5 Steps To Define And Engage Your Audience By Tapping Into Customer Intelligence
A common flaw many marketers make when approaching an audience is, they miss the target by using a point blank selling message. However, the classic direct sales pitch formulas that used to work are not effective as they once were.
Prospects have become much more intelligent in their buying behaviors and can recognize when being sold. In this post, we’re going to define a better way in just 5 steps to engage your audience by using customer intelligence.
Customer intelligence has a broad range of definitions within itself. Much of it is based on high end software solutions that collect customer interests and behaviors using big data.
While some many of these tools and methods are more big business and out of range for the common marketer, we will focus more on a tangible customer intelligence method that is well within reach.
In fact, we will be narrowing it down for our own purposes and creating our own predictive outlook useful for small marketers using some common tools and techniques easily within reach.
Our version of C.I. can be used to gauge, pinpoint and target any market plus the buyer mindset within its audience.
A big part of collecting customer intelligence is recognizing the core instincts of what customers want and how they react to offers emotionally and psychologically.
Below you’ll find practical ideas you can use together with marketing-based psychology triggers, giving you insights to know your audience better.
Also, learn how to interface with customer intelligence in your own market.
Here are 5 steps you can use as a guided checklist to tap into the customer intelligence of your market.
1. Psychological / Emotional Alignment
You need to know what drives people to buy what they buy in your market.
You can run through this questionnaire/checklist to filter your best answers to arrive at your best conclusions.
Is it a price-driven choice or a more branded attraction that justifies their buying habits?
In other words, do they buy from you because you have a more affordable price or because your brand is an acceptable player in your market?
And are you hitting the emotional areas they need qualified to interface with your products and solutions?
Some times it’s a single word a prospect needs to hear to clinch a sale they want to know is covered. Or a certain feature that must be described visually on how it will be used and beneficial in ownership.
The price must match quality with E.O.V. (exchange of value for payment).
If you can match up price, quality and value plus bundle it in alignment and capture the emotional profile of your buyers, you can tap into your market’s customer intelligence.
Do your products or services make your customers feel safe buying from you?
A safe harbor for buyers is very attractive. This means standing up to your written guarantees and policies. You would be surprised how many online companies will not refund their digital products.
This is an area where you can exploit that you are safe to do business with at no risk to your customers. Not all companies are willing to enforce a safe harbor concept and you can use it to secure more orders advertising in your branding or profile.
Is there a curiosity factor that attracts prospects to your products or services?
Product curiosity is many times driven by buzz. To create buzz you have to get the word out and let it take on a life of its own. By promoting your products using the top social media sites, you can inter-link them together to get a buzz going.
Does your product or service offer something added that is a little or even a lot better than the competition?
Even one or two more bells or whistles can set you apart from your competition if you know how to differentiate yourself. And using a couple more added benefits can create the right kind of positive contrast putting your solution in a better position of sales over others.
To get more sales you have to give them more of what they want. If you are competing on price, you need to test raising or lowing your prices to find the sweet spot.
If you are competing on brand, you have to go out of your way to make your brand come to life in the eyes of your customers to hedge-off the competition.
In essence, you need to light up the part of the customer brain that aligns with your marketing message.
It’s very much like tapping into the brain of your buyers with your marketing message where the two mindsets are in complete agreement.
So how do you get some input to help create a good customer intelligence profile?
2. Survey Your Audience
This may sound quite standard and should even be obvious. However, many companies leave this step out never asking their customers important questions and leave a lot of money on the table.
Your own customers have a vault-worth of valuable information locked up inside of them.
And, when you ask questions in a survey, you can gain a wealth of customer intelligence from them. Some smart marketers will take this information and create valuable products and simply give their prospects exactly what they asked for.
3. Sell people what they want
There is no better road to success as there is in selling people something they want.
You don’t have to sell hard when you give people what they’re already interested in, because when they can justify the product, it’s almost like they’re buying without the friction of paying.
In that, it’s likened to feeling good about acquiring the abundance of what something can offer. The payment seems less painful or even painless. However, in contrast it’s not like spending money on bills.
No one enjoys paying bills. It’s just necessity. So when selling online, appealing to the right customer intelligence involves understanding the mindset.
To make buying an uplifting experience, you want to make sure it does not feel like a bill spending experience when buying your product.
You must keep in mind that they are two separate experiences and mindsets.
And, you can be sure if anyone feels buying your product is like paying a bill, then it’s very likely their guard filter will rise up and no sale will be made.
Therefore, always offer your products and services from a buyer’s perspective that is uplifting and full of benefits.
4. Quantcast.com (free research tool)
Quantcast.com is a free tool that can help you define your audience. A site rich in demographical information, you can put in search data about your prospects and make real decisions on how to make them paying customers based on results you get back.
From age, Job employment to education and salary and more Quantcast will fill you in on the details that shape your best customer avatar.
5. Google Trends and Google Alerts
Google Trends is an amazing crystal ball you can freely use when you are discovering niche markets online.
You can search trends to see what’s rising or what’s fading out. You get an instant visual on where your market is headed or where it’s been. And you can use it to help get a perspective on any given market.
And don’t forget to signup for Google Alerts that will come directly into your inbox. Google will automatically alert you of noteworthy activity in your niche. This is a built-in research tool that generates alerts directly to you keeping you on top of your markets.
In conclusion, if you combine these methods and tools given here, you can create your own customer intelligence profile and start selling more of what your customers want.
