What is Consumer Insight and how can it help you build closer relationships with your audience?

 

Have you ever thought how many times you researched a product or service before purchasing it? Seeking to understand the conditions of a commodity is essential when making a purchase decision.

To offer the right product and serve the consumer in the best way, companies can turn to Consumer Insight. That is, using a resource in order to understand more deeply who your consumers are and how to reach them.

Were you curious? Do you want to know more about how this process works and what is its importance in the market? Keep reading, and we'll explain.

What is Consumer Insight?

To understand how this process works, we first need to learn where this term comes from. 

In this way, Consumer Insight is nothing more than a process of collecting relevant data that helps to understand how customers think, what are their opinions, feelings and desires.

When we browse the internet, we leave traces and footprints wherever we go. Sites we enter, people we interact with and content we read.

It is through the survey, analysis and interpretation of this data that Consumer Insight does its job.

The idea is to understand and predict your consumer's buying behavior in order to devise more assertive strategies to meet their expectations.

 

Why is Consumer Insight important?

With the help of this strategy, you can understand what attracts and retains the right customers. The goal is to benefit both sides: both customers who seek to have their demands met, and companies that can be the solution.

It is worth remembering that Consumer Insight does not work like market research.

While surveys collect specific data that ends up in a report, this is a strategy that gathers information about the motivations of problems pointed out by customers and interprets this data in a context and narrative so that it can be useful.

Combining concepts like branding and persona can help you even more to understand your audience. It's interesting to collect data on social networks, e-commerce and market research about who your audience really is. You can search for information such as:

• Age;
• Geolocation;
• Consumption habits;
• Purchasing processes;
• Payment preference.

How to put Consumer Insight into practice?

The Internet becomes a great ally when it comes to data collection. Through social networks and traces in browsers like Google, it is easy to find the right information.

To collect the necessary Insights , we follow an order of steps.

These steps are the path to better marketing campaigns, more accurate actions, optimization of products or services and a more complete customer experience, they are:

Identify

The first step is to set a goal. Before starting a survey, we need to understand what problem we are facing and what are the right questions to ask to get the answer we need.

It's important to ask clear questions to learn exactly what you need to know about your customer.

Map

The next step is to map out available methods and resources. It is necessary to make clear what will be the form of data collection and the methodology used. If possible, vary sources and methods for best results.

Do not forget to define who will be responsible for analyzing and interpreting this data and use reliable techniques to reach good conclusions.

To interpret

When interpreting, it is necessary to keep in mind the search for patterns of behavior.

It is at this stage that consumers' perceptions of your company are understood, what problems they identify and what their expectations are.

It is necessary to know how to differentiate between what are quality insights and what can be taken forward to actually solve problems. The best ideas will give you a light on which way to go and how to improve your business.

To apply

With the results already in hand, it is easier to apply them. At this stage, it is necessary to analyze and compare the before and after in order to find points that can be improved.

At this point it is time to think of ways to apply the result obtained. This can be done through action plans, designing projects and even restructuring a campaign.

It is important to say that Consumer Insight is an ongoing process and that it should always be updated according to the evolution of the brand and the public itself. This way, your company is always up to date and can even predict future changes in its consumers.

Tools to use in implementing the strategy

We have already told you how to apply this strategy, but not about the tools available for this. So here are some sources:

market research

It is the most direct form of research with the consumer. In it, you can narrow communication with your customers and ask clear and objective questions and discover specific data such as demography, product satisfaction and consumption habits.

Facebook Audience Insights

Facebook Audience Insights is a very useful tool when profiling consumers. Through it, it is possible to perceive trends, find inspirations, understand preferences and demographics for your company.

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is nothing new when it comes to data analysis. It offers ways to monitor and record the performance of websites and blogs against Google.

This tool is essential to discover how your company is doing and which optimization techniques can be used to move up in the rankings.

It is an essential resource to understand which contents of your website are well positioned and which need optimization. That way, it's easier to focus on the content that your audience thinks is most relevant.

Call center

We cannot forget the support channels. Whether by chat, email or phone, consumers need to be heard, especially when they contact your company to seek support.

By listening to their suggestions, or the problems they face, it is possible to capture possible improvements.

Social networks

There is nothing better than the social networks themselves to obtain information from their users. That's where you can get to know your consumers intimately. Through big data , it is possible to capture information even about which businesses your client interacts with and their preferences.

CRM

The CRM ( customer relationship management ), or, customer relationship management operates in the registration of information from consumers, seeking to build a lasting relationship.

Here the focus is on the consumer-company bond, it is a way of recording relevant data from processes ranging from first contact to after-sales.

More than basic information such as address, telephone number and interactions with the website, the CRM is a way to create a lasting connection with the consumer and through a history, allowing the next contact to be more efficient.