The battle between customer loyalty versus acquisition is one that all growing brands have to grapple with. No matter what industry you’re in, what products you sell, or how large your company is, there are always heated debates on which one you should dedicate your resources to.

Some ecommerce entrepreneurs believe that acquiring new customers is the sure-fire path to gaining more revenue. That is true, but only to a certain extent. While new customers may help with new sales, encouraging existing customers to come back for more is a much easier (and cheaper) opportunity to boost conversions.

Not only are customer loyalty and new customer acquisition equally important, but you might even say that they’re part of the same process.

Customer Acquisition Is Important for Growth

While it’s obviously important to spend time and money acquiring new customers—especially when you first launch your business—fighting for new leads can get expensive pretty quickly. In fact, one study found that the average customer acquisition cost for ecommerce brands is a whopping $45.27! Thanks to all the marketing dollars needed for search ads, retargeting emails, and social media boosts (just to convince a shopper to make their first purchase), it’s clear that chasing leads can quickly become unsustainable, especially if you have a relatively low average cost per order.

…
While providing impeccable customer service and optimizing your customer experience takes time and resources, the rewards are huge. With happy and loyal customers, you enjoy:

A steadier stream of sales. Studies have found that customer loyalty translates to more repeat purchases with higher average order values—existing customers are willing to spend 31% more than new customers. And this remains the case over time as well. On average, a repeat customer will spend 67% more during the third year of their relationship with your brand compared to the amount spent by a new customer within the first 6 months of their acquisition. And who doesn’t want a more predictable stream of revenue?

A chart that shows average customer spending increasing mobile phone number data updated 2025 throughout their relationship with a retailer from $178 after 6 months to $357 after 30 months. Source: Bain & Company/Mainspring Online Retailing Survey.

A chart that shows average

ustomer spending increasing throughout their relationship with a retailer.
More adventurous shoppers. Existing customers are what is opensea? popular nft marketplace 50% more likely to try new products and services from your business since they’re already assured of the quality and service they’ll receive.
Lower marketing dollars. Harvard Business Review found that it is 5-25x cheaper to retain an existing customer compared to finding a new one. While it’s be numbers important to continue marketing to customers after they click “Check Out”, it’s also aeuropean union email list