Your brand spends a lot on researching your customers and have created clear profiles of customer segments. You know what the segment members do when they are not visiting you and their choice of media. You know WHO they are and WHAT they do. But do you know:

  1. WHY they do what they do?
  2. Your guests individually?

The answer to both questions is in a big trend that is sweeping the world; Focus on individuality resulting in need for customization. Brands must really learn about their customers, as the desire for individuality is driving the need for personalized products, services, and experiences.

A great example of this is Coke’s “Share a Coke” campaign where Coke introduced bottles that had popular millennial first names. Coke then evolved to semi-personal labels beyond first names, like “better half”, then adding last names and finally, names of famous vacation spots. This was Coke’s way of inviting more people individually to the campaign and has evolved to the ultimate customization plan at ShareaCoke.com where you write whatever you want on your bottle of Coke. The same way Amazon’s personalization efforts resulted in custom headlines and product recommendations for each customer; Spotify’s “Discover Weekly” that delivers a curated playlist of tracks a user will like, etc.

These are examples of getting to know the customer and delivering on a product that makes the customer feel, “Aww, you really know me.” What are you doing to make your customers feel that “Aww” moment?

 

A Story:
Can You Go Wrong With A Bottle Of Wine?

J, a friend of mine, just bought a new home. Two weeks after closing, he came back home one evening to find bottle of wine with a note from the real estate agent on the deck. J and his wife really enjoyed working with the real estate agent and were touched that the agent was thoughtful enough to leave them a gift. The real estate agent continued to leave wine, one bottle every month.

After the second bottle, my friend was not impressed any more. “We do not drink any alcohol. During our real estate search, we had quite a few meals with the agent. He did not remember the simple fact that we told him over and over, that we do not drink any alcohol. The first bottle, while not something we wanted was accepted as it was meant as a thank you for your business.” The following bottles caused J and his wife to start to question, “If the agent was not paying attention to this, what else did he miss as he helped us buy this home?”

The gift of bottles of wine, showed that the agent did not know his customer.

 

Questions for You:

Checklist for your customer learning.

Are you:

  1. Going beyond research?
  2. Learning about individual customers’ needs?
  3. Using learning to deliver personalized solutions?