BONOBOS USES PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS TO OPTIMIZE CUSTOMER ACQUISITION STRATEGY 30
Bonobos is a US men’s apparel brand. Bonobos is a data- driven, customer- focused retailer that recognizes the importance of making business decisions around customer lifetime value (CLV). Initially the marketing team had used Excel to compute CLV metrics, but as the company experienced rapid growth and its customer base grew substantially, this became prohibitively time- consuming and tedious and the analysis was not completed as frequently as the team would have liked. Not having access to real- time CLV insights made it difficult for Bonobos to make agile decisions about customer acquisition. Bonobos then began to use analytics to compute the lifetime value of customers acquired through every marketing channel. This allows Bonobos to understand which acquisition channels are bringing in the most valuable customers and optimize their acquisition strategy accordingly. For example, Bonobos discovered that its Guideshops, service- oriented stores that enable men to try on Bonobos clothing in person before ordering online, were bringing in customers with the highest CLV across all of its marketing channels. This insight encouraged Bonobos to expand its marketing efforts to support the Guideshops. Bonobos also uses predictive analytics to identify their highest CLV customers as early as their first purchase. Bonobos then uses this information to ensure these highly valued customers get the attention they deserve. “Top customers” receive additional services, such as handwritten thank you notes from the Bonobos customer service team. Bonobos measured the impact of these notes on incremental revenue and repeat purchase rate, and saw a positive lift. Top customers also receive perks such as exclusive event invitations and early access to new merchandise. Affiliation data can also be used to guide customer acquisition. Customers may be members or otherwise associated with a number of organizations: a university, a sports club or a charity. Affinity marketers recognize membership as an opportunity. Banks like MBNA have led the way in affinity marketing of credit cards. MBNA, the organization and the member all benefit from the arrangement. MBNA offers a credit card to members of the organization. The organization receives a fee for allowing the bank access to its member data. Members enjoy a specially branded card and excellent customer experience from the bank. Affinity groups include members of the World Wildlife Fund, fans of Manchester United and congregations of the Uniting Church. CONCLUSION Customer acquisition is the first issue that managers face as they attempt to build a profitable customer base. There are three major decisions to be made: which prospects to target; how to communicate with them; and what offer to communicate to them. New customers are of two kinds. They are either new to the product category, or new to the company. In principle, the 91
Buttle, Francis, and Stan Maklan. Customer Relationship Management : Concepts and Technologies, Taylor & Francis Group, 2019. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/dmu/detail.action?docID=5755765.
Created from dmu on 2022-10-20 19:57:03.
Having read the above sources, consider the following questions:
- How can new customers be acquired?
- How can organisations optimise their customer acquisition strategies?
- How can organisations measure the effectiveness of their customer management strategy?
- What can you say about the customer acquisition strategy of the company that you have selected for your coursework?
TASK 2
Having read the case study, consider the following questions:
- Identify strategies used by Coca Cola to acquire customers.
- What customer acquisition strategies are used by your CW1 company? Justify
