presents

Introduction to Paid
Customer Acquisition
ANDREW KREBS-SMITH
NOAH FREEMAN
Andrew Krebs- Smith
Andrew Krebs-Smith is the
President/Founder of Social
Fulcrum, a digital marketing
agency in NYC and Boston.
Before founding Social
Fulcrum, he developed and
managed marketing
campaigns for accounts
including Pfizer, Ocean City
MD, The National Aquarium,
and Strayer University.
Andrew loves food, travel,
music, exercise, and tea.
Noah Freeman
Noah Freeman is the Vice President
of Acquisition and Analytics of Social
Fulcrum, a digital marketing agency in
NYC and Boston. In addition, he
manages the online customer
acquisition campaigns for Testive and
Working Advantage. Noah's an
expert in Facebook advertising, in
addition to having heavy experience
in search retargeting, site retargeting,
custom audiences, automated email
management, email marketing, & lead
nurturing. A graduate of Harvard,
Noah most recently attended Startup
Institute Boston in the technical
marketing track.
Intro  to  Paid  Customer  
Acquisition
Andrew	
  Krebs-­‐Smith	
  -­‐	
  @AndrewKS	
  
Noah	
  Freeman	
  -­‐	
  @noah_freem
What  we  will  be  going  over
• Intro	
  to	
  customer	
  acquisition	
  
• Key	
  Metrics	
  
• COCA	
  
• LTV	
  
• ROI	
  

• Choosing	
  the	
  right	
  Channel
Intro  to  customer  acquistion
• Marketing:	
  Customer	
  Acquisiton	
  
• Free	
  (ish)	
  
•
•
•
•

Organic	
  search	
  
Inbound	
  Referrals	
  
Word	
  of	
  mouth	
  
PR	
  

• Paid	
  
• Online	
  Ads	
  
• Offline	
  Ads	
  (newspaper,	
  TV,	
  Radio,	
  magazines)	
  
• Direct	
  Mail	
  

• Sales-­‐	
  Turn	
  leads	
  into	
  sales	
  (only	
  used	
  for	
  some	
  
products)
What  are  you  trying  to  accomplish?
• Direct	
  sales	
  
• Customers	
  go	
  online,	
  see	
  an	
  ad,	
  go	
  to	
  your	
  site,	
  buy	
  a	
  product	
  
• Customers	
  sign	
  up	
  for	
  a	
  free	
  trial	
  with	
  path	
  to	
  revenue	
  later	
  
!

• Indirect	
  sales	
  
•
•
•
•

Leads:	
  Customers	
  give	
  phone	
  #/email,	
  then	
  do	
  a	
  sales	
  call	
  
Trials:	
  Customers	
  sign	
  up	
  online	
  to	
  trial	
  something	
  in	
  the	
  real	
  world	
  
Email	
  list	
  signup:	
  Customers	
  sign	
  up	
  for	
  emails	
  
Customers	
  become	
  regular	
  readers	
  of	
  your	
  site,	
  then	
  buy	
  something	
  later
Match  the  goal  to  the  product
• Tie	
  of	
  the	
  month	
  club-­‐	
  $25/month	
  
• Online	
  SAT	
  tutoring:	
  $1K/3	
  months,	
  unknown	
  brand	
  
• Sell	
  a	
  Ferrari:	
  $200K	
  one	
  time	
  sale	
  
• Dropbox
What  we  will  be  going  over
• Intro	
  to	
  customer	
  acquisition	
  
• Key	
  Metrics	
  
• COCA	
  
• LTV	
  
• ROI	
  

• Choosing	
  the	
  right	
  Channel
Cost  of  Customer  Acquisition  (COCA)

Steps	
  in	
  the	
  funnel:	
  
• Impressions	
  

• Priced	
  as	
  CPM	
  =	
  “Cost	
  per	
  1,000	
  impressions”
• Determined	
  by

	
  

	
  

Impressions

	
  

• Who	
  the	
  audience	
  is

	
  

• Ad	
  platform

CTR

	
  

