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Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.

Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.

Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

No two customers are exactly alike, and that’s a good thing. Your customer base is comprised of a multitude of personalities, needs, experiences, and priorities. Their individual paths led them to you. Now, it’s your job to figure out the best way to approach them and turn them into paying customers, and hopefully fans for life.

The first step in doing this successfully is knowing the different customer types and what makes them tick. From there, you can tailor your approach to highlight your brand and show off what makes you a great company to do business with.

Let’s take a deeper dive into the six common types of customers, how to identify them, and most importantly, how to speak their language.

How to Identify Customer Types for Your Business

How to Deal with Different Types of Customers

Effective Marketing Relies on Understanding Customer Types

Tip: Learn more about customer segmentation and customer segmentation software.

First things first: you must know the various types of customers. If you’re looking for an exact number of customer types, it largely depends on how broadly or specifically you define them.

Here’s how we break them down into six main types:

Call them researchers, tire kickers, or mildly interested – most importantly, potential customers are considered top-of-the-funnel prospects.

Consumer types at the top of the funnel need a bit more work to convert. They don’t know your business or brand yet. They’re not sure about your value or why they might need your product or service.

Some curious customers stumble upon you during their research. They have a specific problem they’re looking to solve and want to explore their options. Others might be exposed to your brand via advertising and want to learn more about what you do.

No matter how they found you, their top priority is to seek information so they can move forward, with or without purchasing.

Consumer types that know your value but aren’t quite ready to pull the trigger can still become paying customers. They just need a little help tipping the scales in your favor.

These customers are informed about your business and brand, to a degree. Maybe they’ve taken a demo of your software or sampled your product. They’re aware of their problem and that you have a potential solution to their needs. They just aren’t sure whether to choose you or a competitor.

Customers that are ready to buy need no further convincing. In many cases, these are need-based customers that have to make a decision. Many of these customers start out at the top of the funnel and move down with nurturing. 

They also don’t let obstacles get in their way once they’re ready to buy. If the price is a little out of reach, they will rethink their budget and find a way to afford it.

Some are impulsive customers. They know a good thing when they see it and don’t need to do any research. However, impulse buyers are usually not loyal customers. They buy on a whim, which means they might also buy from your competitors in the future if the right opportunity arises.

Consumer types that are ready to act on purchase decisions want to do exactly that: Buy! They have a specific need to fill. They don’t want to jump through extra hoops and prefer a seamless experience all the way.

Bargain hunters prefer to buy from companies that give them the best overall value for their money. They often won’t buy from you unless you offer a discount or coupon; in many cases, this deal needs to be pretty substantial compared to the regular price.

Upselling to this type of customer is challenging. Getting repeat business from this customer without offering future discounts is also next to impossible. But discounts don't have to be your standard business model. There needs to be high value involved, and it needs to be obvious to maintain this type of customer relationship.

The holy grail of all customer types, the loyal customer is arguably the most desirable. They love your company or brand so much that they will always buy from you, even when a cheaper offer exists elsewhere. They typically spend more with your company and will even become brand advocates and tell their friends and family to do business with you, too.

You don’t have to offer discounts and incentives to maintain their loyal business. Price becomes less of an issue, and a bad experience carries less weight with this type of consumer. They may be more willing to forgive and forget if they don’t have a perfect experience.

The opposite of a loyal customer, a dissatisfied customer is often viewed as a lost business opportunity. Maybe they had a bad experience. Maybe you quit offering the discount that attracted them in the first place. Maybe you didn't fully know their customer needs. Whatever the reason, they’ve shut the door on your relationship.

But don’t think that door is locked forever. Even with angry customers, you can find ways to provide them with better service. Your dissatisfied customers might want to come back and give you another shot. Those customers already know you, so use that to your advantage.

Every business has a patchwork of these six customer types. But how can you identify them on an individual basis? And more importantly, how should you approach each one along their customer journey?

You can learn a lot about a customer or prospect’s priorities based on their behaviors and interactions with your business. For example, a Curious Customer might look at your company’s About Us page to learn more about you, while a Ready-to-Buy Customer might visit your product pricing web page.

