Profitable customer acquisition and retention For an online business, turning visitors into customers is necessary for survival. Turning customers into loyal customers is necessary for success. But online customer acquisitions costs are high and getting higher. International Data Corporation reported that the average online customer acquisition cost in 2000 was $95. IDC predicts that this number will rise to $122 by 2003 with pure-play e-tailers bearing the highest costs. With online customer acquisition costs on the rise, making customer acquisitions systems more effective is critical. Broadly speaking there are three ways to bring online customers to your site: link propagation, banner ads, and email. These three methods must be used together to find and capture your target audience.