Developing my Customer Profile

A customer profile provides a clear picture of the type of person or business you are currently serving or planning to serve. This information helps drive your marketing strategy, promotional design and sales tactics. Typically the customer profile will include customer demographics, buying patterns and psychographic characteristics, which help determine why customers buy and their lifestyle preferences.We hereby aim to provide you with a potential structure to identify your major customer groups, their distinguishing characteristics, and the market research needed to develop your customer profile.

Segmentation serves the following functions:

• To identify if the segment is large enough to serve profitably;
• To identify segments that can be efficiently reached by marketing efforts; and;
• To help develop marketing programs.

Without segmentation, organisations risk wasting marketing budgets and efforts on uninterested people.

4 Tips to Creating An Ideal Customer Profile to Reach Target Audience

Directions – eventually follow the steps below to develop your customer profile.

A).  Identify major customer groups

Although customers come in all shapes and sizes, generally they can be grouped into broad categories that represent the majority of your buyers. List your major customers groups below and indicate whether they are consumers (B2C) or customers (B2B).

B).  Develop customer profiles

Customers can typically be described through demographic variables (for example age, gender, geographic location), psychographic variables (why they buy), and buying behaviours (where, when, what and how they buy). Use the appropriate checklist to help you define a customer profile for each of your major customer groups.

Demographics (age, gender, geographic, location)

B2C Customers

• Age
• Gender
• Profession
• Education level
• Household income level
• Marital status
• Number of children
• Geographic location
• Other….

B2B Customers

• Number of employees
• Organizational structure
• Location of headquarters
• Types of products and services they provide
• Annual revenue
• Number, size, and location of branches
• Year founded
• Other…

Psychographics (why they buy)

B2C Customers

• Lookup typologies like VALS, Value frameworks etc.
• Liberal, conformist or experimental?
• Environmental-friendly
• Socially conscious
• Family-oriented
• Trend follower
• Other classifications….

B2B Customers

• Market leader
• Innovative or conservative?
• Environment-friendly
• Employee & family friendly
• Fast growing, accepting new ideas
• Other…

Buying behaviours (where, what, when and how they buy)

B2C Customers

• What benefit is the customer looking for?

How often will they purchase?

• What is the customer’s decision-making process?
• What factors are most important to your customers?

Price, quality, brand recognition, customer service, variety of services, discounts, packaging, convenience of location, store appearance, guarantees/warrantees, technical support, flexibility of payment terms, other…

B2B Customers

• What benefit is the customer looking for?

How often will they purchase?

• What is the customer’s decision-making process?
• What factors are most important to your customers?

Price, quality, brand recognition, customer service, variety of services, discounts, packaging, convenience of location, store appearance, guarantees/warrantees, technical support, flexibility of payment terms, other…

Questions you might like to look at:

B2C Customers

• How many family members are typically in your customer’s households?
• What hobbies and sports do your customers enjoy?
• What type of entertainment do they enjoy?
• What publications do they subscribe to?

B2B Customers

• What growth stage is the company in?

What is the type of workforce they employ (age, education level, part-time)?

• Who is the decision maker in the business you are selling to?
• Do identifiable common characteristics of managers or executives exist?
• What is the company’s culture?
• What is the management style?
• What publications do they subscribe to?

C).   Identify research needed on major customer groups.

Additional research regarding your customers will help you determine the size of your target market, how to reach potential customers, and how to best sell your products or services. What market research would be helpful on your major customer groups? Note this information in the right-hand column of the worksheet below:

Customer profiling worksheet.

D).   Conduct the actual research…

On top of this…a few things to consider:

Measurability – Can your client realistically identify the segment?

Accessibility – Can your clients realistically reach the segment through proper marketing mix?

• Deliver the message: advertising, sales force, or distributors, etc.
• Deliver the product: transportation, warehousing, etc.

Substantiality – Is the market large enough? Shrinking? Growing? Maturing?

Profitability – Are potential margins adequate to generate profit commensurate with risk, effort, and expense?

Competitors – Are competitors interested? Not worth their effort? If not, why? Does your client have some special competitive advantage that will allow them to succeed when competitors do not feel they can?

Effectiveness – Does your client have the capabilities and resources to market the product? lf not, can they get them or work jointly with others who have the needed capabilities or resources?

Defendability – Are there natural barriers to entry, such as patents, proprietary processes, licenses, unusual talents, skills, or knowledge, to keep competitors from entering the market? Are there other means to prevent attack by competitors? Who are the competitors? Are there reasonable substitutes for your client’s product?