Here are some telltale signs to look for:

<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Type of Customer</th>
<th>Stage(s) of the Customer Journey</th>
<th>What to Look For</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>The Curious Customer</td>
<td>Awareness</td>
<td>Clicks on an ad; follows on social media; visits website; reads blog content</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>The On-the-Fence Customer</td>
<td>Consideration, Purchase</td>
<td>Reads case studies; adds to cart or completes part of check-out but doesn’t finish; checks for online reviews; schedules a demo or requests a sample</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>The Ready-to-Buy Customer</td>
<td>Purchase</td>
<td>Completes the checkout process; signs up for service</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>The Discount Customer</td>
<td>Consideration, Purchase</td>
<td>Searches for a coupon code; visits an affiliate site before purchasing; signs up for a newsletter in exchange for a coupon code; only purchases during a sale</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>The Loyal Customer</td>
<td>Purchase, Retention, Advocacy</td>
<td>Makes repeat purchases; refers others to you; participates in a loyalty program</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>The Dissatisfied Customer</td>
<td>Awareness, Consideration, Purchase, Retention</td>
<td>Drops out of funnel with or without purchasing; leaves a bad review; asks for a refund</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>

The customer journey will look and function differently for every company. That’s because your customers (and their needs and expectations) are unique to your business.

Conduct market research to learn more about your potential and current customers and their priorities. Tap into your own website and sales data to get to know your audience. The more you understand why they choose you (or a competitor), the better you can adjust your approach and cater to their individual needs.

Knowing the different types of customers is an important early step in every sales strategy. Next, you’ll want to know how to use these consumer insights to approach each customer type based on what they value.

Keep in mind that each prospect or buyer is in a different place in the customer journey. You should aim to develop a customer strategy for each consumer type to increase your chance of making sales and valuable connections.

Here are some ways you can appeal to each persona:

Curious consumer types are information seekers. They want to make an informed decision but can’t do so if they aren’t able to find what they’re looking for.

The remedy: Offer rich, detailed content that makes it easy for prospects to get to know you. Show them the value you offer and what they can expect when they buy your product. Case studies, blog articles, landing pages, and some social media branding can all help the cause.

Also, make sure to let your curious customers know how they can contact you. Show them where they can find more information, such as a resource library, or reach out via chat, email, or phone to ask questions.

On-the-fence customers have gotten to know your brand. They recognize that you could be a solution to their problem. They’re almost ready to buy, but what will make them choose you over another?

The remedy: Nurturing. Lots of nurturing. Keep reinforcing the value you bring to the table and what makes you unique. Stay in touch with follow-up emails and phone calls. Share middle-of-the-funnel content like case studies or invite them to a webinar.

This might also be a good time to offer an incentive, such as a discount, free shipping, or free upgrade. Such an offer might just be enough to tip the scales in your favor.

When customers are ready to move forward, there’s no stopping them… or is there? Even when customers are certain of their purchase, a few things may still kill the deal.

The remedy: Make it easy for customers to complete their purchases. They should be able to take care of business fast without getting wrapped up in a thousand questions, opt-ins, upsells, or questions.

Simplify your checkout process – the fewer clicks, the better. Respond quickly when customers reach out for help or questions. Waiting too long can cause them to bounce to a competitor.

Offering sales and specials is a surefire way to appeal to the discount customer. However, if you want to build long-term loyalty without offering a discount with every purchase, you’ll need to focus on building up the value you offer.

The remedy: If you offer a discount, explain the terms in plain language to the customer. If it’s a one-time deal, let them know it. Make sure to add a cherry on top so the customer knows just how much better it is doing business with you instead of a competitor. This might be 24/7 customer service, a free birthday gift, or no-hassle returns, for example. The right value can sometimes feel just as sweet as not paying full price.

Loyal customers are rocket fuel for your business. They don’t need much convincing to buy from you or tell their friends and family about you.

