Understanding Your Customers

Every business is dependent on customers. But do you really know how a customer is created. Any Sale happens when there is a need for a person either for his use or for other”™s use. Before a person buys your product for the first time, your customer is a stranger to your product. We can call this first stage of the customer as ”œStranger”. There are different types of customers. All the first time buyers of your product or service can be called as ”œStrangers”. At this stage all of these first time buyers are in the same stage. It is only after the purchase each of these ”œstrangers” change their stand on the product or service. They take a stand based on their own experience of the product or after getting a feedback from the real user. Let us see the various stands possible for a customer.

types of customers

types of customers

Happy Customers:

Happy customers are those who love your product or service. They love it so much that they recommend your product to others. In some ways they are the indirect sales people who sell your product without remuneration. These customers are the back bone of your business. If you have more of these types of customers, then your business will grow manifold.

Loyal Customers:

Loyal customers are the ones who purchase your product on a regular basis. These customers like your product and they do not like changing the product often. They are basically resistant to change. They will change a product or service only when they have no other option. Otherwise they will be loyal to a product or service.

Irregular Customers:

Irregular customers are the ones who purchase your product inconsistently. These customers will look out for all the products in the market. If there is an attractive offer from your competitor then they will go for it. They are mostly disloyal to the product. When the offer is over then they will come back to your product or if the other product was good then they will continue using that product. At the same time if you offer a better benefit they will leave your competitor and come back to you. Another set of people who belong to this category are the ones who want to experience every new thing in the market. Even these people will not be loyal to a product or service.

Dis-likers:

These are the people who are dis-satisfied with your product or service. Dis-likers are created when the product does not meet their expectations. This may be because of over expectations by the customer or over commitment by the company. Even though they may not like your product they will not bad mouth about your product to others unless otherwise someone asks their opinion about the product.

Rebels:

Rebels are the ones who have to be handled very carefully. These customers are totally dissatisfied with your product or service. They will do negative marketing to the people they know. As we all know ”œBad news spreads fast”. Once this happens the so called strangers will hesitate to purchase your product.

Other Types of Customers

From the company perspective, you should know which of your customers fall in which category. All you have to do is identify each category of your customers and serve them accordingly. As a thumb rule, if you can dedicate your money, time and effort more on loyal customers and rebels then you can be sure that your business will grow. That does not mean that you should not concentrate on dis-likers and irregular customers. But if the maximum percentage of your customers falls under the category of dis-likers or irregular customers then you have to focus more on these customers. But an ideal product should have 35 % happy customers 30% loyal customers, 15% irregular customers, 12% dis-likers and 8% rebels. If your product maintains the above mentioned scenario then you can say that your business is going in the right track.

I am a Chartered Accountant with 5 years of experience in both Consulting (KPMG) and Industry (Tapzo).

I am currently assisting various Organizations in understanding the impact of GST on their businesses to help them with a smooth transition.

Key areas of experience include:
– GST
– Developing SOPs and Process Implementation
– Identifying and Implementing Internal Controls as required by the ICFR Framework
– Training and Development of staff in various Finance/ Audit functions
– Statutory Audits

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