Which needs and interests do my customers have? How can I address them according to their requirements? Which products and services suit them and fulfill their needs?
All these questions can be answered with an analysis of your customer data – qualitatively as well as quantitatively.
All marketing measures are about bringing the customer and the product or service together. However, this is not always successful. Companies often stick to workflows that have become established over the years. This is less about customer-centeredness and more about company-centeredness.
Customer insights help you to align your portfolio even more closely with your consumers and customer groups – and thus increase customer loyalty.
Successful marketing focuses on customers and their changing needs. After all, the days are long gone when a prospective customer had to rely on the stationary retailer or the local service provider. With digitalization and the development of online commerce, customers have the choice of which companies they trust and where they become regular customers.
Therefore, customer centricity is inevitable. You can read about how customer-centric companies stand out from the rest and how you can become more customer-centric yourself in these articles:
So customer insights allow you to better understand your consumers. That, in turn, is a real goldmine.
The term “consumer insight” has become established in German-speaking countries. Ultimately, the aim is not to base marketing and sales measures solely on assumptions about customers.
Rather, insights and knowledge about buying behavior help to optimize a company’s own activities. If you know the values and beliefs of your customers, as well as their wishes and needs, you can offer appropriate solutions.
Whether it’s customer communication in support or new product development – as soon as you know more about your customers, you can accommodate them. You gain real customer insights through far more than conventional and market-standard research and methods.
Deep customer understanding can only be developed by combining different analyses and research methods. Here you can use both qualitative and quantitative methods. But at the same time, you should stay involved. For one thing, customer needs can change. On the other hand, an evaluation of your work is mandatory. This is the only way to see which optimizations promise success – or not.
When it comes to target group analysis, the first thing that comes to mind is quantitative data: online data or web tracking and “classic” Google Analytics evaluations give you an insight – especially if you have already collected data from customers.
Surveys via your own website or mentions in social media are further possibilities. Many companies rely on so-called “social listening”. This is the analysis and evaluation of social media channels. The focus is not only on the company’s own social media, but also on competitors and pages that revolve around topics relevant to the company.
Customer insights are not only revealed through data sets. Qualitative surveys also help to sharpen customer understanding. For instance, you can gain customer knowledge through in-depth interviews with your customers. However, not all business partners are suitable for this. As a rule, the narrower and more visionary clientele are more likely to be available for in-depth discussions.
But you yourself or your team can also approach customer knowledge qualitatively. For this purpose, it makes sense to obtain as diverse a picture as possible. Customer service or customer care will encounter different problems in their daily work than sales. Use all sources available to you to obtain as differentiated and real a customer picture as possible. One way to do this is to create a Customer Empathy Map. The following questions serve as the initial spark for profound customer data:
Qualitative data is more in-depth and examines the individual case in detail. It therefore makes sense to check after data collection whether the findings also apply to other customers. If this is the case, you are on the right track. You generate important customer insights that you can use to further develop your product, your service or your brand. In short: Valid data is the basis for successful strategies.
Businesses that know their customers or customer groups and respond to their wishes stand out from their market competitors.
Customer-centric companies have one essential thing in mind: Those who know their customers or customer groups and respond to their wishes stand out from other companies. This initially promises significantly higher customer loyalty, which in turn is reflected in measurable success.
To be able to act in a customer-centric manner, various insights are necessary: Customer Insights. Such customer information can be collected both qualitatively and quantitatively. It is important not only to adopt the company’s own internal perspective, but also to put on the customer’s glasses. This is because in many cases, assumptions about customers and knowledge about actual customer behavior and real customer needs are far apart.
As a founder and entrepreneur, I experience every day how important customer focus is for companies.
Integrate the essential customer perspective into your product genesis and marketing processes. That puts PS on the street, that it runs.
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