The remedy: Give your customers an easy way to share your brand with others. This might be a referral marketing program or simply social sharing buttons on your product pages or website.

Also, figure out what it is that makes your loyal customers love you so much, then keep doing more of those things. Turn them into repeat success stories so you can continue earning more loyal customers.

Your relationship with a customer went south. It happens even to best-in-class brands. But the brands don’t take dissatisfaction as their final answer. They turn bad experiences into learning opportunities and consciously work to improve.

The remedy: Figure out what turned your customers away from you. If it’s your fault, admit it and aim to do better. Focus on the things you can control, such as improving your customer service, offering perks that your competitors are offering, or correcting an error.

Once you’ve made adjustments, you might incentivize your dissatisfied customers to give you another try.

Building an effective brand marketing strategy starts with understanding your customers. After all, they hold the key to your financial success.

Get to know each of your customer personas so you can meet them wherever they are in their journey and connect with them in their language. It’s the next best thing to reading their minds, and they’ll reward you for the effort in the form of sales, loyalty, and advocacy.

The 6 Most Common Types of Customers & How To Approach Them

What does it take to gain a competitive edge in today’s market? You could argue that price, product availability, quality, company reputation, and ease of doing business all play an important factor in gaining market share. But take a step back and you’ll see that all of these elements are about being able to identify and meet customer needs.

Companies need to stay competitive in today’s quickly evolving business landscape. If your product or service offering fails to meet consumer needs, the customer will simply go to your competitor. That’s bad for business, of course, so it’s important to stay on top of what your customers want and need, now and over time.

How can you ensure you’re delivering on customer needs and expectations? Here’s our complete guide on how to identify and satisfy the 10 most common customer needs.

Why Does Identifying Customer Needs Matter?

How to Anticipate and Meet Customer Needs

There isn’t one single best answer to this, as customer needs can take many different forms.

It could be a product-based need to fill a purpose. For example, a garden center stocks a variety of lawn care tools, plants, and décor.

It could be a convenience-based service, such as getting curbside delivery from your favorite restaurant.

Or it could be a call center that can answer specific product-related questions before a customer orders from you.

An all-encompassing definition of customer needs is this:

Customer needs are the known and unknown needs your customer relies on you or a competitor to fulfill.

Pay attention to that word, unknown. There are times when a consumer doesn’t always know what they need or want from a business, but will recognize it when they see it.

Here's a case in point: before Amazon Prime, no one was doing free two-day shipping. That wasn’t really a need on people’s minds. But now that Amazon Prime has been around for 14 years and boasts more than 200 million members, more people view fast, free shipping as a need. It’s become something of an expectation.

When Amazon introduced Amazon Prime and its famous free two-day shipping, it changed customer behavior forever. Amazon knows its audience: they value things like convenience, technology, and low prices, all of which serve as the foundation of Prime’s success.

Understanding all possibilities of customer needs means first understanding the customer journey. The customer journey is the path your customers take when taking action with your company. For example, the action might be making a purchase or signing up for a loyalty club.

Your customer journey can be a goldmine of information about how customers identify and try to fill their needs. When you learn more about their strategy to taking action, you can tailor your products and services to connect with them wherever they are and simplify their journey (and earn brownie points for your brand in the process).

In today’s omnichannel world, your customer journey likely takes many different paths. They might first discover you on Facebook, then click through from an ad to your website, then read about your business on online review sites, for example.

To learn how to visualize and map the customer journey, check our free on-demand webinar.

Being proactive in identifying customer needs is the surest strategy for long-term growth and success. It nurtures strong relationships with customers and shows you really care about them and not just making a sale.

When you become a company built around the concept of customer focus, a few things can happen:

Customer-centric companies know that when they can anticipate and solve customer needs, they stand a better chance of building loyalty with that customer. Loyalty is one of the highest forms of flattery for brands. It reduces costs to acquire new customers since your loyal fans often act as free brand ambassadors. It can also help you earn repeat business without relying on expensive marketing.

