Target Market, Customer Profile and Consumers

Target Market

• It is the specific group of people that a company has determined are the most likely to use its products or services
• Shared needs or characteristics include age, income, and lifestyle

Customer vs. Consumer

• Customer and consumer are often used interchangeably, but they are not the same
• A consumer uses a product or service for personal or business purposes
• A customer buys a product or service, but might not be the end user or consumer

Customer Profiling

• It is identifying ideal customers based on a set of distinctive characteristics like interests, behavior, location, and demographics
• Creating buyer personas is the most common method for it, which are semi-fictional characters
• Other identifiers include demographics, location, hobbies, preferred social media channels, likes and dislikes, purchasing patterns, psychographics, and credit history
• By assigning a profile to each customer, businesses can consistently improve or develop new products and services that appeal to a group of customers

Customer Segmentation

• It is the process by which a business divides customers based on common characteristics, such as demographics or behaviors
• Marketing or sales teams can reach those customers more effectively with the information
• Enables technopreneurs to comprehend their customers, make better decisions, provide more individualized customer support, and increase customer loyalty
• Understanding customers is essential to the success of a business
• Customer segmentation is a crucial component of that understanding
• There is no one-size-fits-all strategy for successful customer segmentation

Customer Segmentation Models

• Demographic Segmentation includes age, gender, income, education, and marital status
• Geographic Segmentation includes country, state, city, municipality, and town
• Psychographic Segmentation includes personality, values, attitude, and interest
• Technographic Segmentation includes mobile, desktop, apps and software used
• Behavioral Segmentation includes tendencies and frequent actions, habits, features or product use
• Needs-based Segmentation includes products or service must-haves and needs of specific groups
• Value-based Segmentation includes economic value of a particular customer group
• Firmographic Segmentation includes grouping customers based on shared organization attributes

Relevance to Technopreneurship

• 91% of consumers own a mobile phone
• Online shopping is now a mainstream activity
• An average internet user has up to eight social media accounts
• 30% of online consumers use virtual private networks to secure their personal information
• 75% of consumers purchase products online every month

Methods of Customer Profiling and Segmentation

• Use a customer profiling template with pre-made templates
• Choose customer profiling software, first collecting information from current clientele
• Analyze demographics, first by looking at demographics from the outside, more deeply into needs, and finally at what the business offers
• Collect customer feedback through customer interviews and surveys
• Review customer journey map of challenges, needs, and goals
• Focus on the problem and solution, looking at who their customers are—or will be—how and why they use the product or service
• Examine contextual details and all the information gathered
• Understand the industry and also define brand identity
• Build personas or fictional profiles representing a target audience's group of similar people
• Analyze and iterate on customer personas, collecting the external factors, qualifying the contextual details, and developing a thorough understanding of how the business provides value to each type of customer

Decision-Making Process

• Stage 1: Need Recognition (Identify the Problem), where a particular requirement and issue needs resolving, and customers look for help
  • Provide evidence showing understanding of customer's areas of concern
  • Use testimonials, case studies, quotes, and social proof
  • Prove that the product or service being offered can solve their problem
• Stage 2: Information Search (The paradox of choice), where customers seek as much information as possible
  • Make the information about their product or service clear and simple to find and understand
  • Information regarding price, features, and services ought to be readily available to customers
• Stage 3: Evaluation of Alternatives (The value outweighs the cost), where customers need to determine if the advantage is worth more than the price
  • Make it clear how much the product or service is worth
  • Help users determine the value versus cost
  • Show familiarity with the competitor's products and service prices
  • Compare products or services to other services that meet their needs
• Stage 4: Make the purchase (Understand the costs, and find the right fit), where customers are prepared to purchase
  • The sales procedure needs to be easy
  • Reiterate the value and benefits of the product or service
• Stage 5: Post-purchase evaluation (Retention), where customers enter the retention phase and begin to comprehend how to utilize the product-service mix to realize the value in the early stages
  • Provide after-sales support
  • Direct new users to the features with the most significant impact
• During these phases, various experiences help customers reach a point of conversion
• All stages of their experience can be influenced
• Resources that every business provides for its customers can light the way and guide them through the process - like webinars, recommendations from friends and family, online searches and free trials