Meeting Customer Expectations: Knowing Their Needs And Making Sure They Are Served

Staying on top of the business competition is something that every entrepreneur wants but given the tight space that several industries now have due to the vast number of businesses trying to pull customers toward them, one must know some secret strategies to be able to stay on the winning side. One trick that some business owners try is learning as much information as they can about their customers.

That makes sense since one of the purpose why a business exists is to serve certain needs that customers have. So knowing what they need and learning every detail of their wants is crucial. And if a business is to succeed, it must do everything in order to meet customer expectations in the best way possible

Understanding Your Customers

There are several methods that successful businesses employ in order to understand their customers. No matter where your primary selling media is (whether it’s online or offline), you need to do some research in an effort to truly understand your customers and tailor your business so it serves the three primary customer needs that’s there is.

For instance, some business owners first perform feasibility study in a particular city before building their establishment in it. Others even give out survey forms to the residents to have a glimpse at the overall public view on particular issues, wants, and needs that are present. Understanding your customers is key to ensuring a successful business and in this article, we will learn some of the common needs that customers have so you can formulate methods and strategies that will help meet their expectations.

Customer Needs

There are three primary customer needs that you need to be aware of. Your business may focus on a particular industry but regardless of that, it must be able to serve these three needs so it can continually thrive and eventually be successful in the long run. Here’s the first customer need that you need to serve:

1. Functional Needs – Serving a Particular Use and Solving Certain Problems

This is the very first and probably the most tangible need that every customer has. Customers would always view a product or service and think whether or not it will help them solve a particular issue, do a certain task, or serve certain functions. They want a product or service that will make their life easier and better. So positioning your product as the best one that can serve any of their functional needs would put your business to the top spot. Yes! They’ll purchase a product or choose a service that effectively accomplishes the task.

The functional needs that your customers have can either be very specific or loosely broad depending on the issues or use that they have in mind and of course, your customer’s choice and purchasing criteria. Here’s an example to demonstrate this concept:

EXAMPLE: An adolescent customer will say “I need a shaver for grooming my mustache” and an adult one would have an additional specification saying “I need a shaver that has I can bring and use during travel”. Meanwhile, an older male customer who has purchased several types of shaver and ended up getting frustrated at the quality of existing brands would say “I need a high-quality shaver that will last longer than the previous ones I had”.

If you understand these functional needs that customers from different age brackets have, you’ll be able to strategize and plan on building a brand of new products that will be able to shave facial hairs while being portable and durable at the same time. From then on, you can further plan on releasing new models or open a new product line that will serve females as well. This is how you can make sense of the first customer need that’s there is and now that you have a clear understanding about it, let’s head to the second one.

2. Social Needs – How Customers Can Influence Others

This customer need primarily deals with how a particular person wants to be viewed by others after purchasing a product or using a service. This might not be a primary concern to most customers as they consider purchasing a particular product but it cannot be denied that it can influence the final decision.

Identifying the exact social needs of customers is something that is hard to accomplish because it can vary from one customer to the other. But if your business is able to decode and group social needs, looking for patterns will be an easier endeavor to deal with. And once you are able to accomplish this, definitely use that data to influence your marketing strategies, sales methods, and product development efforts.

EXAMPLE: Going back to our previous example on shavers, if your adult customer knows someone who’s using a shaver that he found online which got all the features he needs packed in a great design, there’s a big chance that he will also buy the same brand of shaver from the same online shop. That adult customer will make the purchase decision because of the affinity he has with his friend and also to experience that feeling that his friend had when using the product.

3. Emotional Needs – Customers Tend To Relate To How Others Feel

This third customer need is quite similar to the second one but only in the sense that they both come just second to your customer’s functional needs. Social needs is how a particular customer wants others to perceive him/her after making a purchase decision while emotional needs is more focused on how the customer feels and what he will make others feel after that crucial decision is made.

EXAMPLE: In the example we had about the shaving tool, a particular customer who is fond of saving money and only wants to trim his mustache in order to look more presentable will simply go for the basic shaver which costs lower than the portable one. Friends and other customers who have the same thrifty mindset and want to observe proper grooming on them will make that same decision and go for that same model of shaver to satisfy their soul.

This third customer need is one that is really hard to identify but you need to exert some effort to be able to pinpoint what exactly it is so you can optimize your marketing and promotion strategies to appeal to your customer’s emotional needs.

Heeding Every Need Results In Success Indeed

A business thrives when it is able to serve customer needs effectively every single time. And since these needs are ever changing depending on the product or service that you’re offering with your business, you’ll need to actively serve each one and make sure that your business gets adapted to the changes quickly. By understanding what your customers need and zeroing in on the purpose that they use your product of service for, bringing your business to further growth becomes an easier task.

With this valuable information in mind, implementing innovation that will ensure your business stays on top of the competition will surely happen whenever you want them to. Remember, the secret is actively heeding those needs and making sure that they are served every single time!

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