When you achieve customer expectations, their opinion of you increases. Consistently achieve customer expectations and they’ll keep coming to you to solve future needs.

You become the type of brand they can rely on and trust to meet customer requirements. And, the stronger the relationship you build with your customers, the more forgiving they are if you don’t meet their expectations one day.

Identifying Customer Needs Becomes Part of Your Culture

Practicing something over and over makes that thing become more of a habit. You don’t need to think about it as often or try as hard to get the same results. Something similar happens when you become a customer-centric company.

Instead of making identifying customer needs an occasional chore, you can build it into your company culture and capture more opportunities to deliver.

You can start to shift toward a customer focus by listening to your customers, following the customer journey, and learning more about who buys from you. Collect audience insights that go beyond basic demographics to get deeper knowledge about your customers. The Meltwater consumer intelligence suite collects consumer insights that can help you with this.

Shoppers turn to businesses for solutions for a variety of reasons. Some are looking to alleviate customer pain points, such as simplifying a task or fixing a problem. Others might choose you to save money, or spend more money to get a better experience than your competitor offers.

Some of the most common customer needs include:

Customers that are shopping in a specific price range or are bound by a strict budget will choose the products, services, and companies they do business with accordingly.

Customers are increasingly less willing to jump through hoops to fulfill their needs. They need products that are convenient solutions to their problems, and they need companies that make it convenient to locate and purchase those products.

Kroger has mastered this with its online grocery ordering that can be picked up at brick-and-mortar stores. The company even made a video and FAQ to show customers exactly what to do.

How to Shop Kroger Grocery Pickup | How to Shop at Kroger| Kroger

Sometimes, customers choose products based on the way in which they work to solve basic needs. For example, a business owner on the go might choose a cloud phone system over an on-premises one so they can take calls outside the office.

Similar to functionality, customers might choose a product based on design. The Android vs. iPhone battle is a classic example of this. Some people prefer the simplistic iOS interface and functionality over the Android, which is more customizable.

Businesses that offer complementary products should consider how those products work together for the end-user. Likewise, consider the other products your customers are using and see how your product offering can complement them.

For example, home meal kits like HelloFresh are now offering side salads, quick and easy lunches, and even desserts to complement their main dining options. This offers customers a more complete grocery package and may save them a trip to the store for other essentials.

Customers that want their investment in a product to last and get their money’s worth are often focused on product quality.

This could be the difference between choosing a cheap pair of sandals from a mass merchandise store versus purchasing a pair of Chacos, which can last for 10 years.

Customers that aren’t ready to purchase might need more information. Content on your products or services, such as educational blogs, demo videos, reviews, and FAQs can help them find answers to their questions and move forward with confidence. A case study might also prove beneficial.

Project management tool Asana offers an excellent knowledge base chock full of project examples, tutorials, online courses, and other resources so users can unlock the platform’s full potential.

Some customers look for products that streamline an otherwise lengthy process. This might be a powerful hairdryer to speed drying time, a block of firestarter, a no-scrub shower cleaner, or social media management tools like the Meltwater Influencer Marketing Platform help to streamline content publishing, for example.

Options can mean different things to different customers. For example, SaaS companies like HubSpot offer businesses the flexibility to pay for a subscription on a monthly or annual basis.

Or, a customer that’s in the market for a new oven might want to explore different finishes, colors, and features. They might also want different ways to pay for that oven, including a lump sum payment with cash or credit card or set up a monthly payment plan.

Customers need to be able to access a company or its products or services at a time that works for them.

Walgreens has done a good job of this by extending its pharmacy services into its store app. Customers can check and refill prescriptions via the app without having to wade through the store’s auto-attendant or be put on hold.

It’s one thing to know that you need to meet customer expectations to maintain good customer relationships. But it’s another to put ideas into action.

How can brands anticipate and meet customer needs on a consistent basis?

Let’s look at some customer needs analysis methods that can point you in the right direction.

When you want to know what your customers need and want from you, why not go straight to the source? Customer relationships thrive on honest, thoughtful feedback. This is your opportunity to get inside your customers’ minds, learn what makes them tick, and understand how they view your company.

