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The first step to building a customer profile is to determine who your potential customers are, what they value and why. Use the template provided for this article as a starting point or use other templates available on our website.
A customer profile is a summary of a client’s demographics, histories, hobbies, and interests. Customer profiles should be used by organizations that provide continuing services, as well as subscription-based and product-based enterprises. They assist you in enhancing your marketing efforts by finding the most effective message, offers, goods, and services to present in order to attract your target customer.
We’ve put up a customer profile template with a collection of questions to assist you in creating your profile (s). You may either print it as a PDF and fill it out by hand, or you can download it as a Word document and fill it out on your computer.
1. Take into account the demographics
The age, gender, ethnicity, and education of your prospective clients are known as demographics. What demographic features come to mind when you think about your ideal client? If you already have a company, this should be rather simple since all you have to do is imagine your consumer. This allows you to create successful advertising for each consumer category.
- Consider your target market’s age range. For example, a coffee business may target customers aged 25 to 45 as morning commuters.
- Consider if your clients are more likely to be of one gender or the other. Who are you mainly trying to reach? Determine a percentage balance, such as 50% male and 50% female.
- Ethnicity and race: Consider the ethnic groups with whom your consumers identify. Is there one that pops up more often than the others?
2. Be aware of socioeconomic factors
The characteristics of your consumers’ household income, employment, neighborhood, and association affiliations are referred to as socioeconomics. This gives you vital insight into the sorts of purchases they’re likely to make and how to position your product or service to appeal to them.
- Average family income: Consider your client’s average income range to see whether they need discretionary resources to be a customer. Check to see whether your service falls into the “needs” category for most families.
- Consider what degree of education your target consumer has on average.
- Focus on the sort of job your consumer performs in this occupation. Consider where they work, how senior they are, and what industry they operate in.
- What is your main customer’s hometown and neighborhood? Consider the characteristics that define their neighborhood, town, or region.
- Take a look at the family composition of your typical customer’s home. Are they single, single with children, married, or cohabiting?
3. Inquire about psychographics
Psychographics are the characteristics of your clients, such as their personality, interests, style, and sense of humor. Understanding this will aid you in communicating your message and establishing rapport.
- Hobbies and interests: Find out what your consumers like to do for pleasure and what they are interested in. “What excites them?” you may wonder.
- Find out where they acquire their news, such as what radio stations, music, and TV programs they like.
- Anxieties: Find out what their greatest worries and anxieties are, and how your company can assist them to overcome them.
To get this information, it’s sometimes useful to spend time starting up discussions with clients who buy your goods or services. While asking your consumers their age or income may feel embarrassing, you don’t always have to ask direct questions—casual chats and simple observations may reveal a lot about your customers.
Make observations on things like what sort of employment they perform, whether or not they wear a uniform, whether or not they come in with a spouse or children, and how much money they spend on a regular basis. You may also send questionnaires to discover more about their demographics, socioeconomic status, and psychographic characteristics.
Once you’ve collected all of this data, double-check that the components listed above correspond to client kinds. Then you may create a perfect client profile for each one. It’s also a good idea to give it a name, such as “Becky” in the example below, so that you can think about your customer profiles more personally. Then you may ask yourself, “What would Becky think of this product?” if you’re considering a new product or lead-generating technique.
Customer Profile Example
Below is an example that represents one of the usual consumers that may visit a high-end urban bakery to help you better grasp what a customer profile looks like. The profile, in this case, acts as a marketing roadmap for communicating with potential clients.
It’s also worth noting that your company may have many client profiles. For instance, a bakery, such as the one where “Becky” got her wedding cake, may service three types of customers:
In this case, each client group is distinct not just in terms of their physical characteristics and the things they purchase, but also in terms of the values and beliefs that keep them coming back to the company. Taking the time to create client profiles may help you recognize the specific demands of each kind of customer and customize your marketing efforts accordingly, which is a crucial part of good sales management.
You can then use a customer relationship management (CRM) product like Pipedrive to expedite conversations and measure outcomes after you’ve created your customer profiles. Visit our page on sales targeting to learn more about how to achieve this.
Advantages of a Customer Profile
You can locate items and services that are best suited for your ideal consumer by creating profiles for them, and you can sell to them more successfully by writing profiles for them. Having a thorough grasp of your consumer also aids in the development of rapport, loyalty, and recommendations. Furthermore, establishing connections with clients allows them to feel at ease enough to make ideas for new goods and services that your company should provide.
Conclusion
A customer profile is a comprehensive description of a company’s target consumers, including their demographics, histories, interests, and values. Customer profiles should be used by organizations that provide continuing services, as well as subscription-based and product-based enterprises. Because your message is properly tailored to your clients’ requirements and aspirations, this may result in increased sales income.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I create a customer profile in Excel?
To create a customer profile in Excel, you will need to go into your File menu and then click New. From here, you should be able to find the option for Customer Profile, which is where all of your customers can be stored.