• Ad	
  type	
  (newsfeed	
  vs	
  sidebar,	
  etc)

• Clicks	
  

	
  

• Click	
  through	
  rate	
  x	
  cost	
  per	
  impression	
  =	
  cost	
  per	
  click
• Determined	
  by:

	
  

• Quality	
  of	
  ad

	
  

Clicks

	
  

• Match	
  of	
  ad	
  to	
  audience

• Post	
  click	
  conversion	
  

	
  

• Cost	
  per	
  click	
  x	
  conversion	
  rate	
  =	
  cost	
  per	
  acquisition
• Determined	
  by

	
  

	
  

• Quality	
  of	
  site

	
  

• Type	
  of	
  action	
  required	
  (signup	
  for	
  email	
  list	
  vs	
  buy	
  a	
  ferrari	
  online)

	
  

• Match	
  of	
  audience	
  to	
  site

• Post	
  conversion	
  sales	
  
• Some	
  products	
  require	
  post-­‐convsersion	
  sales	
  step

	
  

• COCA	
  =	
  (CPM/1000)	
  x	
  (1/click	
  through	
  rate)	
  x	
  (1/conversion	
  rate)	
  x	
  (1/post	
  conversion	
  sales	
  rate)

Conversio
n	
  Rate
Convert	
  once	
  
on	
  site
How  to  minimize  COCA
• Buy	
  as	
  few	
  impressions	
  as	
  necessary	
  

• Only	
  show	
  ads	
  to	
  people	
  with	
  a	
  high	
  likelihood	
  of	
  buying	
  

!
• Get	
  a	
  lot	
  of	
  clicks	
  

• High	
  quality	
  ads	
  well	
  matched	
  to	
  channel	
  
• Find	
  the	
  audience	
  most	
  likely	
  to	
  click	
  

!
• Get	
  post	
  click	
  conversion	
  

• Have	
  great	
  landing	
  pages	
  
• Different	
  audiences	
  will	
  have	
  different	
  conversion	
  rates	
  

!
• Have	
  as	
  few	
  steps	
  as	
  necessary
Great  Landing  Pages
• Your	
  home	
  page	
  is	
  NOT	
  a	
  landing	
  page	
  
• You	
  may	
  need	
  a	
  lot	
  of	
  different	
  landing	
  pages	
  
• Components	
  of	
  a	
  great	
  landing	
  page:	
  
•
•
•
•

Short	
  description	
  of	
  what	
  you	
  are	
  selling	
  
VERY	
  LARGE	
  calls	
  to	
  action	
  
Very	
  few	
  options	
  that	
  are	
  not	
  desired	
  action	
  
Very	
  short	
  #	
  of	
  clicks	
  between	
  landing	
  &	
  completing	
  action
A  great  landing  page
Exercise:  COCA
Crossfit	
  Gym	
  
• Path	
  to	
  sale	
  
•
•
•
•
•
•

Customers	
  see	
  a	
  facebook	
  ad	
  ($10	
  CPM)	
  
They	
  click,	
  go	
  to	
  a	
  landing	
  page	
  (2%	
  CTR)	
  
They	
  give	
  their	
  email	
  address/phone	
  to	
  get	
  a	
  free	
  class	
  (5%	
  conversion)	
  
Sales	
  person	
  calls	
  them,	
  schedules	
  free	
  class	
  (70%	
  never	
  get	
  in	
  touch)	
  
They	
  go	
  to	
  free	
  class	
  (50%	
  show	
  up)	
  
They	
  sign	
  up	
  for	
  a	
  membership	
  (50%	
  sign	
  up	
  from	
  free	
  class)	
  

• What	
  is	
  COCA	
  
• What	
  changes	
  could	
  they	
  make	
  to	
  decrease	
  COCA?
Key  trick:  UTM  Tags
• What	
  they	
  are:	
  
