How Customer-centric Market Research Influences Customer Behavior

MX Bites / May 21, 2024

Market research is important in business; however, its effectiveness depends on the approach and specific goal it aims to achieve. Some businesses conduct market surveys to understand customer needs before launching their product. However, their strategy might fail if the product is not presented correctly to the market. 

Effective market research, in itself, is comprehensive. Not only does it take note of the customer’s needs, but it also studies customer behaviors to find out how to influence them to make purchase decisions. It studies patterns of customer behavior and market trends to predict sustainable approaches that bring about consistency in sales and revenue growth. This article aims to provide more exposition into the details of customer-centric market research and its impact on customer behavior.

The Concept of Customer-centric Market Research 

In simple terms, customer-centric market research is any research that is done with a primary focus on the interests of the customer. It prioritizes the needs, preferences, and behavior of customers, tailoring each product to meet their specific needs. 

This model of market research is holistic in the sense that it analyzes both the present and future preferences of customers. This is both advantageous to the customers and the company.  Customers experience satisfaction with the products and services because the company thoroughly understands their needs. Consequently, the market is drawn to the company, aiding in achieving market dominance and significantly boosting revenue.

Strategies for conducting customer-centric market research

So many strategies have been devised to study the market. The simplest approach is to use well-crafted surveys to collect quantitative data on customer preferences and behaviors, ensuring that the questions are clear, concise, and aligned with the research goals. Using focus groups and conducting interviews are great ways to collect qualitative data that reveals the underlying motivation that influences customer behavior. In focus groups, customers can freely discuss specific topics, reveal insights, and curate ideas that might not emerge in individual interviews.

In conducting market research, social media listening helps businesses collect customer feedback in real-time and analyze the sentiments in the feedback. Analyzing customer sentiments can reveal information about their preferences, pain points, and how to enhance the customer experience. Social media listening is very effective for collecting information about customer behavior because customers have the habit of freely sharing their feelings about a product on social media. Therefore, their reviews on social media usually contain their exact feelings about the product or company.

How to Influence customer behavior through market research

The sole purpose of market research is to understand the customers. This is what helps to influence their decisions. Without taking time to study the market and understand their behavior, it is not possible to have an influence on them.

There are companies that dedicate as much as 1-2 years to studying the market before launching their products. In this process, they study and test the market at the same time. They can go as far as creating demo products or distributing their products freely to see how far the market will respond to them.

After conducting market research, the insights gleaned should be used to make the following decisions that positively influence customer behavior:

• • Product development: Since market research exposes customer pain points and preferences, it is advisable to quickly tailor new products to suit customer preferences. It’s not enough to keep the production and distribution of goods going; one must also make sure that the products are constantly in alignment with what the customers want. It is then that they can be influenced to make purchase decisions.
  • Personalization marketing: We all know that personalization is the way to get the hearts of customers, because they all, no matter how many they are, want to feel special. Understanding customers helps businesses know how to sell to them individually and not collectively. Personalization goes beyond sending personal emails that bear the customers’ name; it involves selling to the customers exactly the way they want it, recommending the products they want to see, sending them market trends according to their preferences, etc.
  • Customer service: Understanding the preferences of customers helps you train your employees to fashion their customer service techniques in a way that satisfies the customers. 
  • Customer engagement: Most companies enjoy engaging their customers on social media. When you understand your customers well enough, it is easy to create content they want to see and engage with. For instance, if your major customers are Americans, then you may have to introduce American slang and trends when creating content on social media. Customers in this region can relate to it and engage accordingly.

Conclusion

Influencing customers happens through a series of processes, the first of which is to understand the customers. There will be no influence without a good understanding of the customer’s behavior, pain points, and preferences, which are meant to inform you of the steps to be taken to win the interest of the market. This may now sound like a cliche, but we are in a fast-paced world, and only companies with smart moves will win the hearts of the market. It’s advisable to follow effective market research processes to attract customers’ interest in your business. It’s an investment that will be worth every dime.