How do you imagine the profile of a customer who makes online purchases? Perhaps you think of someone young - woman or man - with a university education level, access to the Internet and a computer at home or owner of a smartphone that can connect anywhere. Do you think this is true? Do you really know the needs of the customer?
This exercise in imagination is relevant because the profile of some online business clients with whom we had a working relationship, broke our molds by showing us the reach of technology in remote places, and the socio-demographic characteristics of users, very different from the needs of the average client profile imagined.
One of these businesses sold candy and seeds online throughout the country. It started operations in 2009, a year in which e-commerce in the country was not yet as developed as it is now.
According to figures from the Mexican Internet Association ( AMIPCI ), the estimated market value of e-commerce in Mexico at that time was 24 billion pesos, while 5 years later - in 2014 - it had grown almost sevenfold to reach 162 billion pesos, and as expected, customer needs were not known.
One of the surprises for this online store was receiving an order from a customer over 40 years old. He lived in Guerrero Negro, a town in the municipality of Mulegé in Baja California Sur, whose population totaled 13 thousand inhabitants according to the 2010 census.
The buyer went to an internet café, rented a computer and looked kuwait phone number a supplier of sweets which he would bag up to sell on the road. He found this option which offered him a wider variety and the delivery of the merchandise to his home.
Instead of traveling several hours to the nearest supply center in Tijuana or Guadalajara, receiving assorted products at home represented a significant saving in time and distance.
Solving customer needs
The online store used the Adwords tool to advertise, received deposits or transfers to pay for the purchase, and maintained communication with customers through a toll-free telephone number and email.
Although these tactics may seem minimal to someone who runs an online store today, seven years ago they were key to meeting customer needs and generating trust, getting to know them and understanding their purchasing and consumption habits.
Although segmentation and user profiling are key to any ATL (Above The Line) or BTL (Below The Line) campaign, it is worth reviewing the needs of the customer we want to reach and knowing how their tastes, interests and purchasing preferences change.
If the business in question had remained within the imagined profile, without covering the specific needs of the client, it would have lost several buyers who thought that a man without a computer at home, or free internet access, or without a smartphone, could not be a client.
In addition to traditional market research techniques for getting to know customers, such as surveys, focus groups , ethnographies, interviews, among others, as well as digital tools from Google and Facebook or Big Data, it is worth listening to customers and systematizing the information they provide when they call by phone and ask questions that allow us to delve deeper into their tastes and needs, when they write a comment on social networks or in the post-sale task.