Behavioral Science

Do You Really Know Your Customers?

by . October 10th, 2014

When creating a company, a project, or even a blog, the first questions that come into mind are:

  • What do we do?
  • How do we do it?
  • Why do we do it?

And even though these are the questions that start our creations, we tend to veer off from our original purpose because we think of those questions in that order, when in fact, it should be the other way around. Start with why. End with what.

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CarliJean
In the book Art of Seduction by Robert Greene, he states that the first thing we need to do to get to whoever we want is to know ourselves and know our “victims.” Without knowing ourselves, we may seem erratic and not confident in all our actions. Without knowing who we’re targeting, we come off as not empathetic and either boring or annoying. Without knowing these two aspects, we can easily lose sight of what we should be doing, just as it dooms our projects before they even start.

Knowing yourself can be as simple as sitting down and meditating on yourself, however knowing the customer could get tricky. What they tell others about you, especially in personal private conversations, will almost always be more honest than what they tell you.

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Dogancan
By becoming your own Double O Agent and delving into the community anonymously, you will find people that wish to believe in your product but are dissatisfied with some aspects. Listening in to these people will give you advice that will increase customer satisfaction, while more or less sticking to the path you desire.

Always be friendly and approachable.

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BrooklynMorgan
Even if you’ve created some posh luxury brand, you should never be more important than your customers (which is different from knowing your market and narrowing it down). Spend time with them and get to know them. The closer your relationship is with your customers, the higher the possibility of your passion for the product rubbing off on them, thus making them more honest.

And remember that this is not a sprint where you push all your efforts into one single event and just forget about it. No. This is a marathon. This process is going to last until the business dies. It’s going to grow up with you and your market. Not as a tool, but as family.

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Topich
With all of this in mind, look for all of the good venues that will lead to the kind of traffic you deserve and take all of them.

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