10 ways to find out what your customers (really) want

August 4th is National Pampering Day. According to thefreedictionary.com:
pam-per-ing (verb, means to)
indulge with every attention, comfort, and kindness; spoil; the act of indulging or gratifying a desire; gratifying tastes, appetites, or desires

Have you ever had someone try to make you happy, not with what you truly wanted, needed or desired, but who tried to make you happy by giving you what they believed you should want. In other words, they wanted you to be happy with what they wanted to give you, without having an understanding of your real desires (or even in spite of them).

I have. I was in a long term relationship with a man who tried to keep me in the relationship with things that he gave me, rather than working to improve the relationship. He mistakenly thought that things and money (or the threat of losing things or money) could keep me in a relationship that was really not working for me.

Without hitting that nerve too hard, I think that there’s a parallel to be made to the relationship you have with your customers, and to the idea of pampering your customers on National Pampering Day, and every day.

By definition, in order to pamper your customers you have to have a real handle on their true needs and wants. If you try to guess what your customers want or give them what you would want (if you were them) then you could be missing the mark by a wide margin. What’s more, if people feel that you are trying to coerce them to remain in a relationship with your business by giving them something they don’t really need or want, it could lead to a loss of trust, loss of customer confidence, and to the loss of customers themselves.

In business you get what you want by giving other people what they want. (Alice MacDougall)

So how can you know what your customers want? In the spirit of National Pampering Day, here are 10 ways to find out what your customers really want, so that you can spoil them!

1. Ask customers what they want in surveys at the point of sale or to follow up after appointments or purchases by e-mail.
2. Create a formal customer suggestion system. Respond to each and every entry, even if it only to acknowledge that you heard the request and will keep it in mind for the future. If you implement changes based on customer requests, publicize this in your e-mail newsletter, direct mailings to customers,and/or in signage noting which new products, services or process improvements were added specifically because of customer requests.
3. Add a product or service request form to your website.
4. Poll your employees (especially those employees who have the most contact with your customers).
5. Implement an incentive program to reward employees or even customers who make suggestions that result in improvements to the customer experience.
6. Network with peers—even competitors—to share ideas, discuss common customer complaints or requests and brainstorm solutions, and to share ideas which lead to improvements in the customer experience.
7. Respond to each and every customer complaint. Acknowledge the individual and their feelings. If you made a mistake, apologize, and do what you can to make it right. Be transparent.
8. Be available. Spend time interacting personally with your best customers (or with all customers).
9. Make personal contacts with your most valuable customers throughout the year to gauge satisfaction and to ask “What could we do better?”
10. Communicate with your customers. From old-school community bulletin boards to e-mail newsletters, a blog site, Facebook, Twitter and other social media, it’s never been so easy to converse with your customers and prospects. Engage in two-way dialogue, ask provoking questions, hold contests, and solicit feedback—whether negative or positive—and monitor and respond to public feedback.

Elizabeth Kraus – 12monthsofmarketing.com
365 Days of Marketing is available on amazon.com in book and digital formats.