The Mechanics of Scale

How to Make an Acquisition Work with the Help of Your Customers

‍by Dan Seyer

‍In my two-decade career as a coder-turned-marketing growth strategist — focusing primarily on technology platforms and consulting companies — I’ve had the unique opportunity to help navigate three acquisitions and integrations into larger firms. These experiences have given me insight into the patterns that distinguish successful acquisitions from those that miss the mark.

Through these experiences, I’ve identified three guiding principles for customer-led growth during acquisitions:
‍
1. Understand and define the unique value that the combined companies will deliver to customers.

2. Create a new shared narrative that incorporates the customer’s role in the story.

3. Reimagine the user experience at every customer touchpoint to ensure the narrative is consistent, valuable, and differentiating.

1. Understand the Combined Unique Value
In most cases, when a larger company acquires a smaller one, the fundamental reason is that the smaller company brings something uniquely valuable to the larger company’s customers. For the acquisition to succeed, it’s critical that the parent company clearly defines and communicates this combined unique value.Is the smaller company providing a new capability that customers need? Is it offering access to a strategic market that the parent company must enter or defend? These are classic strategy questions, akin to those posed during the early days of strategy consulting when the Boston Consulting Group’s Experience Curve guided companies on the costs and benefits of entering or exiting markets.

Another key question to consider: Should a company build or buy to offer a new capability?
‍
‍What matters most is that the parent company frames the logic of the acquisition in human terms that customers can understand. Consider Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram in 2012. At the time, Instagram was not profitable, but it had something Facebook desperately needed — a highly engaged community of users who preferred Instagram’s platform to Facebook’s. Facebook’s acquisition strategy focused on enhancing Instagram’s brand while subtly weaving in Facebook’s resources to benefit users. This approach not only scaled the reach of photo sharing but also evolved Facebook’s overarching brand strategy, which ultimately led to the formation of Meta.

2. Include the Customer in a Shared Narrative
You’ll often hear marketers talk about “narrative,” but what does it mean in practice? At its simplest, a narrative is a story with clear roles for each stakeholder. During an acquisition, it’s vital to ensure that customers see themselves in this story. They should feel like active participants rather than passive bystanders.

Take, for instance, Apple’s transformation after Steve Jobs returned to the company in the late 1990s. Apple’s renewed story wasn’t just about the company’s internal changes; it was about its customers, too. Apple’s core customer base — diehard enthusiasts — became part of the story. Their devotion to the brand signaled to other customers that they were part of something innovative and exclusive. This created a network effect where customers could justify paying higher prices for products that offered a superior user experience.

Another example is Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn. This acquisition showcased how two complementary platforms could integrate to create a more valuable experience for customers. Microsoft’s goal was to enhance its enterprise offerings by embedding LinkedIn’s professional network into its suite of business tools. The shared narrative was clear: “Microsoft is here to power your professional growth.” For LinkedIn users, this meant access to new tools and integrations with Microsoft’s productivity apps like Teams, Outlook, and Dynamics 365. For Microsoft’s business customers, it provided a seamless way to connect, collaborate, and grow. By clearly communicating this shared value, Microsoft successfully positioned the acquisition as a win for customers on both sides.

Similarly, Google’s acquisition of Jibe enabled a significant shift in how Android devices interact with iPhones. Jibe’s Rich Communication Services (RCS) technology made it possible for Android users to have an iMessage-like experience when communicating with iPhones. Prior to this, the Android-iPhone messaging experience was clunky and disjointed. By embedding Jibe’s RCS into Android’s messaging system, Google improved cross-platform interoperability, giving users a more seamless messaging experience. This wasn’t just a technical win — it was a narrative win. Google’s customers now experience smoother messaging interactions, and the "green bubble" stigma between Android and iPhone users has started to fade. Customers were able to feel the benefits of the acquisition, not just hear about them.

The lesson? The more clearly you integrate your customers into the story of your acquisition, the more engaged and loyal they’ll become. Customers should feel like active participants, not bystanders.

3. Reimagine the Customer Experience Across All Touchpoints
If you’re serious about growing through acquisition, you must address the customer’s experience at every touchpoint. Today’s B2B and B2C customer journeys are hybrid by default, and expectations have risen dramatically due to changes in customer behavior during the shift to remote work. Customers now expect seamless, personalized, and consistent experiences across all interactions with a brand.

For marketers and customer experience (CX) leaders, this presents a major challenge: How do you ensure that brand values and messaging are reflected at every touchpoint following an acquisition? The answer lies in experience design. Simply "talking" about the brand’s values isn’t enough; customers need to feel them.

Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn provides a useful case study. By embedding LinkedIn’s tools into Microsoft’s broader suite, the company didn’t just talk about integration — it delivered it. Through integrations with Outlook, Teams, and Dynamics 365, customers experienced the value of the acquisition directly. Instead of adding friction, Microsoft made collaboration easier, more efficient, and more meaningful. The result? Customers felt the impact in their daily workflows.

When you’re designing the customer experience post-acquisition, every customer touchpoint must be reimagined — from website messaging to customer support interactions. The story doesn’t just need to be told; it needs to be experienced.

Final Thoughts

Acquisitions are inherently complex, but customer-led growth can be a guiding principle that makes the process more successful. If you focus on aligning the customer’s needs with your new combined value, creating a shared narrative, and enhancing the customer experience, you’ll set the stage for growth. These principles apply whether you’re a global tech giant or a fast-growing startup navigating its first acquisition.

To recap:

‍Understand and define the combined unique value.
Make it clear why this acquisition benefits the customer, not just the company.

‍Create a shared narrative that includes the customer.
Customers should feel like active participants in the journey.

‍Reimagine the customer experience at every touchpoint.
Ensure consistency, clarity, and brand alignment in every interaction.Acquisitions are never easy, but by focusing on the customer, you’re much more likely to succeed.