One year ago, Pepper Group turned 25 years old. To celebrate, Tim has been sharing his marketing tips all year long. Here are two more.

Track and Act

Being nimble in the marketplace can mean success or failure. All too often, we are slow to act when we see something not working to our expectations. Maybe we’re too optimistic? Does our pride make us prone to not admitting our projections were flawed? This is why A/B testing is such a valuable tactic and disappointingly not used often enough. It gives you two chances to get it right. Even if you have only an “A” version, don’t wait months to modify your approach when the data tells you to—unless you have unlimited funds and patience. We’re still looking for that anomaly.

Know the Lifetime Value of Your Customers

This is critical in understanding how a reasonable Client Acquisition Cost should be allocated. Some new customers dip their toe in the water with the first purchase. But if you know that 80% of new customers are retained, and they tend to increase their purchases in subsequent months or years (as they gain confidence or dependence on your product or service), you’ll understand how much they really mean to your top and bottom lines. How much you invest in acquiring them should be relative to that Lifetime Value.