When was the last time you took a long hard look at what makes your customer base tick?
Think customer personas – those detailed representations of the different segments of your target audience. Fueled by data driven research that map out the who behind the buying decisions of your products or services, customer personas can help inform everything from more effective copy to product development.
If you answered “it’s been awhile” or “never,” you need to keep reading.
According to a recent study by the Edelman Group, brands are failing to understand some of the fundamental motivations and concerns their customers have. Brandshare, Edelman’s consumer marketing study, surveyed 11,000 people across 8 different countries who have taken part in at least one brand engaging activity (like following a brand on Facebook) in the previous year.
The study found that 51% of respondents feel brands are underperforming when it comes to asking about their needs. Only 10% consider brands are doing this well.
It gets worse. Two research studies released this year paint an even more grim picture. Responsys surveyed over 2,000 U.S. adults to find out how they feel about their relationships with brands. 34% said “they have ‘broken up’ with a brand due to receiving poor, disruptive or irrelevant marketing messages.”
The customer engagement specialist, Thunderhead.com, conducted a similar study of U.S. consumers. After interviewing over 2,000 adults, they found ¼ would switch to a different provider after one negative experience. Close to 1 in 5 would sever ties feeling they could never re-establish trust after a significant negative experience.
| Originally published on conversionxl.com |