Existing customers are precious but finite. Growth depends on potential customers — the people who could become subscribers but have not yet. Understanding who they are, where they are, and what would move them is the foundation of acquisition strategy.
Three categories of potential customer
- Cold prospects. People who match your buyer persona profile but have never heard of you. Reached through paid ads, organic search, partnerships, and word-of-mouth.
- Warm leads. People who have engaged — visited your site, opened an email, started a checkout — but not bought. Higher conversion potential, smaller pool.
- Adjacent customers. Customers of complementary or related products who could plausibly become yours. Often the highest-quality cold audience.
Where potential customers live online
The honest answer is "it depends on your category," but the search starts with three questions. Where do they describe their problem (which forums, search queries, social media)? Which brands do they already follow? Which creators do they trust? Answering these usually points to 3–5 high-density channels worth testing. Most subscription brands waste budget by spreading thin across every channel instead of going deep on the two or three that match the persona.
Converting potential customers to subscribers
- Reduce risk. A first-box discount, a money-back guarantee, or a single-box trial lowers the commitment barrier.
- Show flexibility upfront. "Pause or cancel anytime" in the headline, not buried in FAQs.
- Use social proof. Real subscriber reviews and photos beat polished testimonials.
- Match cadence to consumption. Default to lower frequency than you think. Customers can always increase; they rarely will.
Measuring the potential customer funnel
Track conversion rate at each stage — cold to visitor, visitor to lead, lead to first order, first order to subscription. The weakest link is where to invest. Most subscription stores find the biggest gap is visitor-to-first-order, not first-order-to-subscription. See buyer persona for the research framework and customer acquisition for the broader funnel view.