Know Your Customers, the Easy Way

Being customer-centric means staying ahead of your customers' needs. The faster you can know your customers and solve their challenges, the better off you'll be. But this can be more complex than it sounds.

Identifying your customers and meeting their needs is a never-ending game. Consumer behavior is constantly evolving due to emerging trends and technologies. To stay relevant and competitive in your industry, you must adopt innovative technology to know your customer better. 

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Fortunately, some priceless strategies and tools can help you stay on top of customer insight. You won't need to hire marketing research experts or a team of consultants to understand your customer persona and journey. 

This article covers everything you need to know about researching your customers. Read on to find out how to gather such insights and transform your business.

Table of Contents

• Customer Terms to Know
• Why Is It Important to Know Your Customers?
• 5 Types of Customers and How to Satisfy Them
• 10 Things You Need to Know About Your Customers
• 6 Techniques to Help You Truly Understand Your Customers
• Mandala Analytics: Know Your Customer Better Using Technology-Driven Market Intelligence

Why Is It Important to Know Your Customers?

1. Increase Marketing Efficiency

When you know your customer, what they want, and what motivates them, you can create more effective marketing campaigns that speak directly to them. Knowing your customer's demographics can help you tailor your marketing efforts to specific populations. Doing so will also help you effectively cut down on your marketing budget while increasing your ROI from digital ads.

Related Posts: Get the Best ROI from Digital Ads

2. Deliver Better Customer Experience

Knowing your customers is essential to delivering a great customer experience. When you understand your audience, you can customize their experience based on their wants and needs. You can also anticipate their needs and be more responsive to them.

3. Adapt to Changes in the Business Environment

Knowing your customer is key to adaptability in the business environment. Understanding your customers' past and present behavior can help you anticipate future trends and make better marketing and product development decisions. Knowing and understanding your customers is essential for thriving in today's competitive marketplace.

4. Increase Customer Retention

One primary benefit of knowing your customers is you can work to increase customer retention. When you know who your customers are and what they want, you can create targeted marketing campaigns and products that keep them coming back for more. You can also work to improve customer service, which can make them more likely to stay with your business.

5. Increase Brand Awareness

You can increase your brand awareness and learn how to get more customers when you understand your customer persona well. The process equips you with adequate knowledge of your ideal clients to optimize your marketing campaigns. 

With effective brand marketing, more of your potential audience get to see your adverts and content. Moreover, since knowing your customer helps you to improve the quality of your product or service, you'll quickly get referrals from them.

5 Types of Customers and How to Satisfy Them

If you're eager to know your customer and satisfy their needs, you must consider these six customer categories. Understanding these categories can help you attract more customers and improve customer retention.

1. The Bargain Hunter

The bargain hunter is always looking out for a good deal. They are price sensitive and often have a limited budget. These customers show up to take advantage of discounts and special offers. Getting a good deal is their priority. 

To satisfy bargain hunters, consider offering discounts and special offers. However, not at the expense of profitability. Alternatively, you could offer them similar products with a lower price tag.

2. The Quality Seeker

The quality seeker is a customer looking for superior products or services. They research thoroughly to ensure they get the maximum value for their money. Because of their high standards, quality seekers are highly selective. 

The best way to fulfill their needs is by improving the quality of your service and product. You can also show them that you care about their satisfaction by actively seeking their feedback and implementing relevant changes based on their suggestions. 

If your product can satisfy the quality seeker, they will probably help you get more customers by spreading the word about your business.

3. The Brand Loyalist

Encouraging customer loyalty is one of the best ways to grow your business. Brand loyalists are happy customers who love your company and what it stands for. These are your word-of-mouth customers who are typically the first to recommend your brand to friends and family. 

Several things make a brand loyalist stick. For starters, they often seek a sense of community and connection. They may feel like they are a part of something bigger than themselves and find that connection with the brands they love. You can show appreciation to your loyal customers by making them feel like insiders. Give them exclusive access to events and information.

4. The Price Sensitive

The price-sensitive customer is constantly comparing prices. They are also skeptical about spending money and may be difficult to please. There are a few things you can do to satisfy the price-sensitive customer. First, ensure you have a competitive price point. Second, offer special sales promotions and discounts. Finally, make it easy for them to compare your products or service with other alternatives.

Related posts: 10 Sales Promotion Ideas To Attract More Customers And Boost Sales

5. The Impulsive

The impulsive customer buys things on a whim, without giving much thought to them. They are often motivated by emotions and desires rather than practical needs. The traits of the impulse buyer include being easily influenced by ads and discounts. 

They are also likely impatient, so optimizing your online store to facilitate checkout speed is the best thing you can do for them. Also, offer quick delivery or pickup.

10 Things You Need to Know About Your Customers

1. How they found your brand 

Knowing how your customers discovered your business could help you identify your most effective marketing or advertising efforts, capitalize on them, improve ineffective campaigns, or even pull the plug.

2. Who they are

Where do your customers come from? What is their age group? Are they mainly male or female buyers? Depending on your products or services, you might also want to determine their marital status. Uncovering these details can help you optimize the customer journey and experience and deliver more personalized service.

3. What they do

Knowing your customers' occupations can help you identify similar professions or businesses to target. It also gives you an insight into their professional or business goals. It can help develop valuable products and services to propel your clients' business or careers to the next level.

4. Why they buy

You need to understand their wants to provide a compelling reason for customers to buy your product or service. You can do this by understanding their needs, wants, and motivations. The most common reasons people buy include convenience, replacement, excellent value, affordability, peer pressure, and growth.

5. When they buy

Do your customers often buy during the holidays, weekends, or business hours? Knowing when customers buy your product or service allows you to inform your marketing campaigns better, so your sales messages get to them when they need it the most, instead of disrupting their schedule.

