Location-based startups seem to be pretty popular these days. Some of the most successful location based startups (i.e. Foursquare, Shopkick, Yelp, etc.,) have received multiple rounds of funding, achieved nice exits and set a high bar for others to follow. Nonetheless, many location-based start-ups still face a number of challenges when it comes to growth – particularly in the area of customer acquisition. This post seeks to dig a little further into the issue of customer acquisition for location-based apps. Here are some steps startups can take to address challenges they face in acquiring new customers.
- Performance Measurement: It’s important to first take a step back and reflect on the existing product and existing customers. Some questions to ask include: Who are the customers? Are there different segments? How are the current customers using the product? Are there differences in the ways various segments use the product? How is the product performing among various customer segments? An understanding of these questions will allow the portfolio company to better target its strategy—whether that is to strengthen its position in a current market or pivot a little and go after a different set of customers.
- Product Differentiation: Startups looking to acquire customers should differentiate their product from the competition and make the value-add very clear. That way, from a customer’s perspective, there is a clear reason for switching to the new product. Product differentiation can build customer loyalty and allow the startup to monetize its partnerships with advertisers or other 3rd party vendors. Mobile represents a huge opportunity to creatively differentiate across a range of platforms. Startups should find unique ways to combine location-based data with mobile platforms to provide users with useful information. Foursquare’s check-in rewards system seems to have championed this strategy.
- Personalization/Segmentation: Location-based startups should also focus on personalizing as much as possible when trying to acquire new customers. This means offering a different type of service for different customer segments. LinkedIn has done a great job of this. There is a free service for the 80% of customers who only use the platform a few times a year. Another 15% of the customer segment, who use the product monthly or weekly, pay for a slight business upgrade. The final 5% who use the service daily pay for the most expensive “executive” version—with expanded product features. But personalization should move beyond product lines to also include targeted marketing and sales campaigns so that potential users are finding out about the product through channels that appeal to them most.
- Focus on Branding: Location-based startups can also attract customers by building a really strong brand. Brand loyalty seems to be mostly based on three things: differentiation, relevance and emotion. Some examples: Apple has built an incredible brand around the concept of aesthetics and beautiful design. Etsy has built a brand around homemade/vintage goods. Focusing on the above 3 keys to build a really strong brand can, in turn, attract customers.
- Customer Service: One way to really attract customers (and to also differentiate from the competition) is to provide strong customer service. This entails providing a high quality service or product experience, showing support for customers during and after the sales process, developing customer loyalty programs and creating a customer service team with a 100% focus on customer satisfaction.
Allen Miller 