The Power of Consumer Insights

Marketing is changing, thanks in part to an increased emphasis on consumer insights.

Once upon a time, marketers created campaigns designed to appeal to a crowd. They'd make a generalized advertisement that would be broadcast on one of three television networks, a handful of radio stations, or in print media, hoping that it reached the maximum number of potential customers. 

Now? There are many, many more places to find your customer. Television has moved well beyond three channels, not to mention the on-demand options offered by services such as Netflix or Hulu. In addition, radio has been displaced by Pandora or Spotify as well as the satellite radio options, and the advent of social media means that you've got whole new platforms to explore.

Marketing is now personalized in a whole new way, and that's primarily due to the new focus on consumer insight.   

What are Consumer Insights?

Consumer insights go beyond analytics and research, encompassing the individual consumer's thoughts and beliefs which marketers can use to truly understand what their customers want in a product.  It goes beyond the basic demographic information, such as sex, race, income, and marital status, honing in on the classification and trends in the customers' psychographic behaviors. 

Compiling consumer insights will help marketers create a portrait of their typical customer. These insights will offer more information about the way that individual consumers see themselves and how they approach the products they purchase. When you find an insight that is applicable to a large group, you know you've found your ideal audience for your product.  

How Do You Acquire Consumer Insights? 

Customer insights go beyond facts and figures. Sure, analysis is part of the process, but you can't rely on statistics alone. You need to combine the numbers with: 

• Social listening
• Surveys
• Interviews with individual customers
• A/B testing
• Focus groups
• Consumer feedback

There are three key elements to properly gathering consumer insights: segmentation tools, data utilization and customer engagement. These elements help marketers answer questions related to their customers' experiences, such as, "How do I get them to buy again?", "What are they thinking before they make the purchase/after they make the purchase?", or "What's stopping them from making the purchase?" 

Segmentation Tools — These are the tools that many organizations use to determine how customers are engaging with their products or services. You can even track how customers are responding to your marketing tactics — are they opening your emails, reading your blog posts, and downloading your whitepapers? Analytics tools will help you pinpoint what's working for you. 

Data Utilization — This process analyzes your organization's customer database, identifying who's buying what, when, and how. It will also aid you in determining how your customers prefer to be contacted by your sales team — do they prefer an email, a phone call, or an in-person visit? 

Customer Engagement — Engagement is decided upon after analyzing the data collected.

Once the data has been properly analyzed, you should be able to identify your ideal customer's wants, needs, and expectations as well as their buying behavior. This will help you promote repurchasing of your product or service in the future. 

What Can Consumer Insights Do For You? 

Today's consumers have no interest in the advertising of old. You know, the version that told them what they should buy, where they should buy it, and how the product would improve their life. Back then, broad-spectrum marketing worked, because there were only a limited number of outlets available to consume. 

Rather than making purchases as directed, today's customers are rapidly becoming accustomed to not just marketers, but product developers, working hard to solve the pain points that customers are personally experiencing. Consumer insights give you the tools you need to better identify your customers so you can market to them where they're most likely to be to found. 

When you utilize the data offered to you by consumer insight, you'll be able to target your marketing more efficiently. No more casting a wide net hoping that you'll reach your ideal customers — it's more akin to an expert fisherman casting a properly baited line and pulling in fish after fish. 

This is not just more efficient, it's also more cost-effective. You'll be reaching the right people the first time rather than annoying uninterested people with misdirected advertising. Your brand will be undiluted, strong and your customers will be satisfied. 

Interested in putting consumer insights to work for your business? Schedule your free marketing consultation today. 

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