Business Tech

Leverage Customer Service Data

According to a consumer marketing study by Edelman Insights, 90 percent of those surveyed across eight different countries want marketers to more effectively share their brands. If you've seen a decline in sales, your problem converting customers may have nothing to do with your innovation or efforts—instead, it might be from a misunderstanding of your customer base.

Not long ago, JC Penney rolled out a new branding campaign and got rid of in-house, discount labels. They infused their racks with more designer pieces. As a result, their price-conscious customers who were accustomed to low prices and coupons balked, and sales took a dive. A thorough buyer persona could have prevented JC Penney's misstep and sales slump.

A buyer persona represents your ideal customer based on market research and data on your existing customers, and includes demographics, behaviors, motivation, and goals. Here’s how to collect data and use it for your own buyer persona.

Leverage Communication Channels

Start collecting real-time data on your customers by going through the communication channels they use the most. You may find your ideal customer leans towards online chat, email, or even Tweeting their frustrations to customer service to get your attention. Leverage their communication habits and offer customer service in those areas.

Some companies like Southwest Airlines and American Airlines are known to beef up their social media team during weather delays just to address customer frustrations and complaints. It’s not only good communication practice for an audience who loves tapping into the immediacy of social media, but also helps build and protect the company's brand by being available and responsive.

Collect Feedback

To get to the heart of what your customers want, ask them yourself. Find out how you can solve their problems and give them the best customer service possible with post-contact surveys. Use cloud-based call center software to find out how they perceived their customer service experience to better pinpoint strengths and weaknesses.

Other ways that can help narrow down your customers' needs are to organize a focus group, offer a sales presentation, or host an online survey on your company website. Use the feedback to better shape your buyer persona and make notes on everything from how they want to be contacted, to their motivation in buying your product and their pain points.

Adjust Marketing Spend

Using your buyer persona information can cut your expenses by hyper-focusing your marketing efforts. If you know your ideal customer only wants to use Facebook to communicate, decrease the money spent on direct mail or other communication channels. You can also tweak the percentage of money spent on each buyer persona to determine which performs best.

Find a Pattern

Tap into your analytics tools to search for keyword data and see how people are finding you online. Look for common phrases in your search results and determine how the data can be applied to your buyer persona and customer service efforts. A company that offers emergency dental services may discover their primary search phrases include "emergency dentist for broken bridge" and "abscess tooth." With this information in hand, you can set up a hotline, on-call service, or discounts on specific services to meet your ideal customers’ demands.

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