Your customers are the reason your business is still on its feet. If they stop supporting your business, you are as good as done. However, they cannot continue supporting you if you do not give them what they need or solve a challenge they face. Customer insights help you provide quality service, build a robust and accurate buyer persona, and influence their purchase decisions in your favor.
Keep reading this article to learn how to uncover customer insights for your business.
Use Google Analytics and Search Console
Apart from being a powerful search engine, Google also collects data about Internet users that you might find valuable. You can find a host of data on Google Analytics, such as behavioral data that shows you what keywords your target audience is searching for.
You can also use demographic data to determine the age bracket, gender, geographic location, and interests your clients might have.
Conduct customer interviews
Even though customer interviews are not as common as online surveys, they are still an effective way to gather insight into your target audience. Most interviews are done one-on-one, where you send your employees out on the street and ask people questions.
You could also do video calls or telephone interviews. Spontaneous interviews are great because the client doesn’t have time to think of an elaborate response, meaning it will be more authentic.
Partner up with other businesses
We live in a digital era where almost everything is intertwined in one large web. It is unlikely that your business will survive on its own without help from other companies. Keep in mind that not every business is a competitor.
You could integrate your business operations with another complementary business and share insights about your prospective clients. Partnering with others will give you a different perspective and uncover the information you wouldn’t have thought to find.
Track your client’s purchase activities
You can quickly determine purchase activities with an e-commerce platform or a CRM that tracks purchases. For instance, you might notice a specific group of individuals within a particular age bracket usually buy skin care products alongside facial cleansers. You can then use this data to notify them whenever a new product comes up that you think they might enjoy. In addition, after you have analyzed client purchase activities, you can anticipate demand and stock up to prevent turning clients away because you don’t have enough inventory.
Showcase success stories
Success stories and testimonials are powerful pieces of social proof that encourage your audience to trust you. You can also use these testimonials to determine whether your product solved your client’s problems and worked as well as it should. Once a client has bought a product from you or paid for a service, it would help to ask them to leave a review on your website, which you will post for the public to read.
Use online surveys
Surveys have been an effective way to gather customer feedback and insights since time immemorial. However, combing through hundreds of pages and reading through each response became harder. Technology has made our work easier and introduced online surveys. One of the advantages of online surveys is that they are fast. The system also accurately tallies up all the responses and presents the data in an easily digestible way. Here is a list of questions you could include in your survey.
How did you learn about our business?
What do you like/dislike about us?
What do you think we should improve?
Analyze the data on your competitor’s website
By now, you have probably used SEO tools like Ahref to determine popular keywords in your niche and the level of engagement your website gets daily. Even though you can’t use these tools to snoop through your competitor’s website, you can still determine which keywords their content targets.
Once the information is within reach, you can tweak your posts to target similar keywords or adjust how your adverts reach your clients. Information from your competitor’s website can also help you find potential link-building opportunities to leverage.
Read online reviews
Customers constantly leave feedback and reviews about a business they interacted with to share their experience with other Internet users. You could navigate websites like G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius to learn precisely what your clients say about you.
Clients also communicate the overall customer experience and what they think you should improve. Since each user needs to create an account to post a review, you can be sure that the responses are legit.
Leverage social media
Users on social media hardly hold back when they encounter a brand they like. They will shower their praise and recommend their services. Unfortunately, the vice versa is also true. Clients who don’t enjoy their experience with a particular brand will get that information on their social media page in no time.
Therefore, social media is an excellent place to learn what your clients think about your business. You could watch the comments and trending hashtags about companies in your niche. Alternatively, you could ask for their feedback directly through polls and posts.
Gather insight from your competitor’s reviews
It is always a good idea to look out for what your competitors are doing and use it as a reference point for your business operations. In addition to reading reviews about your business, you could also find out what your prospective clients say about your rivals.
A deep dive into competitor reviews could uncover client expectations you didn’t know. You will gain the upper hand if they have any complaint you think you can correct.
Final remarks
A better understanding of your audience will help you deliver prompt messages, meet and exceed customer expectations, create a solid emotional connection, and give your business a competitive edge in the crowded market.
In the long run, gaining customer insights boosts retention rates and customer loyalty and increases revenue. Now that you know all the benefits of gathering data about your clients, we hope you will use the above tips to take your business to greater heights.
