Learning to Listening: Five tips to understand your audience better
Continuing to build on the Power of Five, Iain Hunter reflects on the importance of listening to your customers and shares five tips on how to do this effectively.
Business founders can often fall into the trap of assuming they know what their audience wants and thinks and skipping straight to solutions. But remember the first rule of marketing your business – you are not the customer. Take the time to understand your customers with these top five tips:
Engage authentically
Listening isn’t a passive exercise. It requires energy, focus, and intent. Demonstrate that you are genuinely interested in your audience. That can be through a number of different ways – surveys, interviews, or social media. Don’t fall into the trap of making quick assumptions, and ensure you really understand your customers’ perspective.
Be onside with your customers
Put yourself in the shoes of your audience. Think hard about their pain points, wish list, and their buying behaviour. Genuine empathy means that you will connect on a deeper level, demonstrating that you value their customer experience and are committed to addressing their needs.
Listen, listen, listen
Encourage honest feedback and take constructive criticism on board. Create safe spaces where your audience feels comfortable sharing their thoughts, and view feedback as an opportunity to improve rather than a challenge to defend against.
Data is helpful
Be sure to gather and analyse audience insights from online reviews, purchase behaviour, and website analytics. Data points reveal trends and preferences that verbal communication might not capture.
What happens after listening?
Listening doesn’t simply end with understanding. It requires action and a lot of energy to put in place changes based on the input you’ve received from your audience. It’s important to let them know that you’ve heard and understood their feedback and are working with it. This means that your offerings and communications are always relevant and aligned with customer needs.
Find this helpful? Nexus offers Iain’s skills, experience, and input as a value-add to its membership – it’s easy to arrange a 1:1 meeting or an introductory call – all at no cost to you. To start the process, contact Nathan Berry at n.j.berry@leeds.ac.uk and he’ll make it happen.
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