Meaning & use
potential customers
Last updated
Meanings
nounplural
People or companies that a business does not sell to yet but could reasonably persuade to buy.
Grammar: Always plural and usually used with 'the' or no article; the singular is 'a potential customer'.
Patterns
- attract potential customers
- potential customers for something
- reach potential customers
The new website helps small shops find potential customers online.
Our survey asked potential customers what would make them switch brands.
She spends two hours a day calling potential customers in other cities.
nounplural
Readers, viewers, or users who might become regular users of something not yet launched.
Grammar: Used the same way as the business sense, but about audiences rather than buyers.
Patterns
- potential customers for a product
- target potential customers
Before the app launched, the team showed it to potential customers to get feedback.
The magazine ran a free trial to turn readers into potential customers.
Word forms
| singular | potential customer |
|---|
Common combinations
- attract potential customers
- Bright window displays attract potential customers who are just walking past.
- target potential customers
- The ads target potential customers aged 25 to 40.
- reach potential customers
- Social media lets tiny businesses reach potential customers all over the world.
- turn someone into a potential customer
- A free sample can turn a curious visitor into a potential customer.
- potential customers for a product
- Teenagers are the main potential customers for this phone.
Synonyms and how they differ
- prospects
- More informal and common in sales talk; it usually means specific people a salesperson is already working on, not the whole group.
- leads
- A marketing term for names or contacts that might become buyers; it focuses on the information collected, not the people themselves.
- target market
- This means the whole group a company aims at, while 'potential customers' can be any individuals inside or outside that group.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: potential customers or possible customers? potential customers or customers?
potential customers vs possible customers
This sounds unnatural in business English; 'potential customers' is the standard phrase.
potential customers vs customers
'Customers' means people who already buy; 'potential customers' have not bought yet.
Practice
Which sentence uses the phrase correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Potential customers' is a plural noun phrase, so it fits after 'to' as the people receiving samples. Option A uses a singular verb with a plural phrase, C mixes 'a' with a plural noun, and D uses the phrase as a verb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “potential customers”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.