{"id":8422,"date":"2019-11-28T15:52:22","date_gmt":"2019-11-28T15:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/?p=8422"},"modified":"2020-02-10T17:04:46","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T17:04:46","slug":"understand-customers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gosquared.com\/blog\/understand-customers","title":{"rendered":"Success comes to those who understand their customers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Knowing what your customers care about, the targets they are trying to meet, and the problems they are trying to solve is foundational knowledge for every member of your team. Understanding your customers better should be a core activity of your business.
So, what do we need to know to get a better understanding of our customers? <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n

\n \u201cYour customer\u2019s success is your company\u2019s success.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n <\/use><\/svg> Tweet This<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/blockquote>\n \n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How can you work out what success means for your customers?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n\n

To understand your customers, you\u2019ve got to get cosy with customer research. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arguably, before you make any business or product decisions, you should have strong evidence from your customer research (or potential-customer research) that they want and need what you\u2019re offering. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customer research doesn\u2019t end after you\u2019ve collected this information. The analysis and dissemination of all this information to the entirety of your team is equally as important as collecting it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone should know who your customers are and what they want \u2013 whether they work directly with customers or not. It makes everyone better at their job and better at creating products and tools that will bring your customers success \u2013 which is, after all, the central reason for your business existing. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Try out some of the methods and techniques below to better understand your customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interviews<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The best way to understand what your customer wants is to ask them. Crazy, right? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the phone or in-person is preferable. We\u2019ve personally found that this is the best way to build a relationship with our customers and be able to tailor the interview with specific follow up questions. However, this isn\u2019t always possible \u2013 when it isn\u2019t try email, live chat<\/a>, or a tool like TypeForm<\/a> as a good alternative. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s worth planning out a list of questions before you pick up the phone. Remember to use a mix of open and closed questions, and try not to lead the customer into answers that you think you want. The truth is always more helpful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are three questions to get you started:\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. How did you find our product?\u00a0<\/strong>By asking this question, what you\u2019re getting to understand is\u00a0why<\/em>\u00a0they found your product. What problem were they trying to solve? What did they search for, and what questions were they asking?<\/li>
  2. What is the biggest issue you are currently having in (the relevant area) of your business?\u00a0<\/strong>Dig deeper into your customer\u2019s pain points and find out precisely what they are struggling with, you might be able to see places where you can help that they have overlooked. Or you might realise your product can\u2019t help them \u2013 both are useful lessons.\u00a0<\/li>
  3. What are your goals?\u00a0<\/strong>This answer will reveal a lot about your customer and will help you to get closer to understanding how (and if) your product is going to help them.\u00a0<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Ask for feedback<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
    \"\"\/<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Asking for feedback is very similar in format to customer interview, but emerges as a reaction to an action taken by your customers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Live chat and on-site message prompts are a brilliant way to utilise marketing automation to better understand your customer\u2019s behaviour. Knowing what to write in a message prompt<\/a> can be tricky, but once you\u2019ve nailed it and the replies start coming in, this is invaluable information for your business. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This detailed feedback, specific to a moment and action, allows you to understand exactly where customers are successfully using your product and where they might need help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Try some of these approaches as chat prompts<\/a> to get you started:<\/p>\n\n\n\n