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Knowing what your customers want is a crucial skill for any business. It helps businesses avoid wasting money on products and services that aren’t in demand and stay competitive with competitors that do have what their customers want. Identifying customer needs involves several tools and best practices, including surveys, focus groups and social media listening. Here are some tried and true ways to know what your customers want:
1. Ask Questions
A great question to ask customers is, “What is your greatest challenge you face in achieving [a desired outcome]?” This prompts your customer to think not just in terms of a goal but the resources they need to achieve it. This allows you to easily transition into a proposal that showcases how your product will solve their problems.
It’s also a good idea to ask how often they face the issue in question. If a problem occurs infrequently, it might not be worth your time to address right away. If a customer experiences it on a daily basis, however, you might want to consider making some changes that make the situation easier for them. This helps you stand out as a solution provider.
2. Surveys
Conducting surveys is a quick way to collect data from a large group of customers. Before designing your survey, determine what you want to achieve from apps like Instapro. This could be anything from a customer retention rate to a mobile app experience.
Keep your survey questions short and clear. Avoid including multiple-choice questions and scales; open-ended questions are more helpful in gathering honest feedback. Be ruthless when it comes to eliminating unnecessary questions from your questionnaire. A long, tedious questionnaire will only cause respondents to reach for the back button.
Thank your respondents at the end of your survey. They took time out of their day to provide valuable insights; they deserve a little gratitude for their efforts. Many companies, like Zendesk and Merieux NutriSciences, release annual or quarterly reports highlighting the results of their customer surveys.
3. Focus Groups
Conducting focus groups is more expensive than using surveys, but it gives you priceless insight if your participants are a true reflection of your audience. By grouping people together, views can be reformulated through exchanges, nuances of meaning teased out, recall strengthened and shy participants given confidence.
Ensure your focus group participants are well-informed on the purpose of the research, and that it is kept confidential. Make sure to schedule the groups at times that reflect the needs of your target audience – mothers with school children and busy managers are less likely to attend at a time that conflicts with their daily routines.
If you’re conducting a virtual focus group on GB WhatsApp APK, prepare a moderator’s guide to help the discussion stay on track and ensure all of your objectives are met. This can be especially useful for remote interviews where the lack of visual cues can cause miscommunications.
4. Social Media
Social media provides businesses with a way to engage with customers in a new and easy way. While social media marketing isn’t a new concept, it’s growing more popular as older advertising methods become less effective.
Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram can provide a rich source of market research data. While this data isn’t a representative sample, it can provide unvarnished opinions from passionate fans.
It’s also a great tool for customer service. Keeping up with your customers on social media can help resolve issues quickly, reducing the back-and-forth that often occurs in traditional customer support. You can also use your social media accounts to keep tabs on competitors, helping you develop an effective strategy that stands out from the crowd.
5. Listening
The needs and wants of your customers should inform every aspect of your business – from product development, to content marketing, to sales and customer service. And to truly understand your customers’ needs, you must listen to them – and not just talk to them.
When customers feel heard and understood, they are more likely to return to your business and recommend it to their friends. In fact, according to HundredX, 94% of business leaders believe that embracing a listening culture is essential to success.
Whether it’s through in-person conversations, calls or live chats, using these tried-and-true methods to identify and meet your customers’ needs is key to growing your business and keeping them loyal. So, start listening today!
