Why is the number of new customers I acquire per year so important?

New customer acquisition is one of the top predictive metrics for art business revenue because it’s a numbers game that determines how many collectors you’ll have. If roughly 10% of customers become collectors (repeat buyers), then acquiring 10 customers gives you 1 collector, while acquiring 100 customers gives you 10 collectors. Collectors are the lifeblood of an art business—they come back repeatedly and generate the most revenue over time. Most artists never think about this metric and can’t tell you how many new customers they acquired last year. But if you’re only selling 5-6 pieces per year instead of 50-70, you’re severely limiting your collector base and overall business growth. This is why you can’t rely exclusively on galleries or marketplaces—you need to know who your customers are so you can turn them into collectors.

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Asked by general audience · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2024-02-20