Our sales are low this quarter. Let’s give discounts to customers.
With over ten years in marketing, I’ve often come across this advice in different startups. But here’s the catch: discounts aren’t a magic fix for business growth.
They might help from time to time, but relying on them too much reveals a bigger problem. It’s like having a puzzle with a missing piece — the one that connects your product to your customers.
This missing link means your business isn’t relevant to customers because you do not know them enough to answer their needs. I faced this challenge when I worked for a ride-sharing service.
We were doing well in Germany, but things didn’t go as planned when we tried to grow in Paris.
In Paris, people liked scooters for commuting, so there was market demand.
We spent a lot on email campaigns, but our business didn’t grow. There was a limited number of regular customers. We gave discounts without knowing what our customers needed.
So, it was time to profile our customers. I put on my consumer psychologist hat and began customer profiling.
Customer profiling explores customers’ needs and expectations. It is the backbone of your marketing strategy, so you need reliable insights.
You must use online surveys and interviews for the most reliable results.
Starting from scratch, we created a short online survey using Survey Monkey.
Targeting engaged Parisian customers, our survey questioned our assumptions:
Here is our example survey design by Survey Monkey.
The survey results revealed a clear mismatch between our assumptions and the reality:
We talked about convenience, but they wanted freedom. They used our service for special occasions rather than daily commutes. Still, we needed deeper insights with interviews.
Why do customers use our service occasionally? Why do they value fixed pricing?
We crafted interviews for thirty survey respondents, keeping these questions in mind. After the interviews, the participants received $10 for their time.
We needed to make the interview feel like a chat, not an interrogation. So, it was important to spare quality time for the interview plan.
Here is what we had at the end:
Why?
In casual conversations, people share more about themselves.
Why?
Revenue-driving marketing comes with relatable content that refers to customers’ use cases.
Why?
The customers’ feelings toward our service are key to creating customer loyalty.
Why?
Your customers’ opinion of pricing helps your business stand out from competitors.
After the interviews, it was time to reveal the needs and expectations of our customers. The first step is to clean the interview notes and write a summary.
Here is an example:
“This customer is a young professional who works in tech. They use our service mainly on weekends to get to special events. They think our scooters are stylish. They feel good using our service because they are ahead of others on the road. They enjoy getting on a date without hassle, with no sweat and no smell. They like the flexibility of fixed pricing as they do not count the minutes.”
Then, we made a word cloud from the summaries to see common topics. It took about a month, but we finally got a clear picture.
The common needs of our customers – in a word cloud. Source: Monkey Learn.
The reasons why customers choose us:
With the needs spotted, we could define our full customer profile:
Example customer profile. Image by Canva.
What happened when we changed our communication strategy with customer profiles?
The newsletter conversion rate tripled. People who opened our emails had a ride three times more.
Most importantly, we doubled our revenue in a month that we had called a stagnant market. Our business had significant revenue growth after refreshing our communication strategy.
Customer profiles will be a game-changer for your business. Start building your customer profile now to grow your business.
I’m Selen, a seasoned CRM & customer lifecycle expert currently working at Wolt. Here is my Linkedin for more collaboration.