Originally posted on business.com.
By getting to know your customers and what drives them, you are taking the power under your control. Here's how to capitalize on it.
Are you a caffeine addict? An anxious nail biter? A procrastinator? A smoker?
Whatever your habits are, for better or worse, they are a part of who you are.
As a huge fan of mixed martial arts, I have a habit of hitting the gym to train as often as I can. The owner of my gym knows me well, and he and I have developed a personal relationship. He knows what days I come in and always makes sure to greet me and offers me tips based on my last training session.
While this might seem like a small gesture, the fact is that this personal relationship is just another thing that keeps me coming back to his specific gym. As a businessman, he knows that my habits can equal his gain. And he is encouraging my specific habit for his benefit.
By getting to know your customers and what drives them, you are taking the power under your control.
You can even turn frequenting your company into a habit of theirs.
Incentivize
There’s a reason that US consumers hold 3.3 billion customer loyalty cards for stores and brands (and that this number is growing).
Consumers respond well to being offered perks, and they take full advantage of said perks.
By making your customers feel that they have reasons to come back to your store, whether through a point system or a “bring a buddy” bonus, making your customer feel that he or she is making gains by returning to your shop, you win as does your customer.
Analyze
How many customers wander in to your store due to your graphical logos? Thanks to your current sales? Because of a suggestion? Your ad campaigns?
These are crucial analytics that you need to understand and keep yourself educated on.
When it comes to online marketing, you have so many analytical tools available at your disposal.
They let you see what works and brings in traffic to your site (i.e. what techniques are receptive to specific habits you are targeting).
Do you see that your business draws in the musical type? Great! Take advantage of that like eBay did with their “You Sing it, We Sell it” campaign.
Do you attract the crafty, creative crowd? Use that.
Visualize
Did you know that the visual appearance of new products accounts for 93 percent of why consumers purchase vs don’t purchase a product?
We are visual creatures and this transfers over into all domains, especially marketing.
When it comes to visual stimulation, nothing grabs your attention like a video.
From marketing to entertainment to commerce, videos really cover all forms of needs that we, as both consumers and as businesses have.
Webyclip helps employ videos to help keep customers on your site while maximizing their buying potential. Offering customers the ability to find products similar to the ones they're browsing within your shop, this tool has great power behind it.
In the marketing field, videos really have the potential to change the way we shop. We’ve recently become members of the video revolution, so make sure that you utilize this for your business.
Convenience
Convenience is an innate habit and is second nature to us. This is clear based on the fact that 70 percent Americans choose to shop online regularly.
Further, 50 percent of Americans take advantage of free shipping for these online orders.
By gathering data on what incentives work online (offering free shipping after meeting a minimum of X dollars, having sales that are exclusive to online stores, enabling online chat options for customers with questions, etc...), you will understand what your customers respond to.
Services such as Deliv really hit the nail on the head with this one. Offering same day delivery with a scheduled delivery time window, it allows customers to shop til they drop, while staying home.
Bringing your items to the customer helps them feel comfortable and at ease, likely ensuring that they will come back to your online shop once more.
Socialize
By the same token, let’s not discount the fact that, regardless of if you are running an online or brick-and-mortar store, you must have online representation through social media.
Social media might seem unrelated to your business but it makes your business very easily accessible to customers.
It is always the fastest and easiest way to crowdsource and interact with your customers.
Run fun social media campaigns, promote your brand’s voice and utilize services to allow your customers to be heard and responded to.
Personalize
Never to be discounted is the power of the personal touch. Remembering customer’s names, noticing if a customer returns to check for/purchase unique items, even recognizing if a customer passes your shop frequently, all the details that you can make your customers feel appreciated.
Even better, when it comes to combining personalization with analytics, check out OnePulse.
Personalization also extends to going beyond the simple niceties and this tool allows you to gather opinions on whatever you need personalized assessments for by crowdsourcing real life people.
Through studying what your customers are accustomed to and what they like/dislike, you can learn how to utilize this knowledge to your advantage.
Using this information puts you in a win-win situation, with both you and the customer benefitting.
From marketing to analyzing to enticing, harnessing the habits of your customer can be very effective at helping your business succeed.