As a business owner, providing your customer with quality and satisfactory services is paramount. That will enable you to have a healthy business for an extended duration. The Harvard Business Review’s research shows that a 5% customer retention rate can increase your profit by 20 to 95%. Even though most companies experience a challenge in providing their customers with quality services, good customer loyalty can help your business to increase profits and lower costs.
The good thing is that direct consumer research can help you understand how to provide better customer service for increased retention. You can analyze your target market’s objective data to determine your customers, what influences their purchasing trends, and their preferred marketing strategies. The information will help you stay ahead of your competitors and increase revenue.
Here are five ways how direct consumer research can help you improve the quality of services you provide to your customers:
1. It Will Help You Understand Your Customers
It can be challenging to meet your customer’s expectations without first understanding them and what they want to get from your products or services. Direct consumer research can enable you to understand details about your customers, such as age, gender, financial condition, and occupation.
Additionally, it will help you understand your customers’ wants and needs, how and where they buy products and services, the amount they are willing to spend, and what contributes to their buying decision. You can forward your expectations directly to a consumer research agency to get assistance in gathering the information you need. Then, it will help you provide your customers with better quality services to fit their choices and retain them for a long period.
2. It will Help You Understand Your Competitors
Most customers’ purchasing decisions are based on the market’s influence. Therefore, it is essential to understand your competitors since you’ll know how best to satisfy your customers. You can use company profiles, market changes reports, competitive evaluations, and case studies to find the opportunities and standards to enable you to remain ahead of your competitors. It is through direct consumer research that you’ll get answers to essential questions, such as:
- Who are your competitors?
- What services do customers like or dislike from your competitors?
- What marketing approaches can you use to provide better services?
You can get a clear picture of your industry from market research outlines or use market research to get the necessary information. For example, you can understand your customer’s current and previous expectations to know how best to provide better services.
In addition, you can get your sales representatives to find out what customers are saying regarding your competitors. Then, use the information to find strategies to provide your customers with better quality services.
3. It Will Help You Know If Your Customers are Satisfied with Your Services or Not
After assessing your customers and your competitors, find out any data in your organization that may help you understand the quality of services you provide to your clients. Check all the engagement channels that may influence your customers’ experience at your company. For example, find out if your customers can easily locate essential information on your website.
Can your organization effectively resolve customer service problems through email or phone? Also, determine how customers rate their experience while buying from your competitors. You can learn the areas to improve by conducting email surveys, social media monitoring, and shopper questionnaires.
4. It Will Enable You to Know the Areas that Need Improvement
After understanding what provides your customers with satisfaction, you will find strategies to meet or surpass their expectations. For instance, if most of your customers are elderly, it would be better to advertise through newspapers than YouTube. Such tactics will improve customer engagement and make marketing campaigns more successful.
5. It Will Enable You to Know the Strategies to Use for Better Service Provision
Direct consumer research can enable you to keep up with new trends and avoid common mistakes. Effective research can help you retain loyal customers and attract new ones.
One of the things that you can do to run a healthy business is to provide your customers with high-quality services. Direct consumer research will help you understand your customers, find out if you are providing satisfactory services, enable you to understand your competitors, learn where you need to improve, and know the best strategies to use for providing quality services.
