283 | Using psychology & story to truly understand your customer with Monica Sharma-Patnekar, Business with Monica
How well do you know and understand your customers? I'm not talking just about their demographics or their buying preferences; I'm talking about their lifestyle, their desires, and why they make the choices that they make.
Our guest today is Monica Sharma-Patnekar from Business with Monica. She is walking us through her three part framework for understanding your customer better so that e-commerce brands can build stronger connections and sell more products.
Monica is an e-commerce brand mentor and consultant, a purpose-driven brand marketing and strategy professional with 17 years of global experience building brands. She's worked across different sectors and companies from Fortune 500 to starting and scaling companies as well. Monica offers high-touch coaching and mentorship to small businesses, conscious e-commerce, and product-based business owners. She is Dutch by birth and Indian by Heritage, global by choice and education. She's a creative thinker, a dancer, a chai fanatic, and a mom of two girls. I know you're going to learn a lot today from Monica.
Today's episode is brought to you by our Is wholesale right for you? private podcast. Yep, if you want me in your earbuds longer, you can have me. You can get access to this free on-demand private podcast at the link below. This is a 12-part audio series that will help you decide whether wholesale is a good next step for your business. And the best part, you can binge it in less than an hour! After listening to this audio series, two things will be true: 1) You'll know whether you want to pursue wholesale for your product business. 2) You'll have the confidence and action steps to get started with wholesale. Sign up for the Is wholesale right for you? private podcast.
How to Understand Your Customer
All of the business gurus tell us the first thing we need to do when starting a business and to create that “ideal customer avatar.” You know what I am talking about.
They tell us we need to know their favorite Starbucks drink, what kind of car they drive, and how many kids they have.
But that is exactly what it says, “ideal.” Just because we create this “ideal customer” doesn’t mean we will actually ever convert that exact person.
It is important we truly understand who our customers are when we are building our brand.
Marketing to Your Real Clients: Real Over Ideal
We often hear the phrase “ideal customer” thrown around, yet we have real customers we can pull information from. Let’s focus on the real, not the ideal!
Make your marketing decisions based on who your real customers are and what their core desires are. Let’s emphasize the real aspect of those details. We're so busy with these ideals, yet the ideal is in your imagination. It's not the actual person you're speaking to.
You have to find who your clients really are, which means you need to niche down or segment your customers.
The Four D’s Framework: Desires Over Demographics
In market research there are four D’s to consider in order to get to know your customers in life, not just in relation to your products:
Demographics- figuring out the basics of your customer
Desires- this is when you find out what makes your customer tick and what struggles they experience
Do (Behaviors)- you need to learn the behaviors your customers have like where they buy from and how they find you (or other) products to buy from
Delight- think about the entire shopping experience and what makes them happy in that experience
These four D’s allow you to really understand your customer, who they are, why they do the things they do, and what they want. Within these “4 D’s,” so many brands will avoid the desires of their customers for two reasons.
They don’t realize that desires are important.
They’re scared to get personal in asking about desires.
Gathering Real Data from Your Real Customers
Once you overcome those hesitations in getting to know who your customers are, it’s time to gather data! You can gather data through conversations, past interactions, testimonials, social listening, and reviews (even the negative).
Who should you interview? Include a variety of customer types: loyal customers, one-time purchasers, new customers, and non-customers.
How do you ask? A simple personalized email is an easy way to reach out to your customers to get interviews. Be honest in what you’re doing and connect with them on a human level.
How do you incentivize these conversations? While you don’t have to incentivize them, it’s a great way to thank them for their time. Incentives could be a product or certificate to your shop.
When you make this effort to better understand your customers, they will feel how much you care.
Storytelling in Marketing: Stories Over Interviews
Now that you’ve learned about your real customers, it’s time to begin marketing to them. As businesses, it’s likely that we’ve used a story or two in our marketing efforts. This is something to consider as you approach these one-on-one interviews.
Imagine asking your customer about a product, but then ask them how it made them feel. The answers may be different, which leans into offering you more information. Exploring these conversations through storytelling will help you navigate more insight into your clients’ lives.
This opens the door to having more control in your marketing and customer story—which is necessary as a business owner when so many things are out of our control. While we can’t control the algorithms or things happening in the world, when we focus on the things we can control, we’re making far more impact than focusing on what we can’t control.
If you’re ready to take the next step in getting to know your real clients through their personalized story, make sure you download Monica’s checklist for the 4 D’s to help you discover your customers’ needs, wants, and desires!
In Conclusion: Best Ways to Understand Your Customer
If you want to sell more products, then it is important you truly understand your customer and pay attention to the 4 D’s of your customers
Demographics
Desires
Do (Behaviors)
Delight
Paying attention to these things about your customers allows you to really understand them, create products to meet a need they have, and to market your product effectively.
Be sure to download Monic'a’s checklist for the 4 D’s.
Quick Recap:
Here is a quick recap of links shared in this episode:
Today's episode is brought to you by our Is wholesale right for you? private podcast. Yep, if you want me in your earbuds longer, you can have me. You can get access to this free on-demand private podcastat the link below. This is a 12-part audio series that will help you decide whether wholesale is a good next step for your business. And the best part, you can binge it in less than an hour! After listening to this audio series, two things will be true: 1) You'll know whether you want to pursue wholesale for your product business. 2) You'll have the confidence and action steps to get started with wholesale. Sign up for the Is wholesale right for you? private podcast.
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MEET MONICA
Monica is an eCommerce brand mentor & consultant, a purpose-driven (digital) brand, marketing & strategy professional with 17 years of global experience building brands. She’s worked across diverse sectors and companies from Fortune 500 to scale- & start-ups.
It all started with an MSc. Business Administration, major in Marketing.
She’s worked with Fortune 500 companies across brand management, strategy consulting & global marketing. In addition, she has been hired by Google to coach their premium partners - 7-figure scale-ups, Tech, SaaS & agencies who work with eCommerce businesses.
Monica offers high-touch coaching & mentorship to small business, conscious, eCommerce & product, and retail entrepreneurs.
She is Dutch by birth and Indian by heritage. Global by choice & education. A creative thinker. A dancer. A chai fanatic. A mom of 2 girls.
CONNECT WITH MONICA
WEBSITE: businesswithmonica.com | INSTAGRAM: @businesswithmonica | FACEBOOK: @businesswithmonic | TWITTER: @businesswithmon | LINKEDIN: @monicasharmapatnekar
Connect with Katie Hunt
Katie Hunt is a business strategist, podcaster, mentor and mama to four. She helps product based businesses build profitable, sustainable companies through her conferences, courses and coaching programs.
Website: prooftoproduct.com | Instagram: @prooftoproduct
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