Understanding a customer is always an important part of any business; without it, brands and companies are creating products for no one. Why? Because products are made for customers with their own needs and desires. How can you create a product without knowing what exactly your customer lacks or wants?
Knowing your customer is also an inseparable part of marketing strategies. We know that marketing isn’t only about promoting existing products, but also about creating a need for them. By having information about our customers, we create a strategy designed to address their pain points, gain their attention, show our dedication and willingness to help and, finally, earn their trust and loyalty. Of course, this process is easier said than done, and it requires a lot of work and skill. But let’s start with understanding your customer, and you’ll see how your business progresses.
Let’s take a look at these 6 steps on how to get to know your customer better below.
Who is your customer?
First, you should define who your customer is. Sounds easy? Well, it’s easy at first glance.
Let’s imagine, you run a travel agency. So, is every person who wants to travel your customer? Close, but to run a successful business, you should narrow your target audience a bit. Now you focus on two types of customers:
A person who prefers to travel alone, likes hiking trails, and hates expensive accommodation.
Couples who enjoy active rest, campings, and photography.
Now it’s easier to come up with offers, ads, and other promotions because you know more about your customer’s preferences.
So, your first step should be defining what type of customer you want to reach. You can also look at competitors' customer profiles and find out which customer groups are not "taken" and which ones you can target, and how you can position your product accordingly.
Collect and analyze data
There is a lot of information around, and it’s important to collect the data you need about your customers. With these collected pieces of information you will be able to complete a big puzzle named a customer profile which is a detailed description of your ideal customer, a representative of your target audience. By knowing a customer profile, you can in detail understand who your customer is and how to market to them effectively.
Social listening, UGC, surveys, feedback, and even online quizzes could help you to take a glance at your customers’ life and their consumption patterns.
But how not to get lost in all the data available? Here are some ways:
Define and remember your objectives: what is the data that you want to collect about your target audience? It could be demographics, buying behaviors or attitudes toward your brand, just keep a focus on your objectives when collecting information
Ask the right questions that align with your objectives when conducting a survey.
Track only important KPI’s like conversion rates, customer retention, engagement and some others related to your business.
To analyze effectively, you can:
Apply analytics tools to discover patterns in purchase behavior, engagement, and preferences, and filter out the noise. You can go from well known Google Analytics to AI powered tools, which optimize the process.
Pay more attention to the trends rather than the one-time numbers.
Continuously review the data collection and analysis process to see what could be improved and optimized. Keep an eye on new trends and innovations for supporting marketing effectiveness.
And remember, data is not just a static report; it's a conversation that leads to smarter marketing decisions and stronger customer relationships if analyzed correctly.
Read and respond to both negative and positive feedback personally.
It is important to personally review customers’ feedback. Of course, the marketing and communication teams usually handle feedback, but everyone in the company should align with total quality management and be aware of your customers’ thoughts.
Reading feedback helps you to step into customers' shoes, seeing what they complain, or what they like about your brand.
However, it’s easy to get distracted by only bad feedback, so try to focus on both positive and negative things your customers say about your product or service.
Make positive things your strength and develop them, while perceiving negative things as an opportunity to grow.
Your customers don’t bite, so talk to them!
Communicate with your customers personally. It’s a good way to learn insights which are not shown on the surface. You can learn a lot about customers’ preferences, thoughts, and attitudes by calling or emailing them. You can even book a meeting with one of your target audience representatives and to get to know them better in real life, see their real emotions and feelings. This approach will help you understand their purchasing behavior, wants, needs and attitudes.
Use A/B testing
Ever wondered what your customers are really after: a big "Buy Now" or a sedate "Learn More"? That's where A/B testing comes in. It's a simple yet powerful method where you take two versions of something, an email subject line, a website layout, or an ad, and you test them to find out which performs better. Comparing real responses from customers means gathering data-driven insights on what resonates most with your audience. Over time, these tiny tweaks will result in massive uplifts in engagement, conversions, and sales. Think of it as finessing your marketing based on what your customers actually want, not some shots in the dark.
Conclusion
Understanding the customer is an inseparable part of any business, which helps to navigate your activities towards meeting customers' expectations. It is a challenging process with its own nuances, which may seem confusing when you start. However, it is a path that every business should go through in order to succeed, and once you start diving into it, everything becomes clearer. Customers are not just figures on the business desks, but individuals with their own desires, needs, and fears. Being able to understand them, you can offer solutions they lack, making their lives better and gaining their trust and loyalty.