Cleaning Business Growth Secrets: Top Customer Acquisition Channel for Cleaning Businesses

Nowadays, a cleaning business can become very profitable; people can barely make time to clean themselves. And it’s also pretty straightforward to set up the business, as the requirements are minimal. You just need people who can clean, some equipment, and a system.

What’s the most daunting part about the business is acquiring and attracting customers to your business. Also, since it’s easy to set up, many people are investing in the same business.

To stand out from the competition and attract the most customers, you have to strategize customer acquisition. And it all starts with finding the perfect customer acquisition channel for a cleaning business. Let’s dive a little deeper to learn more.

What Is a Customer Acquisition Channel?

A customer acquisition channel simply refers to the medium through which you can acquire customers. It’s a way to meet new customers and bring them to your business through marketing your business to them.

Some common customer acquisition channels are TV ads, social media, billboards, pamphlets, radio, etc. In short, a customer acquisition channel is any medium usable for communicating with customers to promote your product or service.

Difference Between Customer Acquisition Vs. Retention

Many times the concepts of customer acquisition and customer retention get mixed up for beginners. While both these concepts work on getting the customer aspect of the business to maximize profit, there are several differences between them.

Identifying whether you want to focus more on customer acquisition or customer retention is very crucial for the growth of a business. However, you can’t only choose one option either, and you have to find the right balance between the two.

Let’s see the differences between acquisition and retention to understand better how they each work in various factors.

Purpose:

While the end goal of both acquisition and retention is to maximize profit, there is a big difference in the purpose of the two.

In customer acquisition, you are essentially trying to grow the customer base which will increase your sales. Getting new customers will always help you reach out to more and more people to increase sales.

On the other hand, customer retention focuses on doing things that help you hold onto the gained customers. This helps you keep the customers you gained in the market to keep within your business.

That way, you have a loyal customer base who buy from you only.
So, one focuses on increasing and getting new customers, while the other focuses on not losing customers.

Strategies and processes:

Since the two concepts’ purpose differs, your actions will also differ.

To obtain new customers, you have to focus on promoting the product and convincing them to buy your product. This is done through marketing and various kinds of promotional activities.

Whereas, in customer retention, you have to satisfy the customers with your product and services. The only way to retain customers is if your product or service is good enough and you have a good relationship with them.

Cost:

There is a significant difference in the cost between customer acquisition and retention. Acquisition costs a lot more than retention.

When it’s about customer acquisition, you must spend money on advertisements and various mediums to put yourself on the map. Gaining visibility in the market requires you to promote your business and cleaning service to become more noticeable.

As for customer retention, all you have to ensure is quality service. Besides that, you have to ask for feedback, be in touch with the customers, and engage with them, which doesn’t cost too much money.

Return on investment:

The return on investment is also pretty high with customer retention rather than customer acquisition.

Customer acquisition comes with a lot more cost, which in turn may or may not have a similar level of revenue. Since you are investing in gaining customers, there is a chance that you may not get customers and convert them into sales. So, the return here is basically zero.

On the other hand, with customer retention, you don’t have to spend too much on the process. But still, you get the value with 100 percent assurance and keep getting it for a long time if you successfully retain the customers.

Growth:

Here’s where the whole game changes for a business. If you want growth in your business, you always need to put customer acquisition in front.

Acquiring new customers means you are always increasing the number of sales for your business. More sales means more growth in your business. And if you can successfully retain the new customers, the business is bound to be profitable.

As for customer retention, it has nothing to do with the growth of the business. Customer retention plays a bigger role on the sustainability factor of the business rather than growth.

Why Is Customer Acquisition Important?

By now, it should be pretty obvious to you that customer acquisition is pretty important for a business. Several reasons make customer acquisition a crucial aspect of the business.

Businesses runs on sales, when you don’t have sales, you will eventually go through losses and end up losing your business. Customer acquisition brings you customers, who you have to convert into sales to bring that number up.

Having a unique customer acquisition strategy can also sometimes put you ahead of your competition. You can have a competitive advantage in the market if you have a good strategy for new customer acquisition.

