Customer Acquisition

You’re probably no different from many business people who saw in the Web the ultimate tool for touching new customers all over the world. You marveled at the apparent economics of the medium when compared with proven but costly approaches such as advertising and telesales and direct mail, and you were delighted with the infinitesimal expense of scaling to reach more prospects.

Sorry to tell you, but your enthusiasm may be misplaced.

In our first white paper in this series – the New Economy Primer – we cited “customer-centricity” as one of six key characteristics of winners in the “New Economy”, and explained why todays customers increasingly call the shots. In this position paper, the second in our New Economy series, we’ll demonstrate that a “herd-mentality” emphasis on Web sites as the premier customer-acquisition vehicle often leads only to an escalation of sales expenses. In a mediem where business models are evolving faster than the technology they are built upon, we argue that “e-markets”, or electronic markets of buyers and sellers, can prove much more cost-effective at driving the right new customers towards you. Traditional Websites encourage interactions with the host company; e-markets turn Web display screens into pathways to a galaxy of participants.

While its still early in the game, some clear guidelines have emerged as to exactly what constitutes a successful Internet-based customer-acquisition strategy, and we lay them out in this paper. Although some experts insist that the Internet is the tail that wags the dog, Cambridge maintains the it’s still the fundamentals of your business, and not the technology, that will help you determine how to use the Web to acquire and retain customers.

E-markets or Websites? Or a combination of the two? You’ve got some decisions to make.

To read the full Customer Acquisition White Paper Click Below:
CustomerAquisition.pdf