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Do You Really Know Your Customers?

Unknown CustomersThe more you know your customers, the better you will be able to develop relevant marketing campaigns.

So how well do you know your customers? The starting point for any good targeted, personalized campaign is knowing the make-up of your audience. If you don’t have this data, send out a direct mail questionnaire, blast an email survey, or conduct a focus group. Set up survey forms on your website or append your list with data from a third party provider to fill in the gaps.

But don’t stop there. Ask yourself what you might not know about your audience that would help with your marketing later.

When the National Hockey League started 1:1 communication with its customers, for example, it kicked off by asking them to fill out a survey that indicated, among other things, where they lived and their favorite hockey team. The NHL discovered that 40% of its fan base lives outside their favorite team’s home market. Imagine the marketing opportunities for the league!

Questions to Help You Know Your Customers Better

There are an infinite number of questions you can ask, but they all start with knowing who your customers are in the first place.

What’s their DNA?

Know your customers from the inside too. If you already have a marketing database, you might want to invest in basic database analytics.

Identify your top 10% of customers by frequency, volume, and revenue.

How do they look?

Take into consideration what your customers “look” like. Then create a profile.

How do they measure up?

What do they have in common (age, income, marital status, ethnicity, purchase habits)? In a B2B environment, you might look at vertical market, employee size, and annual revenues.

Who’s last?

You should also know your bottom 10%. What do they look like? Are they customers you think you can woo back? Or should you focus on the ones that are the most profitable for your company instead?

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