As we discussed above, customer acquisition is very crucial for the growth of your business. If you don’t even have customers in your business, then who will you sell your products too? Also, without a customer base, you can’t even go into the customer retention process.

Overall, customer acquisition is the first step you make towards growing your business and making it profitable. That’s why it’s very important to focus on customer acquisition techniques to make a business successful, especially if it’s a new one.

The Challenge of Customer Acquisition for Cleaning Businesses

In every business, there will be some struggles along the way in acquiring customers.
The challenges for the cleaning business are limited, but you still have to deal with some of them to make your business profitable.

Below, we go through some of the most challenging aspects of the customer acquisition process in a cleaning business.

• As a new cleaning business gaining trust is one of the most challenging parts of acquiring customers.

• Choosing the best option among many customer acquisition channels is very tricky.
• Managing the expenditure of connecting to prospects can also be challenging for smaller cleaning companies.
• Promoting a cleaning service is a bit unconventional, making it difficult to reach more customers.
• Gaining a competitive advantage is another challenge due to the increasing popularity of cleaning businesses.
• Raising brand awareness in an established market can always be a challenge to overcome in new customer acquisition.

These are some of the basic challenges you must overcome to make your cleaning business successful. Following the perfect strategies and implementing them with diligence can always help you out with it.

Top Customer Acquisition Channels for Cleaning Businesses for 2023

A major portion of your customer acquisition plan always involves using the proper channel to reach the customers. Plenty of channels are available to a commercial cleaning business, especially in modern times.

As a cleaning business owner, you always have to prioritize researching the channels and figuring out which works out the best for you.

To help you in that journey, we go through all the channels you can try in your new customer acquisition strategy. Check them out one by one.

Offline customer acquisition channels for cleaning business

First, we will discuss the offline methods you can use to reach out the potential customers for your cleaning business. This is the traditional form of marketing a business.

It’s more suitable and effective because the cleaning service is something you can easily provide in your locality. This also encourages the people you reach out to take your service and convert the customers into clients.

Here are the offline channels to use for promoting your cleaning business.

Print ads

Print ads are the most traditional form of promoting a business to the locality. They include newspaper ads, magazine ads, pamphlets, brochures, and so forth. These are the more physical forms of advertising pages that usually reach the local people quite easily.

TV and radio ads

Another great way to reach out to the local community is through tv and radio ads. You can pay your local tv or radio channels to advertise your cleaning business in the locality. It’s a bit more dynamic than print ads.

Organize local events

Organizing events, like trade shows or cleaning workshops, in the locality can always bring new customers to your business. While the event doesn’t necessarily market your service, it helps you make a name in the local community.

Cold calling

Cold calling is the method of reaching to customers who know nothing about you. Here, you have to collect leads of potential customers and call them one by one to convert the leads into sales. The process can lead to acquiring quite a lot of customers.

Billboards and outdoor advertising

Well, we all know the billboard can be a great way to grab the attention of a passerby toward your business. It’s not a personal form of marketing; you can simply hang a billboard and let the customers contact you.

Online customer acquisition channels for cleaning business

Most people rely on online solutions these days. Even if they need to look for a local service, they will first head onto the internet and look for a service nearby.

That’s why creating a presence and promoting it through the online channels is mandatory for your cleaning business. Here are some user acquisition channels you can implement in your cleaning business.

Search engine optimization (SEO):

Staying ahead in the organic search results online can significantly improve customer acquisition for your business. The best way to do this is through proper SEO, which ensures a great online presence. It can easily keep you on top of the competition and help you attract more customers.

Local business profile:

Listing your business in the Google business profile or Bing, or even on Apple pages, can help out a lot in discoverability. This way, whenever people search for cleaning services near them, your business will always pop up and help you acquire clients.

Paid advertising:

Paid advertisements online are the best way to reach people for your cleaning business. While organic search can make you visible, paid ads can make you a prominent prospect. You can opt for Google ads, social media ads, or any other pay-per-click advertising method to acquire customers.

