If you want to learn about your target audience, one of the best ways is to ask them. Your current and potential customers can reveal a wealth of information about what they want and how they perceive your products and your marketing. Increasing your brand awareness leads to increased engagement and ultimately, to new business growth.
Market research helps you gain insights that allow you to:
In order to receive useful information from your target audience, it’s a matter of asking the right questions, in the right way and in a manner that the customer feels is helpful.
Audience demographics can help you segment large, heterogeneous groups of consumers into smaller groups by determining their wants, needs, and key characteristics. In fact, 71% of respondents prefer personalized ads. Age is one of the most impactful demographics for determining ad spend. The younger age group spends more often, while older adults have more to spend.
Options for answering personal questions should be done in “ranges,” as consumers may be more comfortable answering more general questions, rather than ones where they might be specifically identified. Important questions to determine your customer profile may include:
Psychographics identify your audience's hobbies, interests, values, and spending habits. It is another method of segmenting large groups of consumers so you can more effectively tailor your marketing tactics. If demographics identify who your audience is, psychographics can tell you why they purchase. Targeted marketing campaigns using psychographic data increases click rates by 670%.
Questions to understand what motivates your audience to buy can include:
Customers are not loyal to a company for the products or price, but because of their customer service and experience. Eighty-six percent of customers say they'll pay more to have a better customer experience. A recent study found that companies earning $1 billion per year who have invested in customer experience can expect an average return of $700 million within three years. Keeping your customers satisfied can return your investment many times when loyal return customers become brand evangelists.
Questions to ask to learn more about your customer's experience include:
One way to identify your competition is to find out whom your customers consider being an alternative to your offerings. You’ve probably already completed an analysis of your direct competitors. While that’s certainly valuable, it doesn’t identify how your customers perceive your brand vs. others. The only way to determine that is to ask.
While formal competitive analysis can tell you who sells similar products or services, it probably won't identify the businesses that, though different, may compete for the same customers as you. For example, McDonald's and Stouffer's, while vastly different brands with divergent products, both compete for the same group of people who want quick and easy prepared foods. Another comparison could be Starbucks and Keurig that both deliver quick coffee products.
To find out more about whom your target customer considers being your greatest competitors, ask the following questions:
There are many ways to market to and serve your target audience better. Telling your customers that their opinions matter and you’d value their input is an important first step in improving the ROI of your marketing dollars. These questions can be delivered as a survey after they interact with your brand, or you can use them with a focus group. Consider offering those that complete a survey a discount code, or something special. Otherwise, why would someone waste their valuable time?
Posing market research questions and evaluating the answers can provide valuable insights and direction that can help propel your marketing campaign. Work with an experienced media partner to learn more about the most effective ways to reach your target audience.