While data may be “king” In today’s world, it’s always good to realign with the fact that customers drive numbers!
To differentiate one company from others and capture market share, business owners must provide experiences that make customers feel special. The six suggestions below provide ways to better understand who the customer really is and how to learn what can make their experience better:
1. Observe Data Through Analytics
One of the easiest ways to understand your customer is to use analytics to track how people are interacting with your website. There are a ton of free resources out there to do this, with the most notable option being Google Analytics.
Google Analytics allows you to see key demographic information and utilize it to more effectively market. Along with this, you also get access to behavioral data like how many pages people view on your site and how long they stay on different pages of your site. With this information, you can quickly identify where you may lose people on your site, or where you can improve. Most of these resources are free, so be sure to take advantage!
2. Look Beyond the Demographics
Demographics and numbers are definitely helpful, but it’s worth the extra effort to learn a little more about who your customers REALLY are. Ask yourself these questions:
What brought your client to where they are now? What’s their story? Why do you care? What “pains” are they experiencing? What would really make them happy?
By taking the extra effort to learn more about your customers, you’ll have an easier time making content that resonates.
3. Go Through the Customer’s Journey in your own Shoes
Another easy way to gain insight into your customer is to walk a mile in their shoes. How might a customer feel at each stage through the buying process? Go through each touch point on your own to see! From social media, to seeing the home page on your website, to going to checkout, you can experience first hand how customers might feel when they look at your business. If something feels off to you, it probably feels off to your customer! Use this customer journey walkthrough to quickly identify how to make the customer’s experience even better.
4. Utilize A/B Testing Whenever Possible
Once you have an idea of what might make the experience better for the customer… time to test! Colors, words, images, etc. all create certain feelings in the eyes of the consumer. Sometimes, it only takes one small change to make a huge difference in the impact of your marketing materials! If you think changing something could make a difference in customer responses, this is where A/B testing comes into play.
By testing two slightly different versions of the same email, webpage, etc., and tracking the results, you are able to quickly identify what materials resonate most with customers. Using this information is critical in understanding what your customers want and allows you to tailor content to keep them coming back. In tracking the results, the numbers can paint a clear picture of how clients want information delivered.
5. Get Feedback While Maintaining Good Relationships
After the customer makes a decision to buy your product or not, your interaction with them should not stop there. It is CRITICAL that you follow up and get feedback from them about their experience and why they made the decision they did. This will allow you to better understand your customer and create a better experience for future clients.
Following up should be done in a respectful way to show you actually care about your clients’ success. Perform active listening with clients, and remember small details. This little extra bit of effort can go a long way in developing a good connection with your customers.
6. Practice active social listening
Besides listening to customers when you are meeting with them, it is crucial to listen to what people say about you online. Listening to what people say on social media can give you a better understanding of what people think, and also can allow for more engagement.
Monitoring reviews can also give more insight and provides an opportunity to connect with your audience on a deeper level. Be sure to actively track what people are saying to better meet client needs and deliver value.
Use these six techniques to better understand your customer and tailor a great experience. Just these small changes can go a long way in improving your customer service. Listening to our customers is part of the WorkMerk way and we are proud to celebrate this process and others as we help to create winning habits across multiple industries.