I recently met with a retail business executive who proudly stated that they know their customers very well. I asked a few questions:
“Have you done any research into your customer base?”
“No”
Do you have any documents that list the types of customers?
“No”
Do you know how your customers make decisions beyond price and selection?
“No”
This went on a bit longer…
However, as the founder who regularly walks the floors, the executive was able to share many anecdotes and intuitions about customers. He uses these insights in discussions with leaders, managers and salespeople.
While well-intentioned, this approach to customer insight has some drawbacks:
- Without documentation, everyone will have interpretations of the customer, their priorities and challenges, and their shopping experience
- Recency bias and strong anecdotes over-influence perceptions
- Most critically, there is risk of missing unmet customer needs
Conducting research to create customer personas and journey maps can address these issues by aligning the organization, defining focused strategies, sparking new initiatives, and ultimately better serving customers.
