Customer insights are an invaluable and strategic source of information for every business today – however big or small. The information age has succeeded in increasing awareness in the minds of consumers. Today’s informed customer is the by-product of technological advancements that led to the evolution of what is known as the “Age of the Customer”, as Forrester research puts it. The needs and preferences of customers are gaining ground. The market has become more customer-centric than ever – making customer insights more powerful. The primary focus of every business today is to obtain clear visibility into the minds of customers and deliver quality products and services to cater to their needs.

Customer insights in 2021 and technology

Technological innovations and digitization have been of immense help to business ventures in terms of obtaining customer insights. Especially in the aftermath of the deadly 2020 pandemic, the benefits of digitization have been deeply felt by consumers, business ventures, and other service providers. They increasingly make use of online resources and digital tools to obtain all the information they need to keep abreast of changing customer trends.

How to get high-quality customer insights

Fortunately, collecting data is no longer a hassle these days. With the increasing popularity of e-commerce ventures, companies can now gain access to the purchasing preferences, patterns, and decisions made by customers.

The right customer insights can have a far-reaching impact on business results. Information pertaining to the browsing history of customers, the time they spend on a particular webpage or an app, and so on can help businesses obtain valuable insights they can use to make strategic decisions. Improving the quality of customer insights will help businesses come up with better marketing and sales strategies. It will also help them provide customer offerings in line with their needs and requirements. This will lead to better customer experiences and higher levels of customer satisfaction.

Five quick ways to improve the quality of customer insights

Improving the quality of customer insights is perhaps even more important than collating them. There are different ways to do this.

i. Decide upon your objective and prepare a framework

A clear-cut framework and objective are critical – even before you can begin collecting customer data.

Why is this important? Studies reveal that only 0.5% of the data collected is put to use. If the information collected proves unusable, it will automatically lower the quality of your customer insights. Every question that you ask your customers should correspond with their experiences and connect back with your end-objective.

ii. Reach out to the right people to obtain the right information

In order to obtain high-quality customer insights, you need to gather premium information. The first step to do this is to decide on the target group of customers from whom you can derive this information. Having a good, verified customer database will be extremely helpful in connecting your questions to the right user groups.

iii. Gather information from a variety of sources

Consider new and improved means to collect information from your customers. Instead of sticking to traditional methods, like conducting online surveys or research, you can ask for customer feedback via text or WhatsApp messages. You can gain a lot of insights about user experience and satisfaction from social media too – a goldmine of customer information.

iv. Coordinate with your team

It is important for you to convey the information obtained from customer surveys to others who are a part of your enterprise. It also helps to learn from the teams that are directly in touch with customers – your sales force or customer service desk, for instance. Their observations on consumer behavior can be more powerful than those gathered from any feedback survey.

v. Make feedback questionnaires crisp, concise, and inviting

Simply said, the content of your questionnaires should attract the attention of your customers. They should not be too lengthy, verbose, or time-consuming. This will help increase the frequency of responses as well as the volume. Phrasing feedback questions is a fine blend of science and art. Well-worded and targeted questions can improve the quality of customer insights.

To gain high-quality insights, you must be prompt and quick in framing the right questions, asking them, and capturing information. All the data you collect must be then analyzed and put to use accordingly, to extract the right insights. This process is critical for companies to survive amid the cut-throat competition today.

Using the latest instant feedback capture and analytics tools available in the market can visibly improve the quality of your customer insights. Dropthought is one such highly rewarding platform.

To know more, simply click here!