• Tags	
  at	
  the	
  end	
  of	
  URLs	
  that	
  identify	
  ad	
  

• When	
  to	
  use	
  them	
  
• Each	
  ad	
  should	
  have	
  its	
  own	
  UTM	
  code	
  
• All	
  ads	
  should	
  have	
  a	
  code	
  

• How	
  to	
  use	
  them	
  
• Lets	
  you	
  calculate	
  CTR,	
  conversion	
  rate,	
  COCA	
  BY	
  AD	
  
• https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867?hl=en	
  (google	
  “UTM	
  
builder”)
What  we  will  be  going  over
• Intro	
  to	
  customer	
  acquisition	
  
• Key	
  Metrics	
  
• COCA	
  
• LTV	
  
• ROI	
  

• Choosing	
  the	
  right	
  Channel
Lifetime  Value  of  Customer
• Revenue	
  per	
  sale	
  

• #	
  of	
  items	
  per	
  sale	
  x	
  revenue	
  per	
  item	
  

• Gross	
  margin	
  

• Profit	
  per	
  item	
  /	
  Revenue	
  per	
  item	
  

• #	
  of	
  sales	
  per	
  customer	
  

• Over	
  lifetime	
  of	
  customer,	
  how	
  many	
  purchases	
  do	
  they	
  make?	
  
• If	
  it’s	
  a	
  subscription,	
  how	
  many	
  months	
  do	
  they	
  stay	
  around?	
  

!
• LTV	
  =	
  Revenue	
  per	
  sale	
  x	
  gross	
  margin	
  %	
  x	
  #	
  of	
  repeats	
  
• LTV	
  =	
  (#	
  of	
  items	
  per	
  sale)	
  x	
  (revenue	
  per	
  item)	
  x	
  ((item	
  sales	
  price	
  –	
  item	
  cost)/
(item	
  sales	
  price))	
  x	
  (#	
  of	
  sales	
  per	
  customer	
  over	
  lifetime)
LTV  Exercise
• Selling	
  Neckties	
  Online:	
  
• $25/tie,	
  $10	
  cost/tie,	
  average	
  2	
  ties/checkout.	
  	
  	
  
• 2.5	
  repeats	
  per	
  customer	
  
• What	
  is	
  LTV?	
  
!

• How	
  can	
  we	
  increase	
  this	
  LTV?
Ways  to  maximize  LTV
• Increase	
  dollars	
  per	
  checkout	
  
• Sell	
  higher	
  cost	
  items	
  
• Sell	
  bundles	
  of	
  many	
  items	
  
!

• Increase	
  Gross	
  Margin	
  
!

• Increase	
  repeat	
  rates	
  

• Actively	
  market	
  to	
  your	
  past	
  customers	
  to	
  remind	
  them	
  
• Sell	
  subscriptions	
  and	
  auto-­‐renewals!	
  
• Good	
  products	
  &	
  customer	
  service
What  we  will  be  going  over
• Intro	
  to	
  customer	
  acquisition	
  
• Key	
  Metrics	
  
• COCA	
  
• LTV	
  
• ROI	
  

• Choosing	
  the	
  right	
  Channel
Marketing  Return  on  Investment
• ROI	
  =	
  (LTV)	
  /	
  (COCA)	
  
!

• ROI	
  decision	
  making:	
  
• <1:	
  you	
  are	
  losing	
  money	
  on	
  your	
  ads.	
  	
  	
  
• You	
  need	
  to	
  increase	
  LTV,	
  or	
  decrease	
  COCA	
  

• =1:	
  breakeven.	
  	
  	
  
• >1:	
  You	
  are	
  making	
  more	
  money	
  than	
  you	
  put	
  in.	
  	
  Advertise	
  more!	
  