You can make customer feedback collection a natural part of doing business through email surveys, focus groups, or online forms. Or, you can check for unsolicited feedback sources like online reviews or social media comments.

Put the feedback you gather to good use in identifying customer needs that you might have overlooked.

If you prefer to take an indirect approach to customer research, gathering intel such as audience insights can help you get to know more about your customer base as a whole.

You can also conduct market research through market intelligence using a tool like the Meltwater consumer intelligence suite to learn more about your audience, competitors, and industry at large. Market research can reveal new opportunities to get in front of your ideal customer, learn more about customer behaviors, and monitor the market so you can fine-tune your approach.

A Means-End analysis takes the conversation a step further by looking at why customers would buy from you. The reasons typically fall into one of three groups:

As you could probably guess, the reasons consumers might buy from you can vary widely. It's important to collect as much raw data from your buyers as possible, sort it into the three Means-End groups, and figure out how you can solve for each.

Once you start collecting feedback and getting insights from your customer needs analysis, it’s time to put your newfound knowledge to work. This might mean creating helpful content to empower your customers, or it could be expanding your product or service offering to bring more value to your customers’ lives.

Remember, anticipating and meeting your customers’ needs isn’t a one-and-done activity. Brands that make this an ongoing objective are the ones that are best positioned to build long-term loyalty and growth. Present yourself as an authentic customer-centric company and your customers will thank you for it.


How To Identify & Satisfy The 10 Most Common Customer Needs

Understanding your audience is challenging at the best of times, even when consumer behaviour is predictable, but Covid-19 has made this that more difficult since the way we live, eat and shop has rapidly transformed. It, therefore, brings little surprise that a recent Marketing Week and Econsultancy study found that 53% of marketers believe the Covid-19 pandemic caused ‘radical’ or ‘significant’ changes to the customer journey. 

As leaders do their best to steer their organisations through uncertainty, one of the key changes we’ve seen is the relocation of budget and attention from acquisition to retention. More than 78% of enterprise/ medium-sized companies and almost 65% of small businesses said that customer-centric agility has increased in importance as a result of the pandemic. 

But what do we mean by customer-centricity and how can we keep up with rapidly changing consumer behaviour? We asked a handful of industry experts their advice for brands wanting to engage audiences of today. Here’s what they said…

Q: How do you think COVID-19 has shifted audience behaviour?

“The current pandemic has no real comparison point in modern history. This means most historical data is at best incomplete, and at worse, irrelevant. What we do know is that moments of crisis often reshape our cultural values and individual psyche. From a marketing perspective, most brands will need to rip up their marketing playbook and radically update their customer personas and communication strategy because ‘same old’ doesn’t work in a new world.

The pandemic is likely to produce two distinctive behavioural archetypes: people who have embraced a new lifestyle and those who have largely remained unchanged. Some brands will need to figure out how to win back old customers with new mindsets. Whereas other brands will use the opportunity to steal market share by appealing to consumers' newly formed lifestyles. Inevitably, there will be winners and losers. 

In order to stay on top, brands need to adopt a more responsive approach to consumer research and their communication strategy by using consumer insights tools (for example the Meltwater consumer intelligence suite) and by embracing real-time qualitative insights and building communities of advocates to source an ongoing stream of ideas and inspiration to fuel new growth opportunities."
- Kian Bakhtiari, Forbes CMO Network contributor

Q: How can brands keep on top of audience trends and expectations in the ‘new normal’ world?

"Many consumer trends will change, some will go back to normal. The trick is to determine which ones will stick. I am advising my clients to absorb as much information as possible, and not take any assumption for granted. Whatever we thought we knew about consumers cannot be counted on now, and we need to re-learn with urgency.

How will our customer spending habits change? Will they have less to spend?

Are they buying products the same way, or are they purchasing through new channels?'

Have new competitors emerged? Have old ones gone away?

Can we demonstrate our value to customers like before or have sales and marketing processes been disrupted?

