How to acquire customers in an online store? 7 most important entry channels.

The key element of acquiring customers in an online store is to gain page entries. Understanding how customers reach the store will allow for more effective advertising and better optimization of the store's online pages.

7 main channels through which we acquire entries to an online store.

1. Direct Entries
2. Links from Other Sites
3. Advertising
4. Searches
5. Social Media
6. Newsletter
7. Referrals

1. Direct Entries

These are entries from customers directly from the URL. For example, if a customer enters www.demo.sote.pl or a subpage address in the browser, their page visits will be recorded as a direct entry (Direct). This pool of entries will also include many direct links from emails, messengers, and other sources. This also applies to situations where it is not possible to assign an entry to an advertising or referring page, among other things, due to the security measures used by customers.

2. Links from Other Sites

A very important element of gaining entries to the page, but also of building positions in search engines. All you need to do is add a link to the store on another page. It is important to pay attention to the quality of such links. They should always be genuine and relevant. Links from popular sites have more value, but it is worth starting even from smaller ones related to the industry. Focusing on quantity without controlling quality makes no sense and can even harm the store's position in search results.

3. Advertising

Advertising for the store should be defined right from the start, even with a small budget. There are two major players on the market: Google and Facebook. It is better to start with Facebook, as it has a simpler interface, but you should advertise in both networks.

Before we start building a campaign for new customers, it is worth defining the following campaigns that will increase the effectiveness of other ads.

• Facebook Remarketing.
• Google Remarketing.
• Google Search: Campaign related to the company's brand.

Advertising related to the company's brand is often underestimated, yet it is one of the most effective forms of acquiring customers. It pays to display the advertisement, both if the customer enters the company's name and the store address, even if our page appears high after entering it. If we don't do this, the competition will. In addition, repeating information about the company on the results page increases its effectiveness.

Learn: How to add your first ad on Facebook

4. Search

These are entries to the store from search results (usually Google) without entries from advertising. If the information on our page matches what the user is looking for, our page will be displayed higher. Appearing on the 1st page of results for popular phrases often requires months of work on building page value, so it is worth taking advantage of the niche and finding something that sets us apart.

5. Social Media

It is worth promoting the store in social media. Many customers treat Social Media as a new communication channel and instead of calling or sending an email, they will write on Facebook Messenger or through a message on Instagram. Having even a simple profile on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube will allow you to collect data and more effectively advertise in advertising networks.

6. Newsletter

The newsletter database has the advantage that it is not dependent on Google, Facebook or any other company. If we gain the interest of customers who have given us their email, we can effectively reach them with both interesting information related to the store and the offer. It is worth remembering that sending a newsletter does not mean that everyone will read it. It is assumed that on average a good newsletter is opened by 20% of customers and any link is clicked by 5%.

6. By Referral

It is one of the most important channels for acquiring customers and although it is difficult to measure it accurately, it should not be forgotten. Referral is not only sales, but also interesting information on the page, blog, which visitors to our page willingly return to and share with friends. We can use the knowledge of which pages are recommended by our customers in advertising. If the page is interesting and users recommend it, then it is highly likely that advertising directed to this page will be much cheaper.

Summary

Awareness of the channels of acquiring page entries allows for their more effective optimization and scaling. Many clients initially focus only on shop positioning, counting on it being the cheapest form and quickly appearing on the 1st page of results. They often come across companies that are ready to promise everything. In the end, it turns out that they have chosen the most expensive form of acquiring a customer, which takes the most time, forgetting about other channels.

It is necessary to choose the best channels for the shop to reach customers and optimize them independently. It is also good to combine them, e.g. by planning a newsletter, let's add a remarketing campaign to reach customers who do not open the message. Let's not focus only on sales, but also on customer engagement. Both Google and Facebook collect data from our page: how long customers are on our page, whether they click links, whether they make purchases and many others. They learn their behavior. We can later use this data to effectively acquire new customers.

Related Pages

• ADS Tracker. Measuring the effectiveness of advertising.
• ADS Tracker. Questions and answers.