expanding globally, you need careful localization and optimization. A/B test copy variants across different marketplaces to see what resonates culturally and contextually. Measure Ad Cost of Sales (ACOS) and Conversion Rate (CVR) before and after localization efforts. Watch for improved ROI as your content becomes more relevant.
Now, as mentioned, this tactic works just as well at home. Scour your customer data, and see who your customers are. Where are they based? What else are they buying? How old are they? Do they have children? See if you can localize your approach; your Vermont customer is probably into different things from your Texas customer. Sometimes, including little pop culture tidbits that are state-specific can win you new customers.
b. Keyword Research Per Region
When you’re selling in just one country, it makes sense to update your keywords every six months or so to match trends.
When you’re selling globally, you have to remember that not all markets search the same way. Go beyond direct translations – that’s why we at YLT Translations perform unique keyword research per region.
It’s important to align your listings with how customers actually search. Layer in Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) by country to see where your most profitable markets are. If Germany brings high-LTV customers, prioritize that market in your acquisition and content strategy.
It’s the same if you’re selling in just one country. Where are your high-LTV customers? Are they in Leeds or in London? Paris or Toulouse? Florida or New York? Adjust accordingly.
c. Inbound + Outbound Mix
A healthy global strategy blends organic and paid acquisition:
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Organic: SEO, regional blog content, translated A+ pages
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Paid: Amazon Ads, DSP campaigns, influencer collaborations per region
Track it all through Blended CAC:
Blended CAC = (Paid Spend + Organic Spend) / Customers Acquired
This gives you a real-world view of total acquisition cost across channels, not just ads.
d. Customer Retention: The Hidden Hero
Retention isn’t just a post-sale goal; it’s your LTV multiplier.
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Reduce churn, and your customer acquisition becomes more profitable without increasing spend.
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Key metrics to track:
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Repeat Purchase Rate (RPR)
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Churn Rate = (Customers Lost / Total Customers at Start) × 100
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Reducing churn lifts LTV — and the higher your LTV, the more you can justify spending on CAC.
6. Effective Customer Acquisition Won’t Make These Mistakes
Winning customer acquisition efforts know not to make these crucial mistakes – and yes, it all boils down to (1) understanding your customer, and (2) localizing with care.
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Using U.S. English listings in non-U.S. markets: People prefer to transact in their own native language. Don’t make the mistake of speaking to a new customer in a language that they’re not comfortable with – or, even worse, a machine translation of your U.S. listing, which will only sound awkward, inauthentic, and like you’re trying way too hard.
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Ignoring regional keyword trends and slang: The more you sound like your potential customer, the better. Improve the customer experience by calling up things they’re interested in, like pop culture, slang, top trends in their area. You’ll be great at this once you truly understand customer behavior.
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Failing to measure CAC or LTV by region (not just globally): Like all good marketing strategies, your customer acquisition and retention efforts must be data-driven. What do the numbers tell you? Where should you pour your efforts? Use the numbers to direct your growth strategy and acquisition goals.
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Relying too heavily on “auto” campaigns or machine translations: The best customer acquisition strategies are familiar, intimate, and personalized. It’s your chance to build a bridge between the customer and your brand. Create a relationship with both potential customers and preexisting customers. That’s not to say that AI has no role in customer acquisition; just use it strategically, depending on the stages of the customer journey. In the beginning, when you’re trying to woo someone new, don’t use a bot to do your heavy lifting. Now’s the chance to entice new customers to your business by showing that you are a dependable, reputable brand, that cares about them and is willing to make a difference in their lives.
- Forgetting customer reviews: Here’s a little hack to a great customer acquisition strategy. Become a customer. Put yourself in the shoes of the customer, and see what they think about your product, and your competitors’ products. Create a customer avatar, and focus your marketing efforts on attracting that person. The source of this information is – you guessed it – customer reviews, both on and off Amazon.
7. A Sustainable Customer Acquisition Strategy Involves Math!
Success isn’t just about sales volume. It’s about:
✅ Lower Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
✅ Higher Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)
✅ Better Return on Ad Spend (ROAS)
✅ Market-fit Messaging that resonates across regions
A winning customer acquisition strategy isn’t a one-off campaign.
It’s measurable, repeatable, and localized — built to scale sustainably in every market you enter.
8. Customer Acquisition Success is All About the Customers
The right customer acquisition strategy focuses on what your customers want and need – whether they’re new or preexisting. Analyze customer acquisition metrics, and see where you should focus your efforts more; take a look at your customer churn rate, and ask yourself, why are they leaving? What have I not done yet? Make sure you employ great customer service – it’s a great way to gauge customer satisfaction, which will give you valuable clues on where you can improve and where you’re winning.
This is where market testing can really hone your customer acquisition goals. Once you’ve identified who your customer is, ask yourself if that’s really the customer you’re targeting – if not, then it’s possible your listing is targeting the wrong people. Create customer personas, and use those to release surveys, focus group discussions, split tests, and more to see what it is that customers really want from you. From that data, it’ll be much easier to develop an effective acquisition plan – and acquiring a new customer won’t feel like a far-off goal.
Remember, customer acquisition isn’t a one-and-done deal. It’s a valuable exercise that should take place throughout the selling journey. It’s great to nurture your existing customer – customer loyalty is one of the biggest signs of success – but there’s no way you’ll grow your business if you don’t start attracting new people to your brand.
Pro Tips for Optimizing Your Customer Acquisition Funnel
Your work doesn’t stop after calculating CAC and LTV. Here’s how to actually act on those numbers:
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Use the LTV:CAC ratio to decide when (and where) to increase marketing spend.
A healthy ratio—typically 3:1 or higher—means you’re getting more value than you spend. That’s your cue to scale up. -
Localize your email flows and retargeting ads.
Retention is acquisition’s best friend. A personalized post-purchase email in the shopper’s native language for a D2C ecommerce business, or a region-specific retargeting ad, can be the difference between a one-time buyer and a loyal repeat customer. -
Test your CTAs and offers by region.
Do discounts work better in Spain, while bundles drive more conversions in the UK? Only one way to find out—run tests. Split-test CTAs, images, and incentives to align with cultural and economic preferences.
The success of your customer acquisition efforts is constant optimization. Read the numbers. Check the data. Refine your customer acquisition strategy. And don’t forget – there are valuable customer acquisition tools that you already have at your disposal, such as search engine optimization, customer relationship management, PPC, localizing your product or service, and more.
Your approach to customer acquisition should be clear: partly driven by data, partly driven by the goal to improve customer relations. Once you’ve got those covered, you’re golden! Good luck – let us know how it goes!
Now that you know all about customer acquisition, understand as well the nuances of a good customer engagement strategy. Hand-in-hand, these two tactics can really make your business shine.