• Beware	
  cash	
  flow	
  issues	
  with	
  long-­‐period	
  LTV
What  we  will  be  going  over
• Intro	
  to	
  customer	
  acquisition	
  
• Key	
  Metrics	
  
• COCA	
  
• LTV	
  
• ROI	
  

• Choosing	
  the	
  right	
  Channel
Which  channels  to  choose
Channel

Subtype

Facebook Social

Demand	
  Creation	
  vs	
  
Fulfillment

Audience	
  Selection

• Demand	
  Creation

• Who	
  is	
  fan	
  of	
  what	
  
page,	
  who	
  is	
  friends	
  
Who	
  they	
  
• with	
  who. are	
  

Facebook	
   Targeted	
   • Demand	
  Creation	
  
Paid
(demographics)	
  
• Demand	
  fulfillment	
  for	
  
Google	
   Adwords	
   • identity/interest	
  based	
   • What	
  they	
  search	
  for
Demand	
  fulfillment
• What	
  they	
  are	
  
Google	
  

Display

Other	
  
Sites

Display

• Demand	
  creation	
  
• Demand	
  fulfillment	
  if	
  
Demand	
  creation	
  
• well	
  matched	
  to	
  site
• Demand	
  fulfillment	
  if	
  
well	
  matched	
  to	
  site

• What	
  site	
  they	
  are	
  on	
  
(interest)
• What	
  site	
  they	
  are	
  on	
  
(interest)
Which  channels  to  choose  (Part  2)
Channel

Subtype

Pro

Facebook Social

• Cheap	
  to	
  free

Facebook	
   Targeted	
  
Paid
Google	
  
Adwords	
  

•

Google	
  

Display

•
•

Other	
  
Sites

Display

•

•
•

Con

•
•
Insanely	
  niche	
  targeting	
   •
capabilities	
  
Very	
  effective	
  when	
  
•
Very	
  effective	
  for	
  right	
  
•
product	
  
•
Simple	
  creative
Good	
  for	
  non	
  time	
  
•
sensitive	
  products
Great	
  for	
  very	
  targeted	
   •
niches

Very	
  labor	
  intensive	
  
Less	
  functional	
  in	
  “new	
  
facebook” challenging	
  
Technically	
  
interface	
  
Only	
  works	
  iexpensive	
  
Clicks	
  often	
   f	
  well	
  
Needs	
  sufficient	
  search	
  
volume can	
  be	
  
Creative	
  
challenging
Negotiated	
  individually,	
  
requires	
  creative
Exercise:  What  Channels  to  use:
• Heating	
  Oil	
  Delivery	
  
• SAT	
  Tutoring	
  
• Card	
  that	
  combines	
  all	
  your	
  credit	
  cards	
  
• Discount	
  shopping	
  browser	
  plugin	
  
• Necktie	
  of	
  the	
  Month
Course Title
Course Title

	
  

