Listen up! How Customers Can Guide Marketing, Product Development, and More

One of the most valuable tools available to small businesses is simple. It often requires no fancy business software, and it sometimes requires no monetary investments at all. Sometimes, all a small business has to do is listen.

Consumers and clients are a great business resource, because they are the exact audience that the company is targeting with all marketing campaigns and product development initiatives. Yet many small businesses forget this, and focus too heavily on abstract business plans and formulas.

While business plans and formulas are necessary to the success of a small business, distancing yourself too far from the target audience is a quick way for your business to flounder.

Listening to consumers and clients can take a number of forms, from market research to product development "crowdsourcing." Small businesses should feel free to choose the strategy that they are most comfortable with, though they are advised to keep the client in mind no matter what.

Market research

Marketing is one area in which consumer preferences, habits, and opinions are heavily relied upon. This is as it should be, because the entire success of a marketing campaign is based on the extent to which the message or promotion hits home with the consumer and compels him or her to act.

Consequently, behind every good marketing campaign lies good market research.

Small businesses should consider investing in market research strategies, such as focus groups, access to consumer research, and business software that allows them to track the behavior of customers and clients.

At the most basic level, even knowing what items to put on promotion relies on data about consumer spending habits. On a more advanced level, customer loyalty programs and brand-affiliated cards can be an easy way to track the spending habits of an individual consumer, fueling tailored promotions and discounts targeted at customer retention and loyalty.

General market research can help businesses decide what kind of marketing campaigns to use, and how to successfully execute them. Are your clients interested in luxury items? Are they more focused on discounts? Are they concentrated in a certain demographic? What are their media consumption habits? All of these questions can lead to a more tailored—and, consequently, more successful—marketing campaign.

Crowdsourcing

Though consumer feedback and market research most commonly falls into the category of marketing, these techniques can also be extremely helpful for more basic business decisions such as product development and business plan guidance.

For example, some businesses are going so far as to solicit support from the general public about store layout and restaurant menus, often using social media websites to ask questions about the general business development.

Movie rental service Netflix made headlines recently by implementing a crowdsourcing-based contest, challenging customers and developers to improve their movie recommendation engine. The result? Higher brand engagement and visibility for Netflix, and a more effective recommendation engine.

As for product-specific consumer feedback, there is an entire business strategy dedicated to the practice of basing product development on consumer response, something that has been coined minimum viable product.

The practice entails marketing the product before it is produced or developed, or soliciting customer feedback about certain features versus others. The results then guide product production, only if met with enough consumer demand to cover the development costs.

Customer support

One area in which listening to consumers is crucial is customer support.

As customer service is typically seen as frustrating to many clients, a company that can make the process as seamless as possible will likely see the results in their sales and customer retention.

To do so, businesses may want to consider investing in business software that allows them to chat in real-time with their clients over the company's website, to avoid potentially making them wait to speak with a representative over the phone.

Other customer service solutions include call center business software that integrates the call with customer relationship management applications to allow customer service agents immediate and real-time access to a customer's information and purchase history.

While problem-resolution customer support is integral to the success of any company, businesses that want to stand out in their sector should also consider investing in proactive customer support measures.

For example, consumer surveys and feedback mailings can provide valuable information about how the company is meeting the needs of its clients (or how it is failing to do so), which in turn can guide product development, marketing campaigns and customer service initiatives.

In addition, many companies now provide frequently asked question pages on their websites and even customer forums, to cut down on the amount of issue resolution customer service needed.

The bottom line

The bottom line is that listening to customers and clients is crucial to a company's bottom line. After all, they are the ones making the purchases and providing their business, so the companies that adequately identify, respond to, and meet the needs of their clients are well-positioned for success.