Do You Know Who Your Customers Are?

Target market

In order for any marketing strategy to be successful, it’s vital that you know your target market inside and out. You should know what their common characteristics are, how they think, and what their needs are. One of the best ways to successfully identify your target market is to build a customer persona that highlights their commonalities. When you can easily articulate all of the following elements, you’ll have a pretty good grasp of who your customers are.

Demographics – This is the information that most people can identify pretty quickly. Age, income level, geographic location, sex, occupation, etc., all help to provide a general outline to your customer persona.

Needs -Next, identify the needs of your target audience. Do they need a great product at a cheap price? Do they need top notch quality, regardless of cost? Do they need detailed information about a particular topic? You can use the demographic information you collected in the first step to help answer some of these questions. You can also survey people that meet the criteria of step one to get their thoughts on the things that appeal most to them.

Current Online Shopping Habits – he next thing you need to know is how your target audience tends to engage online. Is there a particular time of day, day of the week, or time of the month they tend to shop? Do they browse a lot before making a commitment? Do they window shop? How much money do they spend online? These questions will help you determine how to design your website and the best ways to appeal to your potential customers.

Buying Personalities – Finally, take time to identify the various buying personalities of your target audience. Some will be quick decision makers who want all the relevant information in one easy to digest package. Others will want lots and lots of details that they can browse through at their leisure. Still others will want to know about the experiences other customers have had and why they should buy from you as compared to someone else. It’s important to cater to all the various buying personalities of your target market in order to reach the broadest group of customers.

As you develop your target market persona, you’ll get a better idea of what your customers are looking for and how you can best meet those needs. This is especially important if the people you’re selling to are radically different from you. Find out as much as you can about who they are and how they shop, and you’ll be well on your way to increasing online conversions.