How Do You Know More About Your Target Customers?
You already know who your target customers are. That’s good for your business. You also understand the needs your targeted customers want to satisfy with your product or service. It’s wonderful. But Is that enough? It isn’t enough. Find out more about your customers continuously.
It’s, therefore, essential to know that finding out more about your target customers is crucial for your business success. Right? It’s even more important to learn how to do it. In this post, I would like to draw your mind to how to go about it. We shall look at the methods you can use to give you the best results. Secondly, we shall discuss how to get more information about your target customers using these methods.
There are many ways of finding out about your target customers, but in this article, let us focus mainly on observation, asking questions, online surveys, forum visits and talking to your customers.
1. Observation
Finding more about your target customers through observations is one of the most accessible and affordable methods you can use. The observational technique entails collecting and analysing information obtained directly or indirectly while watching in a natural or planned environment. But the challenge is on what to observe and how to do it. Of course, you do not just see.
There are various ways of doing it. If you have a website, you have to use some tools to purposely provide you with necessary information on how your customers behave on your site.
For instance, if you track visitors to your website, you can use statistics to get information on the number of visits and the quality. You can get to know more about your target customers using the seeable information like the average length of visits, the number of page views and the most popular paths. observable
Use the comments or the feedback you get from your target customers! What do they say? Do their feedback give clues to improve your product and services? Have a feedback page to get helpful feedback from your target customers.
Customer reviews also provide information on what customers say about your products or services. They tell you whether you’re doing a good or a lousy job and how to improve your product/service.
What about other websites in the same target marketplace as yours? Do you observe them find out what works for them that you need to know, and apply it, if possible? Observation is a helpful tool that you should always use daily.
2. Online Surveys
Develop a questionnaire and send it to people you think are interested in your products or services. An online survey will provide qualitative information about what people think about your website. It will help you establish whether they find it easy to use your site and get the products/services you offer or not, what they would like you to add and much more information.
For your survey to be helpful, plan your questions based on your priorities. These questions should not be more than ten because people have limited time. Focus on the choice of items to ask. Use open-ended questions to allow your users to give freely the answers they want. But balance up your open questions with closed questions where you provide a choice of answers to your questions.
You can use survey software to get and manage the information you collect from your target customers. There are also online survey tools like SurveyMonkey.com, which you can use to conduct your surveys.
3. Ask Questions
Asking questions is what everyone can do. But must ask questions that will enable you to meet your goals. Some online business owners integrate a small form in the ordering process to get some feedback from their customers. When one buys a product, he has to take a minute to answer a question or two before he finalises making his order.
Alternatively, ask questions using other channels that are convenient to you and which will give you the best results. For instance, if you don’t have a website, you can still ask your customers physically how they find your products and services. They will give you direct feedback that you can base on to improve your business.
4. Talk to Your Customers
You can improvise and find the most suitable way to talk to your customers directly. If you physically meet some of your customers, get them closer to you so that you can get their feelings and opinions about your products and services.
5. Visit Places That Your Target Customers Hang Around, i.e. Forums.
You can achieve this by visiting forums if you have an online presence. Target forums that people frequent in your target audience. You don’t necessarily need to engage in the discussion, but you can stay aside and read or follow the conversations. It can quickly help you to know what others say and what they think.
What if you are involved in a traditional business? It’s even easier to find out where your target customers hang around and get information on what they say and think.
Another alternative is to read newspapers or magazines (also available online) that are popular with people in your target audience. Visit the “Letters to the editor” section and understand what your target audiences say.
Finally, finding out about your target customers is a continuous process. Don’t just do it once and then stop! No. Instead, make it a habit. Develop a system of getting helpful information that you can use to make decisions from a well-informed point of view. Keep in close touch with the people who keep you in business and those crucial to your business success – your target customers.
0 Comments
Trackbacks/Pingbacks