People keep telling you that you need to do research in order to better understand your target client but you’re not sure what you should be finding out. This list is just some of the things you could be finding out about your target clients to help you understand what they want and to make sound business decisions:
- Who is my customer?
- What are their characteristics?
- Where are they located?
- What is their purchasing behaviour?
- How do they make the decision to buy?
- In what way are my customers’ behaviours and preferences evolving?
- What problems are they trying to solve?
- What questions are they trying to answer?
- What information does my audience have difficulty finding?
- What is the typical “pain” of my current and potential clients?
- What products or services do they want that I am able to provide?
- What do customers think about a new product line and how much would they be willing to pay for it?
- What products or services would my customers like to see from me next?
- What do my existing customers think of my products and services?
- Why aren’t certain products flying off the shelves?
- How were customers treated by my virtual assistants (VA) on the phone or by email?
- How do customers feel about my online checkout process?
- How do they see me; how do they see my company (a customer may view you in three ways: you are just another vendor, a problem solver, or a partner)
- What should my price points be?
- Where should I advertise so that I reach them? on-line, off-line or both?
- Where do they go to buy?
- What should my marketing message be?
- Who are my competitors, what are they up to, how can I differentiate myself from them, what would make me distinct?
- What do customers think about changes/improvements to my website? What changes would they like to see?
- Why are my customers interested in the articles they read in my newsletter?
- Why are customers unsubscribing from my newsletter?
- What are their expectations after buying from me?
Each of these questions represents an opportunity for you and your business. If you can understand your customers’ perspective and offer a solution, you can deliver a valuable, memorable, and referral-worthy product or service. If you know what people want, why, how and when then you can serve them better and in so doing drive more revenue for your business and for their business.
If this article was of value to you then you may be interested in the book Understanding your customer – a guide to doing surveys.