Feel like you just don’t know enough about your customers? This feeling is actually pretty common among business managers and owners … as well as customers.
Around 80% of customers say businesses don’t understand their individual needs. That’s insanely high when you consider entire industries revolve around understanding and marketing to customers.
Sometimes, you need to go back to basics.
It’s as simple as asking: what do customers want?
Let’s take a look at the answers below.
Their Needs Met
Any time a customer buys a product, it’s because they have a need to meet.
To succeed, your product must meet your customer’s needs. The most successful products are often so good at doing this that they cut out the competition as a direct result.
A large part of marketing is to convince customers that they have a need, and only your product can meet it. And on the other side, it’s important businesses carry out research to understand what that need is before they rush ahead with a product.
Convenience
If Amazon’s explosive popularity has taught us anything, it’s that customers want convenience.
The customer wants the shortest possible distance between “need” and “receive”. That includes the ease of purchase as well as the delivery time.
This is where Amazon shows us how it’s done. Combine one-click purchasing with Amazon Prime delivery speeds, and you can receive almost anything as near to instantly as transit time allows.
Service and Support
Customers have no patience for a lack of support. A customer who struggles to resolve a concern is a customer quickly souring on your business.
It’s important to not only provide customer service and support but also provide it painlessly. This is where many modern businesses fall down, tangling customers in a labyrinth of helpdesk nonsense.
Value for Money
Unsurprisingly, this is what most of us look for when engaging with a business.
Trying to meet this need without driving costs through the floor is one of the big challenges for businesses. You need to offer prices to get customers through the door. Somehow, you need to make a profit at the same time.
This is what makes deals and discounts such effective strategies. They provide short-term or one-off value. They’re great for getting customers to engage with you.
But value takes many forms. Once you’ve tempted customers in, you’ll want to keep them there by other expressions of value, such as the quality of your product.
A Sense of Who You Are
This is a real up-and-comer. As information becomes more freely available, customers are caring more about what your business represents.
People want to know that your business is honest and upfront. They enjoy transparency and accountability. This is why many businesses now include philanthropy as part of their basic corporate image.
What Do Customers Want?
Above all, the question “what do customers want?” is most easily answered with “understanding”. Customers want businesses to see the customer perspective. The more a business can put itself in a customer’s shoes, the more likely they are to meet their needs.
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