2. CUSTOMERS
An individual or business that purchases another company’s goods or
services. And as technology advances, products and services are beginning
to take their businesses online for a more diverse and wider set of
customers. But not just anyone can be a customer.
3. CUSTOMER NEEDS
• It is what drives a customer to purchase a product or
service. These can vary from person to person and the
needs can be known or unknown.
1. Functional Needs
2. Social needs
3. Emotional needs.
4. FUNCTIONAL NEEDS
These are the most tangible and obvious of the three main types of
customer needs. Customers typically evaluate potential solutions based
on whether they’ll help them achieve a particular task or function. The
product or service that best addresses their functional need is likely to be
the one they purchase, or hire.
5. SOCIAL NEEDS
A social need is a customer need that relates to how a person wants to be
perceived by others when using a product or service. While social needs
aren’t typically a customer’s primary concern when considering a purchase,
they can influence their final decision.
6. EMOTIONAL NEEDS
Emotional needs are similar to social needs in that they’re typically
secondary to functional needs. Whereas social needs refer to how a
customer wants to be perceived by others when using a product,
emotional needs refer to how a customer wants to feel.
7. CUSTOMER PAIN POINTS
Pain points are persistent problems with a product or service
that can inconvenience customers and their businesses. Or
to simply put it, they’re unmet needs waiting to be satisfied.
Any type of customer can have pain points, on an individual
level or for companies on a large scale.
1. Process Pain points
2. Financial Pain points
3. Support Pain points
4. Productivity Pain points
8. PROCESS PAIN POINTS
The process pain points refer to how businesses interact with customers by
choosing different methodologies and processes. The process-related pain
points can be:
• Connecting to the right department
• Application submission
9. FINANCIAL PAIN POINTS
The financial pain points indicate the pain of spending an excessive
amount of money on the current business that ends up with the financial
strain. The financial pain point of customers can be:
• Subscription plans or membership fees
• A high cost of repeat purchases
10. SUPPORT PAIN POINTS
Customer support is one of the important business functions. With
improper support, most of the crucial areas are impacted. Customers may
have product-related queries and most of them would expect prompt
customer support. Some common support issues are:
• Delayed response
• Lack of product knowledge
• Not available on customers preferred channel
11. PRODUCTIVITY PAIN POINTS
The process pain points are when the customer expects a more
streamlined experience when getting in touch with businesses. They want
to make the most of their time to avoid frustration. Some examples of
productivity pain points are:
• Inconvenience in using the product
• Redundancy and friction in the buying process
12. CUSTOMER DEMOGRAPHIC
• Customer demographics are categories of consumer populations
that are useful to a business for purposes, such as marketing and
product design. The term also refers to the study of such
categories in a business context. An endless number of variables
can be used to categorize customers and potential customers
such as:
• Age
• Sex
• Location
• Ethnicity
13. CUSTOMER MARKET RESEARCH
Customer research is conducted so as to identify customer
segments, needs, and behaviors. It can be carried out as part
of market research, user research, or design research. Even
so, it always focuses on researching current or potential
customers of a specific brand or product in order to identify
unmet customer needs and/or opportunities for business
growth. Customer research may be conducted via a variety of
quantitative and qualitative methods such as interviews,
surveys, focus groups, and ethnographic field studies.
14. CUSTOMER VALIDATION
Customer validation is an essential phase of the
product development process. It tests assumptions
and hypotheses about the customer problem,
target market, and product. Insights gained from
the validation phase can then be used to iterate the
product and find the right market fit. Validation
also connects the product with viable prospects
and paves the way to building meaningful products
people want and need.
15. CUSTOMER DECISION-MAKING PROCESS
Consumer decision making process involves the consumers to identify
their needs, gather information, evaluate alternatives and then make their
buying decision. The consumer decision-making process involves five basic
steps. This is the process by which consumers evaluate making a
purchasing decision. The 5 steps are
1. Problem recognition
2. Information search
3. Alternatives evaluation
4. Purchase decision and;
5. Post-purchase evaluation
16. PROBLEM RECOGINITION
The first step of the consumer decision-making process is recognizing the
need for a service or product. Need recognition, whether prompted
internally or externally, results in the same response: a want. Once
consumers recognize a want, they need to gather information to
understand how they can fulfill that want, which leads to step two.
17. INFORMATION SEARCH
When researching their options, consumers again rely on internal and
external factors, as well as past interactions with a product or brand, both
positive and negative. In the information stage, they may browse through
options at a physical location or consult online resources, such as Google
or customer reviews.
Your job as a brand is to give the potential customer access to the
information they want, with the hopes that they decide to purchase your
product or service. Create a funnel and plan out the types of content that
people will need. Present yourself as a trustworthy source of knowledge
and information.
18. ALTERNATIVES EVALUATION
At this point in the consumer decision-making process, prospective buyers
have developed criteria for what they want in a product. Now they weigh
their prospective choices against comparable alternatives.
Alternatives may present themselves in the form of lower prices, additional
product benefits, product availability, or something as personal as color or
style options. Your marketing material should be geared towards
convincing consumers that your product is superior to other alternatives.
Be ready to overcome objections—e.g., in sales calls, know your
competitors so you can answer questions and compare benefits.
19. PURCHASE DECISION
This is the moment the consumer has been waiting for: the purchase.
Once they have gathered all the facts, including feedback from previous
customers, consumers should arrive at a logical conclusion on the product
or service to purchase.
If you’ve done your job correctly, the consumer will recognize that your
product is the best option and decide to purchase it.
20. POST-PURCHASE EVALUATION
This part of the consumer decision-making process involves reflection
from both the consumer and the seller. As a seller, you should try to gauge
the following:
• Did the purchase meet the need the consumer identified?
• Is the customer happy with the purchase?
• How can you continue to engage with this customer?
Remember, it’s your job to ensure your customer continues to have a
positive experience with your product.
21. TARGET CUSTOMER PROFILE, PERSONA
• A buyer persona is a detailed description
of someone who represents your target
audience. This persona is fictional but
based on deep research of your existing or
desired audience. You might also hear it
called a customer persona, audience
persona, or marketing persona.
