Brands fail for many reasons. Sometimes it comes down to a lack of money, poor product innovation, or an inability to go toe-to-toe with competitors. But regardless of the reason, there are almost always other contributing factors at play beneath the surface. An inability to understand the customer is usually central to these factors.
If you want your business to be successful over the long haul, you have to pay careful attention to who your customers are. An intimate familiarity with their needs, interests, pain points, desires, and expectations will help you make better decisions.
The Case for Knowing Your Customers Better
Understanding your customers is fundamental to business success. It helps you tailor your products and services to meet specific customer needs, which leads to a variety of benefits and positive outcomes, including:
- Improved customer development. When you know what your customers need and want, you’re able to design products and services that meet those specific expectations.
- Enhanced customer experience. Better customer understanding paves the way for more personalized experiences (which is what customers are looking for in today’s marketplace).
- Informed decision making. Stop guessing and start making choices that are informed by facts (not feelings). The end result of better decision making is fewer mistakes and less costly experiments.
- Competitive advantage. Very few businesses actually know their customers. By taking the time to understand, you can create a competitive advantage that pushes you past the competition.
At the end of the day, all of these benefits ultimately drive the number one goal: increased profitability. When customers feel like they’re known and are offered products and services that meet their deepest needs and desires, they’re more likely to buy from you and drive revenue for your company.
3 Ways to Know Your Customers Better
We can all agree that knowing your customers better is important, but how do you actually do it? Here are several ideas and strategies:
1. Study the Data
Data plays a pivotal role in comprehending customer behavior. In our digital age, businesses have access to vast amounts of data that can provide invaluable insights into their customers. From transaction data to online behavior, every interaction is a chance to learn more about your customers and what drives them.
Numerous analytics tools are available today that can help businesses interpret customer data. Google Analytics, for instance, is great for understanding customer behavior on your website. And if you partner with Google Analytics services, you can arm your team with powerful insights and reports that drive proactive decision-making.
Then there are CRM systems, which can provide insights into sales trends and customer interactions. The exact CRM you go with will likely depend on your industry and business model, but there are plenty of options out there.
2. Ask and Listen
Most customers aren’t shy about voicing their opinions. However, you may have to sort of “pull” it out of them. Take the time to ask your customers for feedback. There are several ways to do this, including surveys, social media questions, asking for reviews and ratings, and even soliciting direct one-on-one feedback from individual customers over the phone.
If you’re going to take the time to ask for feedback, make sure you’re actually listening and applying what they say. Don’t go into the process looking for specific answers. Instead, take what they give you and let their thoughts shape what you do.
3. Proactively Monitor
What if you don’t have a large existing customer base to survey and poll? How can you understand who your ideal customers are?
Thankfully, it’s never been easier to “eavesdrop” on your customers. People are open and honest with their thoughts online, particularly on anonymous platforms like Reddit and Twitter. Find the groups that they hang out in and spend a few minutes every day reading their posts. You’ll start to understand what they complain about, what they want, how they talk, etc. You might even want to copy and paste some of this information into a spreadsheet so that you can use their own words and language in your future marketing and sales copy.
Strive for Better Customer Understanding
Something powerful happens when you shift your focus from yourself to your customers. When the priority becomes understanding who your customers are, everything within the four walls of your company changes. You become laser-focused on creating better products and experiences, which ultimately results in more sales, better profitability, and faster growth.
