Bridging the Gap Between What Customers Want and What Marketers Think They Want

A 2012 report from Pivot highlighted a big fissure between what marketers think their customers want and what customers actually say they want. It’s an issue that marketers continue to struggle with, even in the age of hyper-connectivity and the many avenues available for customer feedback.

Among the largest discrepancies, 76% of marketers believe they know what their customers want, yet just 34% have asked customers that question. And though 59% of customers want to “engage businesses for buying insights” and 58% for customer service, only 37% of marketers think these services are actually in demand.

While this study focuses on social customers and businesses, the common-sense takeaway is the same for marketers across all industries: You can’t give customers what they want if you don’t know what they want. Focusing on the customer experience is simply a must in the modern marketplace. If you can’t deliver what customers are looking for, they have ample options to find it elsewhere.

Data is the key to identifying what your customers want. How are they finding you, and what are they doing once they do? Collecting and thoroughly analyzing data to answer even these simple questions is a big first step to enhancing customer interaction, and in driving sales. Diving even deeper into the data will open up more opportunities. Are your customers leaving at a certain point in the purchase process? Do you need to offer another avenue to purchase, or give customers the option to connect across multiple devices or channels? Do you have customer service options where and when they’re needed? The answers to these questions are vital, and innovative data capabilities lead the way to those solutions.

How are you diving into data to better understand and generate customers?