How well do you understand your customer?
Do you know them well enough to buy a Christmas present that knocks their socks off?
This should be the aim that you set yourself RIGHT NOW. You need to understand your customer nearly as well as you know yourself.
But how can you do this? Two words: Customer Profile
What’s a Customer Profile Has To Do With It
A little while ago I talked about what one Itty Bitty Customer is worth. This post is inspired by that, for you can’t understand a person’s worth, until you understand who they are.
A Customer Profile offers this
I was speaking to a client the other day and we began talking about customer profiles. They had them, kind of, but they only skimmed the surface. What’s the point? What’s the point of creating a customer profile if you’re only going to look at the obvious?
No, you need to go much deeper. I’m going to break down how I create a customer profile, whether it’s a reader, a client, or a client of a client.
Unearthing The Customer Profile
A customer profile should be broken down into three categories. These are: Demographic, Background & Psychographic.
Demographic:
This is usually the easiest data to find. You’re trying to discover the basic info about your customer, and unfortunately, this is where many people stop. Consider aspects like:
- Location
- Job Title
- Income
- Company Turnover
- Education
- Market/Industry
- Gender
- Age
This is where you start, but it’s far from where you stop. At this stage you’re trying to gather an overall opinion on who and what your customer looks like. You’re setting the foundations.
Background:
This is where things get interesting. You want to turn your customer profile into something more in-depth. Consider aspects like:
- Buying Frequency (how often do they buy)
- Monetary Value (what is their worth in pounds & pence)
- Engagement (will they be good endorsers)
- Sales Point (where do they buy – online/offline)
- Communication (where do they hang out)
You’re trying to delve further and understand what it is they do. This sort of information will prove vital further down the road.
Psychographic:
Finally, you need to unearth WHO the person is. This is the cherry on top of the cake. If you figure this out you can take your customer on an epic journey. Consider:
- Loyalty (how loyal are they)
- Personality (introvert, extrovert, creative, rational, etc)
- Interests (what do they love doing in their spare time)
- Values (what moral high ground do they take?)
If you understand your customer in this way, your whole world becomes easier.
Create Your Own Customer Profile
First of all I urge you to go as deep as possible. As you discover your customer, you’ll find yourself adding further sub-headings and introducing new aspects to your world.
I also recommend that you give each customer profile a name – a real person’s name, too – like Bobby, Ash, or Alex…
Finally, very few businesses have just one customer profile. You may have two or three or ten. Each is unique, so make sure you do what’s right for YOU.
But how do you do it? It isn’t easy, and if you’re starting out you’ll be living off assumptions for the most part. You’ll do your research, sure, but until you start living and doing it’s hard to see the true picture. This takes time, trial and error, and constant evolution and adaptation.
The Positives Of A Customer Profile
I’ll finish off with some positives that a customer profile can bring. These include:
- Patterns develop (you can see which customer is worth the most time)
- Improved Communication (bespoke messages for real people)
- Better Products/Services (you know what they NEED)
- Innovation (life becomes a constant research project)
- Relationships (if you know them better, you can serve them better)
What is your Customer Profile currently telling you? Now may be the time to revisit them and take everything to the next level.
TURNDOG