INSTRUCTOR NAME

Introduction to Paid Customer Acquisition

  • 1.
    presents Introduction to Paid CustomerAcquisition ANDREW KREBS-SMITH NOAH FREEMAN
  • 2.
    Andrew Krebs- Smith AndrewKrebs-Smith is the President/Founder of Social Fulcrum, a digital marketing agency in NYC and Boston. Before founding Social Fulcrum, he developed and managed marketing campaigns for accounts including Pfizer, Ocean City MD, The National Aquarium, and Strayer University. Andrew loves food, travel, music, exercise, and tea.
  • 3.
    Noah Freeman Noah Freemanis the Vice President of Acquisition and Analytics of Social Fulcrum, a digital marketing agency in NYC and Boston. In addition, he manages the online customer acquisition campaigns for Testive and Working Advantage. Noah's an expert in Facebook advertising, in addition to having heavy experience in search retargeting, site retargeting, custom audiences, automated email management, email marketing, & lead nurturing. A graduate of Harvard, Noah most recently attended Startup Institute Boston in the technical marketing track.
  • 4.
    Intro  to  Paid Customer   Acquisition Andrew  Krebs-­‐Smith  -­‐  @AndrewKS   Noah  Freeman  -­‐  @noah_freem
  • 5.
    What  we  will be  going  over • Intro  to  customer  acquisition   • Key  Metrics   • COCA   • LTV   • ROI   • Choosing  the  right  Channel
  • 6.
    Intro  to  customer acquistion • Marketing:  Customer  Acquisiton   • Free  (ish)   • • • • Organic  search   Inbound  Referrals   Word  of  mouth   PR   • Paid   • Online  Ads   • Offline  Ads  (newspaper,  TV,  Radio,  magazines)   • Direct  Mail   • Sales-­‐  Turn  leads  into  sales  (only  used  for  some   products)
  • 7.
    What  are  you trying  to  accomplish? • Direct  sales   • Customers  go  online,  see  an  ad,  go  to  your  site,  buy  a  product   • Customers  sign  up  for  a  free  trial  with  path  to  revenue  later   ! • Indirect  sales   • • • • Leads:  Customers  give  phone  #/email,  then  do  a  sales  call   Trials:  Customers  sign  up  online  to  trial  something  in  the  real  world   Email  list  signup:  Customers  sign  up  for  emails   Customers  become  regular  readers  of  your  site,  then  buy  something  later
  • 8.
    Match  the  goal to  the  product • Tie  of  the  month  club-­‐  $25/month   • Online  SAT  tutoring:  $1K/3  months,  unknown  brand   • Sell  a  Ferrari:  $200K  one  time  sale   • Dropbox
  • 9.
    What  we  will be  going  over • Intro  to  customer  acquisition   • Key  Metrics   • COCA   • LTV   • ROI   • Choosing  the  right  Channel
  • 10.
    Cost  of  Customer Acquisition  (COCA) Steps  in  the  funnel:   • Impressions   • Priced  as  CPM  =  “Cost  per  1,000  impressions” • Determined  by     Impressions   • Who  the  audience  is   • Ad  platform CTR   • Ad  type  (newsfeed  vs  sidebar,  etc) • Clicks     • Click  through  rate  x  cost  per  impression  =  cost  per  click • Determined  by:   • Quality  of  ad   Clicks   • Match  of  ad  to  audience • Post  click  conversion     • Cost  per  click  x  conversion  rate  =  cost  per  acquisition • Determined  by     • Quality  of  site   • Type  of  action  required  (signup  for  email  list  vs  buy  a  ferrari  online)   • Match  of  audience  to  site • Post  conversion  sales   • Some  products  require  post-­‐convsersion  sales  step   • COCA  =  (CPM/1000)  x  (1/click  through  rate)  x  (1/conversion  rate)  x  (1/post  conversion  sales  rate) Conversio n  Rate Convert  once   on  site
  • 11.
    How  to  minimize COCA • Buy  as  few  impressions  as  necessary   • Only  show  ads  to  people  with  a  high  likelihood  of  buying   ! • Get  a  lot  of  clicks   • High  quality  ads  well  matched  to  channel   • Find  the  audience  most  likely  to  click   ! • Get  post  click  conversion   • Have  great  landing  pages   • Different  audiences  will  have  different  conversion  rates   ! • Have  as  few  steps  as  necessary
  • 12.
    Great  Landing  Pages •Your  home  page  is  NOT  a  landing  page   • You  may  need  a  lot  of  different  landing  pages   • Components  of  a  great  landing  page:   • • • • Short  description  of  what  you  are  selling   VERY  LARGE  calls  to  action   Very  few  options  that  are  not  desired  action   Very  short  #  of  clicks  between  landing  &  completing  action
  • 13.
  • 14.
