[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″ shape_divider_position=”bottom” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_link_target=”_self” column_shadow=”none” column_border_radius=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_width_inherit=”default” tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid” bg_image_animation=”none”][vc_column_text]By knowing how to understand your customer, you can make more informed decisions about design.
This includes all design, from product and service design to website and app design.
Knowing your customer empowers you to choose the right colours, the tone of voice, typefaces, messaging and imagery.
Ultimately, it’s the key to unlocking who your customers are and what they want to buy from you.
If you’re a business and not designing with your customer in mind, who are you designing for?
Today, we’ve got three tips on how to get to know and understand your target audience better.
Think about who your audience is.
An obvious starting point, is this blog post.
Begin by writing down some assumptions of people who you think would love to buy your product – your ideal client.
Note down what challenges them, what goals they have and how they behave.
There are a few “persona generators” out there that help you define this, including Hubspot’s Make My Persona.
These assumptions help you set out a strategy to attract these leads. Whether this is through design or other marketing efforts.
But, bear in mind that these ideas are your own and not fact. You may think you know your audience inside out, but you won’t truly know until you interact with them… which brings us onto our next point on how to understand your customer.
Reach out to current customers.
There’s no better way of finding out what your customers want than asking them.
If you have successful relationships with your current customers, they’re likely going to be willing to offer your feedback. Good and bad.
You can do this face-to-face or via a phone call, or with digital tools, such as a social media poll or survey.
It depends on how you’d usually speak to your customers.
If you’re creating a new website or mobile app, give them a few examples of pages and ask for their opinions.
Nowadays, there are a lot of tools out there that help you create clickable mockups of designs. Invision and Sketch to name a few.
Prototyping gives the user a taste for how your website or application will work and allows them to provide constructive feedback.
Expand to a new audience.
It’s all well and good speaking with your current client list, but what about getting new people onboard?
We’d encourage carrying out similar research and user feedback sessions with people who aren’t buying from you (yet).
Surveys, polls and online conversations are a quick way of gathering information.
However, focus groups and face-to-face talks are more valuable – if a little more time-consuming.
Use that A + B prototype testing approach with this new audience. Head to a coffee shop and hand out an iPad or laptop where people can access your test site. You can watch them as they navigate through the pages.
This blog post primarily focuses on web and app design, but user research is crucial when designing anything for your business, from strategies to end products. Whether you’re a designer or business owner, consider what you’re doing and the needs of those who you’re aiming to benefit.
If you need any more help with user research or find out how to understand your customer, please contact a member of our team today. [/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
