Identifying and Understanding Customers

Understanding Customers

Target Market: Identifying the group of consumers a product or service is aimed at.
Demographics: Classifying the market into segments based on attributes like age, gender, income, occupation, etc.
Psychographics: This involves categorising customers based on lifestyle, personality and social class.
Actual and Potential Customers: Understanding the difference between existing customers and those who may become customers.
Industrial and Commercial Customers: Knowing the difference between customers who buy for personal use and businesses who buy for resale or use in production.

Market Research: Utilising different methods to understand customers’ needs, perceptions and satisfaction levels.
Interviews and Surveys: Useful techniques to gather quantitative and qualitative information about potential customers.
Focus Groups: Smaller gatherings of people used to discuss and gauge perceptions about a product or service.
Observation: Watching consumer behaviour can reveal important information about the needs and preferences of individual customer groups.
Customer Feedback and Complaints: Important for understanding customer experience and given performance issues.

Consumer Rights: Recognising the actual rights of consumers, including the right to safe products, accurate information, and the ability to complain.
Trades Description Act: A law on supplying products as described and not falsely.
Sale of Goods Act: Rules on buyers’ rights to return faulty goods.
Consumer Credit Act: Laws on credit agreement, outlining the information suppliers must provide and consumers’ rights to cancel.
Data Protection Act: Laws on how businesses must handle personal data of customers.

Quality of Product or Service: Ensuring that goods and services meet or exceed customer expectations.
After-Sales Service: Post-purchase interactions with customers, essential for maintaining a positive relationship with customers.
Customer Service: High-level service, interaction with customers can significantly impact satisfaction.
Handling Complaints: Efficient complaint handling and resolution can turn an unhappy customer into a satisfied one.
Customer Loyalty: Repeat customers indicating satisfaction with a product or service. Customer loyalty can be fostered with loyalty programs, excellent customer service, and consistently meeting or exceeding expectations.