Customer Market Research

Need to know who your target customers are and what their preferences are for buying your products or services?

Customer market research will tell you.

Customer Demographics

What are the demographics of your target customer group? By this I mean what is the average age of your customer group, are they teens, in their twenties or thirties or are they baby boomers?

Each group will have different reasons for purchasing your product or service.

What is their disposable income? Are they blue-collar, white-collar, professionals, retirees or stay at home moms? The level of disposable income will have an impact on how much they have to spend and will affect not only what they are prepared to pay for, but also how much.

Are your target customer generally male, female or both? Do you target customers have a family? Are they married or likely to be in a long term relationship? This can be important as your customer may rely on important others for advice when faced with a purchasing decision.

Level of education can also be an important demographic. There is nothing worse than insulting your target customers by talking up or down to them in your marketing efforts!

Where do your target customers live and work? Do they shop locally or on-line? Do they need to see the product before they buy?

Customer Behaviors

What are the buying habits of your target customers?

Why do they purchase products or services like the ones you offer. Do they buy for a particular reason, is the product used for a particular occasion?

How often will they purchase? Is it a one off purchase or will they come back to buy again and again? How often? Weekly, monthly, a few times a year, and how much will they purchase each time? This behavior of course will vary depending on the product or service you are offering, but still valuable information for when you are developing a marketing plan.

How long will it take your target customers to make a decision to purchase? Is it likely to be a spur of the moment purchase or will they consider their decision over a period of hours, days, weeks or months?

Customer Preferences

You should have determined by now what benefits your target customers are looking for when they purchase your product or service, but so you know what other factors will impact on their purchase decision?

Do they care about price, or payment terms? Is customer service or quality important to them? More important that price?

What about the method of making a purchase? Do they prefer to go into a shop or an office to view the product or are they happier buying on-line? Are they looking for personal service from the owner of the business or is it the brand of the product that is important?

The Next Step?

So you now know who your customers are and what they care about. Now you need to work out how you will find them!

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