We asked our respondents the same as above: is your company more focused on acquisition or retention marketing?

Since 2013, the proportion focused on acquisition has reduced but is still the dominant proportion of respondents. In turn, the proportion of those with an equal focus on retention and acquisition has increased to 45%. Marketers are even less likely than last year to be more focused on retention.

Thinking about your organisation, are the following online channels more geared towards acquisition or retention marketing?

It’s an interesting overview on which channels are preferred for which discipline. 52% of respondents use email primarily for retention, whilst 27% use it for retention and acquisition equally. Email is a relatively inexpensive method of communication and a customer is more likely to respond positively to your emails being as they’ve already done business with you. 

Paid search and display advertising are clearly only useful for acquisition, with 86% and 85% respectively using these methods for acquisition. 2% and 4% respectively for retention.

Since 2013, a lower proportion of companies are using mobile messaging towards acquisition, which supports a growth in the use of push notifications to bring customers back to an app or mobile site.

For much more insight, download the full 65 page Cross-Channel Marketing Report.