Customer Research: how it's easy and why it's important

It's easy for you to think you know your audience. It's your product so you know it and everything that has to do with it best. But that's not always true. Sometimes you don't know everything your customers think about your product, and that's half the game. By understanding such thoughts, opinions and even suggests, you can better improve either the product itself and/or the way it's marketed in the future. 

So how do I conduct said research?

1. Try your product. It seems pretty obvious, but you'd be surprised how much you find out by pretending to be a customer. One time I worked for a company that sold their product exclusively online, so as a part of research, I went through the motions of the online purchasing procedure to make sure there was nothing confusing about the process and that the UX was enjoyable. Another time I worked for a company that opened a cafe in a grocery store, I actually went to the grocery store to see how the product was displayed and explained. 

2. Search. Again, seems simple, right? But often this part of the process is extremely overlooked. Look up your brand or product on Google reviews, Yelp, reddit, Amazon, social media, etc. Wherever you think your customers could possibly be talking about you, go there. When I worked for a coffee company, I was able to find out which locations' bathrooms weren't clean, which ones didn't have good latte art and which ones were doing great just by reading Yelp reviews.

3. Look to the competition. Whether it's their social content or advertisements, first, see what they're doing, and second, see how people are reacting to it. Look at the comments, read what the audience wants to find out about and provide such information about your company/product first. 

4. Customer support. People are extremely honest on social media. I think it's partially because they know it's not in person so they're not afraid to say anything. Go through social comments and messages, emails, etc. You'll see how people really feel about your product or brand, and it will be easy to note what needs improvement. 

5. Insights. This probably seems the most explanatory, but it's truly the best way to analyze successes and failures. Look at how well the social ad did or how few people engaged with a contest. 

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