    Exercise:  COCA Crossfit  Gym   • Path  to  sale   • • • • • • Customers  see  a  facebook  ad  ($10  CPM)   They  click,  go  to  a  landing  page  (2%  CTR)   They  give  their  email  address/phone  to  get  a  free  class  (5%  conversion)   Sales  person  calls  them,  schedules  free  class  (70%  never  get  in  touch)   They  go  to  free  class  (50%  show  up)   They  sign  up  for  a  membership  (50%  sign  up  from  free  class)   • What  is  COCA   • What  changes  could  they  make  to  decrease  COCA?
  • 15.
    Key  trick:  UTM Tags • What  they  are:   • Tags  at  the  end  of  URLs  that  identify  ad   • When  to  use  them   • Each  ad  should  have  its  own  UTM  code   • All  ads  should  have  a  code   • How  to  use  them   • Lets  you  calculate  CTR,  conversion  rate,  COCA  BY  AD   • https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033867?hl=en  (google  “UTM   builder”)
  • 16.
    What  we  will be  going  over • Intro  to  customer  acquisition   • Key  Metrics   • COCA   • LTV   • ROI   • Choosing  the  right  Channel
  • 17.
    Lifetime  Value  of Customer • Revenue  per  sale   • #  of  items  per  sale  x  revenue  per  item   • Gross  margin   • Profit  per  item  /  Revenue  per  item   • #  of  sales  per  customer   • Over  lifetime  of  customer,  how  many  purchases  do  they  make?   • If  it’s  a  subscription,  how  many  months  do  they  stay  around?   ! • LTV  =  Revenue  per  sale  x  gross  margin  %  x  #  of  repeats   • LTV  =  (#  of  items  per  sale)  x  (revenue  per  item)  x  ((item  sales  price  –  item  cost)/ (item  sales  price))  x  (#  of  sales  per  customer  over  lifetime)
  • 18.
    LTV  Exercise • Selling  Neckties  Online:   • $25/tie,  $10  cost/tie,  average  2  ties/checkout.       • 2.5  repeats  per  customer   • What  is  LTV?   ! • How  can  we  increase  this  LTV?
  • 19.
    Ways  to  maximize LTV • Increase  dollars  per  checkout   • Sell  higher  cost  items   • Sell  bundles  of  many  items   ! • Increase  Gross  Margin   ! • Increase  repeat  rates   • Actively  market  to  your  past  customers  to  remind  them   • Sell  subscriptions  and  auto-­‐renewals!   • Good  products  &  customer  service
  • 20.
    What  we  will be  going  over • Intro  to  customer  acquisition   • Key  Metrics   • COCA   • LTV   • ROI   • Choosing  the  right  Channel
  • 21.
    Marketing  Return  on Investment • ROI  =  (LTV)  /  (COCA)   ! • ROI  decision  making:   • <1:  you  are  losing  money  on  your  ads.       • You  need  to  increase  LTV,  or  decrease  COCA   • =1:  breakeven.       • >1:  You  are  making  more  money  than  you  put  in.    Advertise  more!   • Beware  cash  flow  issues  with  long-­‐period  LTV
  • 22.
    What  we  will be  going  over • Intro  to  customer  acquisition   • Key  Metrics   • COCA   • LTV   • ROI   • Choosing  the  right  Channel
  • 23.
    Which  channels  to choose Channel Subtype Facebook Social Demand  Creation  vs   Fulfillment Audience  Selection • Demand  Creation • Who  is  fan  of  what   page,  who  is  friends   Who  they   • with  who. are   Facebook   Targeted   • Demand  Creation   Paid (demographics)   • Demand  fulfillment  for   Google   Adwords   • identity/interest  based   • What  they  search  for Demand  fulfillment • What  they  are   Google   Display Other   Sites Display • Demand  creation   • Demand  fulfillment  if   Demand  creation   • well  matched  to  site • Demand  fulfillment  if   well  matched  to  site • What  site  they  are  on   (interest) • What  site  they  are  on   (interest)
  • 24.
    Which  channels  to choose  (Part  2) Channel Subtype Pro Facebook Social • Cheap  to  free Facebook   Targeted   Paid Google   Adwords   • Google   Display • • Other   Sites Display • • • Con • • Insanely  niche  targeting   • capabilities   Very  effective  when   • Very  effective  for  right   • product   • Simple  creative Good  for  non  time   • sensitive  products Great  for  very  targeted   • niches Very  labor  intensive   Less  functional  in  “new   facebook” challenging   Technically   interface   Only  works  iexpensive   Clicks  often   f  well   Needs  sufficient  search   volume can  be   Creative   challenging Negotiated  individually,   requires  creative
  • 25.
    Exercise:  What  Channels to  use: • Heating  Oil  Delivery   • SAT  Tutoring   • Card  that  combines  all  your  credit  cards   • Discount  shopping  browser  plugin   • Necktie  of  the  Month
  • 26.
    Course Title Course Title   INSTRUCTOR NAME