Successful and profitable business strategies depend on an accurate prediction of customer needs. Managing the consumer relationship requires keen instincts and the ability to finesse key data points into meaningful action steps. Intuitive analytics have proven extremely useful for improving consumer relationships.
Understanding the Marketplace
Marketing and branding experts emphasize the importance of brand recognition and prospecting viable markets. Before any business executive can hope to reach a consumer, they must understand how their product impacts the market.
Goods and services are only as useful as they are available. Perception is vital to the customer. Their belief that a product is either a great value or a great necessity often drives their purchasing habits.
A Study in Analytics
Marketing experts utilize a multitude of resources to understand the customer base for a specific product or service. Data and market analysis may be comprised of very targeted details. Preliminary studies may use a broad brush approach to gather general information which can later be filtered for particular industries, consumers, or products.
Generally speaking, there are several common ways for businesses and marketing teams to gather information on their customer base:
- Social Media Survey
- Loyalty Card Program
- Referral Service
- Public Record Source
- Online Activity
The study of analytics is especially useful for determining when to reach a customer. For example, a loyalty card program is helpful to understand the brand preference of a particular customer. However, simply having the knowledge that a shopper likes strawberry yogurt or a particular style of canned tuna does not have any bearing on when the consumer is likely to make a purchase.
Vehicle service records provide a fairly accurate picture of when a consumer will need a tire rotation or oil change, but they cannot predict where the driver will go for service or if they will upgrade and add a tire rotation.
Understanding Consumer Behavior
Gaining insight into consumer behavior requires both a knack for human psychology and reliable tools from advanced analytics. Researchers have repeatedly proven that virtually all consumers gather information from only sources.
Building on that information, marketing professionals studied mobile interfaces and apps, discovering that the vast majority of online users wanted mobile-friendly websites. Capitalizing on this information, businesses quickly switched to mobile apps to prepare search engine data, ordering systems, and interactive platforms.
Voice analytics quickly became the most relevant and essential tool for marketing professionals. Consumers depend on their mobile phones for professional and personal communication.
Data stored on cell phone SIM cards hold the key to schedules, online accounts, and other personal preferences. Effective artificial intelligence (AI) features to collect and process automated information for the benefit of both the consumer and the marketplace.
Influencing Consumer Behavior
Consumer behavioral insights help marketers plan for the future. Brands must be willing to adopt new technologies and strategies to grow. Trends are only lucrative for businesses who have managed to stay ahead of them. Adaptive analytical tools accurately predict consumer behavior based on a variety of relevant data points.
Information collected from a myriad of sources is simultaneously reviewed, sorted, and reported. Only the relevant information that is most likely to result in a sales decision is brought forward. Tailored advertisements are produced based on consumer history, searches, and named preferences.
A quick study in consumer behavior analytics turns up significant research in the past few years. Technological advancements have enabled the quick collection of new data from integrated software. On any given day, a consumer may access a personal email account from work and check out the menu for a new local restaurant on their cell phone.
Thanks to the advanced technology, both data points are synchronized by AI and used to predict potential next steps for this consumer. Considering the fact that most consumers spend an average of about five hours per day on various online activities, the number of usable data points add up quickly.
The purpose of understanding consumer behavior is to influence that behavior as well as subsequent purchase decisions. Each touchpoint leads to a new transaction and each transaction leads to more information. This systematic approach to learning about consumer behavior results in improved consumer relationships and enhanced marketing strategies.