It's important that we don't dwell on worst-case scenarios - that almost never happens. Instead, think about the highest likelihood these factors will be changing, and if you’re ready to meet the needs.”
- Mark Schaefer, author of "Marketing Rebellion: The Most Human Company Wins”

"In a time of crisis, we are witnessing a perpetual renewal of uses from the customers and it’s more important than ever for brands to take context into account by listening to their audience. Social listening has become essential for a better understanding of the needs of users in order to guide brand decisions, whether they are corporate, commercial, marketing or even advertising decisions. 

More than ever, brands need to be audience-centric by responding to the needs of consumers directly. This is the end of superficiality and the return to authentic and proximity-based communication. Brands need to accelerate their commitment to strong values, consumers have become more uncompromising and will want proof of brands' actions. On social media uses, brands must avoid top-down messaging and switch to 'conversational mode' in order to ensure responsive customer service and provide answers to customers. Encouraging interaction, co-creating generously and being helpful have become the new concepts post-crisis."
- Jonathan Chan, Digital Project Manager / Community Manager, Dentsu Aegis Network

Q: Persona maps are a great way to personify your audience.  What common mistake do companies make when creating audience persona maps and what should they do instead?

“Audience persona mapping is a great tool to get under the skin of the target consumer when building marketing plans. Qualitative and quantitative data can be used in the process. 

Often the qualitative angle is used to paint a more personal and relatable picture of the persona. A key ‘watch out’ here is the blurred industry lens. Whether we like to admit it or not, quite often our perceived reality is affected by several factors. 

Firstly, it is hard to take a step back from our in-depth knowledge about the industry we are in. Secondly, we often overlook that our own demographic reality is not always equal to that of the majority of our consumers (e.g., education, income, trend-sensitivity & urban living). Having worked in the food and spirits industry for 14 years, I’ve often encountered marketers and agencies forgetting that we are privileged to be enjoying high-end cocktails or haute-cuisine dinners in trendy places, they forget that even trendy consumers might still struggle to mix their gin and tonic or cook their spaghetti bolognese. 

Another challenge I see is overdoing the exercise. The present-day availability of data gives us the luxury of conducting such deep analysis of the target consumer and building media touchpoint strategies so tight to their exact behaviour that we lose sight of the benefits of the overspill effect of broader media. As an example, we ran a campaign a few years back where our persona mapping enabled us to have a hyper-targeted media approach to the core of our target audience. Based on this we tightly ran social and digital campaigns and cut mass media. As an effect, we lost top-of-mind awareness amongst the slightly broader audience as our media did not have any overspill. Despite this audience not being the recruitment target, this broader group accounted for a substantial size of our business, which we endangered by being too tight.

So, let’s be conscious of our own blurred lenses and consider the benefits of media-overspill.”
- Tjalling Simoons, Marketing Director Germany & Alps, Bacardi

Q: What does customer centricity mean to you?

Customer Journey

The 6 Most Common Types of Customers & How To Approach Them

How To Identify & Satisfy The 10 Most Common Customer Needs

Knowing Your Audience in the Age of Rapidly Changing Consumer Behaviour

The Power of Audience Insights

How to Win Back Your Customers After a Bad Experience

Why Marketers and Comms Pros Get Their Customer Journeys Wrong

Retaining Customers in the Age of Dying Brand Loyalty

Most Important KPIs by Funnel Stage: Awareness

How AI-driven customer personalization is driving the top line

Customer Journey

The 6 Most Common Types of Customers & How To Approach Them

How To Identify & Satisfy The 10 Most Common Customer Needs

Knowing Your Audience in the Age of Rapidly Changing Consumer Behaviour

The Power of Audience Insights

How to Win Back Your Customers After a Bad Experience

Why Marketers and Comms Pros Get Their Customer Journeys Wrong

Retaining Customers in the Age of Dying Brand Loyalty

Most Important KPIs by Funnel Stage: Awareness

How AI-driven customer personalization is driving the top line

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