6. How they buy

You need to know the method your customers use in buying. You can use that information to streamline their purchases, improve their experience with your brand, and ensure customer success. For example, if you know that customers typically use debit cards to buy products, you can make a debit card reader available to make the purchase easier.

7. How much money they have

Knowing how much money your customers have can help you avoid time wasters and focus on quality leads. It can also help you make more informed decisions about pricing and promotions. Additionally, this information can help you determine where to allocate marketing resources more efficiently and identify potential upsell opportunities. 

8. What they expect of your brand

Knowing your customers' expectations will help you design your product or service to meet or exceed their expectations. Your customers expect your brand to provide a personalized experience, privacy, and quick resolutions to their complaints.

9. What they think of your brand

You need to know what your customers think of your brand to ensure that you provide an enjoyable customer experience. Also, knowing what they feel about your brand is essential to building a positive relationship with them and managing their expectations.

10. What they think of your competitors

To compete successfully, you need to know how your customers think of your competitors. Understanding your customer's opinions can help you improve customer service and product offerings and create a competitive edge. This information lets you determine how to get more clients through marketing efforts.

6 Techniques to Help You Truly Understand Your Customers

1. Online Listening and Monitoring

One innovative way to know your customer is by using online listening and monitoring tools to keep an eye on them. Online listening and monitoring tracks and measures what people say about your business online. This can include comments on social media, reviews, forum posts, and other digital channels. 

You can see what people think about your brand by tracking this data. This information can help you better understand your customers and know where you need to make changes. Ensure you set up the correct tracking alerts when implementing online listening and monitoring. Plus, track not only the negative comments but also the positive ones. 

2. Customer Insight Research

Customer insight research is a great way to gain in-depth insight into your customers and their needs. This process involves understanding customer needs and behaviors through research interviews, focus groups, and surveys. The information you obtain from this campaign can help you improve existing products and services or develop new ones that better satisfy your customers. 

When conducting customer insight research, ensure you have a clear goal for the study and that the data you collect is relevant to achieving that goal. Also, choose the correct research methodology for your needs. 

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to customer insight research. For example, a customer satisfaction survey might be ideal to find out how to improve your existing product, while a focus group is best for testing marketing materials with a specific target audience, like undecided consumers.

3. Content Discovery

Content discovery is finding and analyzing the content your customers are creating online. These categories include blog posts, social media updates, reviews, and customer surveys. 

By understanding your customers' content, you can get a better idea of what they're interested in, what concerns them, and what motivates them. This information can be invaluable when creating marketing campaigns, products, and services that your customers will want to buy.

There are several things to do when performing a content discovery exercise. First, set up Google Alerts for keywords related to your business. Second, follow your customers on social media and analyze their posts. Third, read customer reviews on websites like TripAdvisor and Yelp. Finally, take advantage of the latest content discovery tool. An innovative market research tool like Mandala tracks the websites and social media channels your customers are visiting.

4. Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis involves evaluating your competitors and their products to understand the value and how they use them to meet their customers' needs. By doing competitor analysis, you can learn more about what your customers are looking for in a product and the essential features. You can also use this information to determine what areas to focus on to differentiate your product from the competition.

When doing competitor analysis, start by evaluating each competitor's product lineup and identifying the products that are most similar to yours. Also, take note of how they're marketing these products. Also, analyze customer reviews to understand what people like and don't appreciate about them. Don't leave any stone unturned. Evaluate your competitor's pricing strategy and see if there's anything you can learn from it.

5. Social Media Engagement

Social media engagement is the level of interaction and dialog you have with your customers on social media platforms. It's measurable in different ways, such as the number of comments, likes, and shares your posts receive. It also includes the number of people following you and the amount of time they spend on your page. 

By monitoring your social media engagement metrics, you can gain insights into what content resonates with your audience the most, what topics they're interested in, and how likely they are to take action (such as buying from you). Plus, it allows you to build relationships with your customers and get their feedback directly.

Suppose you want to improve your social media engagement and post engaging content that will capture your audience's attention. Ensure your posts are timely and relevant to their current situation. Consider using hashtags to maximize the reach of your content. And finally, engage with your audience by responding to comments and questions.

6. Market Research Tools

Market research tools are immensely valuable for understanding your customers. These tools can provide valuable insights into your customers' demographics, needs, and buying habits. But if you're unsure how to use them or what to consider when choosing a market research tool, don't worry. We've got you covered.

To use market research tools effectively, start by defining your goals and objectives. Then choose the right tool for the job. Many market research tools are available, so determine one that will suit your needs. Ideally, your market research tool should help you find current and accurate data for your campaign. This feature is essential considering that market research data is dynamic and can quickly lose its relevance or accuracy in a short time.

Mandala Analytics: Know Your Customer Better Using Technology-Driven Market Intelligence

Now that you figured out the basics of customer profiling and understanding customer needs, it's time to practice those skills to know your customer better and grow your business. The first and foremost thing you need to do is to find a reliable market research tool. While several tools are available for this purpose, Mandala remains a top choice for businesses of all sizes. 

The best part of using Mandala to define your customer persona is that it serves as a one-stop solution for all your research needs. So, you won't have to worry about subscribing to multiple tools. 

Mandala also lets you pinpoint the most viral trends and topics surrounding your business and discover top influencers who can help you reach a wider reach. The tool is also excellent for market research insight, content discovery, and online monitoring.

With Mandala, you can get to know your customer better without hiring research experts or business consultants. The user interface is simple and intuitive. And if you struggle to find your way around the software, you can catch up easily by watching pre-recorded tutorials. You can start using Mandala right now, free for seven days.