When Everybody’s Zigging, We Help Zag

Every business wants to be the next cool thing, making claims of fresher ideas and a better culture. From hip, updated tools to self-serve kiosks to artificial intelligence. Many businesses are scrambling the same direction in a race to be the coolest. But is this really what your customer wants? It should always be about what the customer wants.

So, Just What Does the Customer Want?

Client experiences, insights and opinions are important. But the customer or prospect opinion rules. A regional client tasked HS with the challenge of finding out what their prospects really think and want. The client identified four primary personas or segments to target. HS was tasked with determining which messages resonated best with those targets.

Our client was very focused on being authentic. That means embracing the Midwest work ethic, embracing roots and values and giving customers a better, simpler way. Make no mistake, they had all the digital conveniences and innovations customers expect. But they wanted to give them something most have come to not expect – a friendly, trustworthy, experience.

But did the customers really want that?

HS used a survey platform, to gather insights from the primary personas they needed to convert to see the most significant growth for their business. With a short and simple online survey, we were able to reach a very specific audience and harvest their feedback. We asked targeted questions to get answers our client needed to know.

We surveyed everyone aged 18-65, then aggregated those results by age and socio-economic status. That way, we could align what we learned from each persona group with how we wanted to target each group.

When we know what the customer thinks, we can help clients interact with customers in a more meaningful way. Our survey results helped us craft – and tweak – our client’s core values.

Service – Delivering what you expect, but better

Trust – Keeping our word, and being a trusted resource for questions and change

Culture – Interactions that aim to be the best part of the customer’s day

Friendliness – Not scripts or sales pitches, authenticity and genuineness

Expectations – Simply doing what we say we will do, every time

Values – Sharing the same ones as our customers, and putting them to practice

Stability – We’re not chasing trends that change, and we’re not going anywhere

Ultimately, what our survey results taught us was that customers were seeking out a foundation, not a fad.