Content marketing:

Grabbing the attention of your customers is the first step of customer acquisition. And the best way to do it online is through content. You can create blog posts on cleaning hacks, scheduled cleaning, benefits of cleaning services, and maintenance guides.

Social media marketing:

People spend most of their time on social media these days. Marketing your cleaning business on social media through posts, videos, or even groups and communities, can be a great way to acquire more customers.

Email marketing:

A great way to reach people individually is through email. You can send people emails with various new deals and offers on your services. Things like newsletters, tip emails, customer stories, tutorials, or brand stories work quite well in creating email engagement.

Referral programs:

Introducing referral programs rewarding your customers for referring your business to others is a great way to acquire customers. The rewards can be discounts on the next service, cash rewards, or coupons. It uses the word-of-mouth tactic to a greater extent.

Local business listings, reviews, and ratings:

Creating a positive image on the internet can always help build trustworthiness, which brings customers to your business. Welcoming and appreciating online reviews on various platforms like Yelp, Google, Facebook, ANGI, or different forums is always helpful.

Video marketing:

Videos are the best way to portray your business online. You can create instructional videos on cleaning to engage the customers in your business. Also, sharing various cleaning ideas, equipment, and techniques can help you easily connect to the customers.

Partnerships and collaborations:

Partnering with other home improvement businesses can also help you acquire more customers. For example, you can partner with interior designers, real estate agents, carpentry businesses, house painting businesses, etc.

Referral program: Affiliate and Influencer Marketing

Going into a referral or affiliate program with popular influencers is a great way to spread the word about your business. It’s a very easy way to reach out to many people without working too hard on creative ideas.

Things to keep in mind before building a customer acquisition strategy

When it comes to user acquisition strategies for a cleaning service, you have to think hard. Creating the perfect strategy involves a lot of factors that help you find the best solution for your cleaning business.
Here’s what you need to remember when developing a customer acquisition strategy for startups cleaning business.

Identify your ideal customers

Finding the ideal customers is the first step to creating the perfect strategy. For cleaning services, the ideal customers are building owners, office managers, or even housewives. Youngsters or little kids won’t be looking for a cleaning service online.

Define your goals

While keeping the ideal customers in your mind, you have to define and decide on the goals for your business. Think about how many customers you want to obtain for your business within a certain timeframe.

The goal should focus on customer growth as well as customer churn for the business. Because not every customer you get for the business will be retained. So, account for that and set your goals accordingly.

Choose your customer acquisition channels

You can move onto the channels after you have defined the goals and have the ideal customer base. Choose the channel based on the customer base to ensure you get the most value.

Local SEO or white-label SEO is a mandatory channel for customer acquisition in the cleaning business. Choosing a right local SEO service that can highlight your internet cleaning business is crucial.

Besides that, video marketing, local business listings, business profile creation, and social media marketing can work great for cleaning services. Print ads can also be an effective channel.

Develop a unique strategy for each channel

After deciding on the channels, you have to come up with strategies for each of them. Because the ideal customer base will be different varying on the channels. For example, on social media, you will get a younger audience. 

Whereas with Google listings, you can get hold of various corporate offices or business owners. So, the approach has to be different in these channels. 

Acquisition costs: Know your gross profit margin

Once you have developed all the strategies, it’s time to move on to the costs. You have to see how much it costs to acquire a single customer. Evaluate which channels are bringing you the most customers. 

After all the calculations, you can determine the cost and the profit margin you can keep with the completion of each sale. 

Measure and improve your strategy

Finally, you have to measure and find out whether the strategy you have chosen is profitable for your business or not. If the strategy isn’t profitable, take a step back and improve the strategy. Try changing some stuff here and there to find the best possible output. 

Ready to Convert Lead into Customers?

After going through a long-haul discussion, one thing is certain: customer acquisition is impossible without being a part of the online world. And the most significant part of that online visibility is SEO. 

Finding the perfect SEO service can make your cleaning business a huge success and make it a profit-making machine. Where to get such a service? 

Click here to find the perfect solution to your SEO problems.