Which is the best online acquisition channel?

Research gives benchmark of most successful acquisition channels for retail

All retailers should be aware of Custora's Ecommerce Pulse as a benchmarking source. It offers 'real-time' stats on US Ecommerce metrics updated monthly. Data is derived from over 100 million anonymized shoppers using Custora's predictive analytics platform which tracks $40Billion in e-commerce revenue, and 100+ online retailers. It gives data on device popularity, average order and most useful for benchmarking - the most effective acquisition channels indicated by channels driving orders on last click. Here is the latest channel breakdown from October 2016.

Reports can also be downloaded highlighting the latest trends. For example, the most recent notes that:

'Organic search still leads as the largest channel for online customer acquisition. But as more retailers move towards a 'free-to-paid' subscriber model and rely on third parties to help drive visitors to their sites, email and affiliate channels have seen an explosion in growth over the past few years.'

Customer lifetime value by channel

Here are some highlights around Customer Acquisition and Customer Lifetime Value.

Customer acquisition via email has quadrupled over the last 4 years and the chart below shows the trends by different channels.

The Customer Lifetime Value Lifetime research shows the trends across channels. Social media often performs less well; CLV of those acquired through Twitter is 23% lower than average and Organic Search provides the highest valued customers - 54% higher than average.