Manufacturing Marketing Customer Research

Get to Know Your Audience for Greater Retention & Conversion

Do you find yourself thinking about customer research and then putting it off? Although manufacturing marketing customer research may seem like something you can put off for now, I recommend you lean into it instead.

Here’s why:

Customer retention = Strongest opportunity for growth
Up-selling and cross-selling = Increased revenue and profits
Competitive advantage = Attracting new customers

Showing prospects that you know and understand them will give you a competitive advantage.

You Know Your Customers

You may be thinking, “I know my customers.” And most company leaders do have a handle on their customers. Still, consider these questions before dismissing research:

• How current is your customer knowledge?
• What is it based on?
• How accessible is your knowledge to others in your company?

What I Mean by Customer Research

Customer research can take many shapes. For example, you could survey your customers — and doing routine customer satisfaction surveys is a best practice. But sometimes you need more data and you don’t want to bother your customers. That’s where secondary research and analysis works well.

Secondary Research Analyzing Current Best Customers

Collect and record the following for buyers:

• Job title and function within the company
• General age or generation
• Summary of past company purchases: i.e., bids you won
• Summary of past company inquiries: i.e., bids you lost
• Industry segment trends

Next, conduct an analysis of this information to determine your best customers’ needs and priorities. Use the findings to inform marketing and sales. Convey to customers and prospects that you understand their priorities.

Look for these insights in the data:

• Ways to target your marketing emails and website
• Ways to focus sales conversations
• Other ways to act on this knowledge to grow retention and conversion

Result: Robust Customer and Prospect Lists

The end result of conducting strategic manufacturing marketing customer research will be robust lists of customers and prospects. Take a look at our marketing automation resources for tips for organizing and using this customer data. And, as always, we’re happy to talk with you.

–parin
Managing Partner

Image credit: Adobe