The perfect storm – Why you need research now – customers
A series of ten views – view 2, customers
Why you need to research your customers now – the customer view
In the last article we highlighted the major shocks that organisations and individuals are facing from the continuing uncertainty and volatility in the current environment.
Ten things to explore now
We suggested that there were ten key areas that organisations should strongly consider exploring right now. The top two are:
- Your people
- Your customers
Understanding your customers
Having understood the foundation of any organisation – its people – the next key area to explore is your customers.
“Without customers an organisation would cease to have a purpose.”
Changes in customer behaviour and expectations
Customers’ perceptions and attitudes are undoubtedly shifting. They were already changing but these have accelerated significantly due the impact of COVID, especially.
“It is more important than ever to find out what your customers think and feel”
The customer view
So, what are the key things we need know now?
- How have your customers’ expectations changed in 2020?
In simple terms, what do they want from you?
Gain feedback from them on their experiences with you and your products and/or services. What do they say about areas such as?
- Usability of products or services
- Digital communications
- Website functionality
- Social media
- How you could improve
- How do you measure up?
Obvious perhaps, but how well do you meet their expectations?
Which of your competitors are better or worse than you, in their view?
- What are the gaps?
How close or far are you from what you have discovered?
- How have customer behaviours changed in relation to your organisation in 2020?
- How loyal are they to your organisation?
- Would they recommend you to others? If not, why not?
- What has changed in terms of their relationship with your organisation?
- Are they more or less loyal?
- Are they considering alternative products or services and/or providers more or less than previously? How is this manifesting itself in purchase patterns?
- Are they sourcing your offerings in a different way? For example, a marked shift to online vs. physical locations.
- Are they finding you in different ways? More online discovery, for example.
- What is keeping them awake at night?
- What are your customers thinking?
- What are their fears and concerns – both now and for the future?
- What are their levels of confidence and optimism?
What does this mean for your organisation? What can you do to support your customers as a result?
- What do they think of you?
What are their overall perceptions of you as an organisation? Explore areas such as:
- Their view of your values and purpose including: your approach to the environment; the community; societal responsibility and sustainability
- How they would describe or position you?
- Your organisation’s relevance to their values and beliefs
- Do they trust you?
- Product and/or service quality
- Price
- Communications and messaging
- Responsiveness
- How well you look after their data
- Developing new products or services that meet their needs and wants
- Do they know what your organisation’s aims for the future are? Have they seen your ‘roadmap’? If so, what do they think of it?
- What they think of your people. How does this match up with the employee view?
Techniques such as sentiment analysis can help give insight into some of these.
- What would they like to see you do for them next?
They may just tell you!
THE BOTTOM LINE
“Fundamentally…
…how engaged are your customers with your organisation?
…how relevant do they see what you offer to them being?”
Can you answer all of the above areas with confidence?
If you have answered ‘no’ or ‘not sure’ and need some help with this, let’s talk.
