Research insight: To meet customer needs, start with addressing their product needs<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\nLet\u2019s get started with the big question first: Do businesses actually care about customers\u2019 needs?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to customers, no, not really. At least not out of any goodness of their hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I polled 100 American consumers about whether they thought businesses had their needs at heart<\/a>, the results were a dead split.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/1-970x342.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBut like most things in life \u2013 and all things in business \u2013 there\u2019s nuance. The picture gets grimmer when we look inside the comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/2-970x521.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThere\u2019s good news here despite this, and it\u2019s not all cynical. The good news is that customers do <\/em>think businesses are responsive to their needs, but very few think it\u2019s because you care about them personally.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt also turns out they\u2019re okay with that, flying in the face of many marketing<\/a> research reports about what users want from brands. <\/p>\n\n\n\nI ran another poll with 100 additional consumers to find out what turns them into loyal customers for a business<\/a>. It turns out it\u2019s not about your brand or service at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIt\u2019s about your products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/3-970x576.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOverwhelmingly, businesses that create the best products in their given category earn the most customer loyalty. People are looking for value and product quality. They don\u2019t care as much that businesses are out for a profit or if they have the best support teams anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/5b-970x620.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nInterestingly, aligning with social values is all but a footnote to most consumers polled. Being treated as more than a number, something we should all strive for regardless, is only marginally more significant than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked to rank the most important consideration<\/a> for choosing a new product or service, purchasing decisions came down to product features and price. Customers care about those two things in a landslide over design, customer service, and ease-of-use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/5c-970x543.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nDoes that mean you can devote all of your resources to just<\/em> selling products and still meet customer expectations? No. Customer satisfaction requires all of these aspects we\u2019ve mentioned. It’s a pecking order of priorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\nThe biggest takeaway from these three polls isn\u2019t that people want to be treated like robots, either. It\u2019s that they demand you meet their needs with your products first. Any effort to satisfy their needs outside of a best-in-class product won\u2019t have staying power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, with that understanding out of the way, let\u2019s look at how to actually identify the specific needs of your <\/em>customers.<\/p>\n\n\nHow to identify your customers\u2019 needs\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n#1. Send existing customers surveys (+ free mockup)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\nIf you already have a customer base and you\u2019re trying to understand what they need, ask them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, it\u2019s that simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is no better source of customer insights <\/a>than your customers themselves. You could spend weeks trying to gather secondary data and never come close to the value that a handful of customer interviews offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCustomer surveys are a low-cost, low-effort way to start uncovering potential opportunities. They’re a standard arrow in the marketer’s quiver for gathering information and a marketing research technique<\/a> anyone can and should use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Personally, I\u2019m a huge fan of Typeform<\/a> for performing customer needs analyses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/6-970x501.png\")
<\/a>(Image source<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIt’s also good for gathering any form of primary customer data<\/a> generally, which is data sourced directly from interactions with an audience. Primary data is, bar none, the gold standard for identifying current customer needs \u2013 even potential customers’ needs far on the horizon. <\/p>\n\n\n\nI created a free 5-question customer needs survey mockup for you to copy here.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/7.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nYou\u2019ll notice that this survey doesn\u2019t <\/em>ask attitudinal brand questions<\/a> or for customer feedback on the business specifically. Keep your questions focused on the objective of your search and the need you want to find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/8.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re trying to identify customer needs for existing products, for instance, tailor your questions around those products, but keep it hypothetical. You want <\/em>your respondents to answer with their wildest imagination for what that product could be. The fewer constraints, the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\nYou should only use attitudinal questions for customer need discovery if you\u2019re in the earliest stages of product development and need more inspiration than insight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
To create your own Typeform, start with signing up for a free account<\/a>. Then, once you\u2019re logged in, choose which workspace you want to work out of from the left-hand side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/9.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBy default, this will only show one workspace, outlined in orange above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once you\u2019re at your workspace, click \u201c+ Create typeform\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/10.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOn the next screen, choose \u201cStart from scratch\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/10b-970x164.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nGive your survey a short-and-sweet name and choose the first option on the drop-down menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Go for clarity over cleverness with your title. “Customer needs survey” is perfectly acceptable. If you start overthinking it, just leave the default title and come back to it later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/11.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nNow all you need to do to add new questions is select the \u201c+\u201d button in the right-hand menu. If you\u2019re following our template, each question will say which type of question field to use to recreate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/12-970x548.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf you want to dig in deeper on questions than the mockup I created, Typeform also offers this comprehensive example list of survey questions you could use<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSome quick and dirty examples<\/a> of question types are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n- Rating questions:<\/strong> On a scale of 1 star to 5 stars, how interested in this product feature are you? <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Closed questions:<\/strong> Are you a thermonuclear physicist? Do you live in Stark Tower? <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Open questions:<\/strong> <\/em>What would your superpower be? How would you save the world?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Alternatively to Typeform, Google Forms<\/a> is also free and very respectable, though not quite as user-friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/13-970x617.jpg\")
<\/a>(Image source<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\nRegardless of how you send your survey, your first stop should be your customers. Think of your email list especially as your own internal focus group<\/a> \u2013 and expect to incentivize them accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDepending on format, surveys have an average response rate of 33% or less<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBut response rate can plummet to as low as 2%<\/a> if you don\u2019t offer an incentive to finish the survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/14.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nScary, right? Customers may be your best source of intelligence, but they\u2019re also busy people, and probably not unlike yourself, need something to make it worth their while. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Conventional marketing wisdom says to offer a $25 Amazon gift card raffle \u2013 or, in your case, maybe $25 in credit for product or services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s fine. You can do that. You should. But unless you\u2019re willing to put up a lot<\/em> of incentive, the reality is that while surveys should be your first stop for identifying customer needs, they\u2019ll rarely be enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFor that, we need to turn to our next step.<\/p>\n\n\n
#2. Conduct audience research<\/a> with a third-party platform<\/h3>\n\n\nLet\u2019s say you have enough respondents in step one to act on it. If so, that\u2019s fantastic, and you could<\/em> consider skipping this step.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBut I\u2019m going to guess that you didn\u2019t, or you know you won\u2019t because you\u2019re not the kind of person to take surveys, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When that happens and you need to learn more about your target customers without weeks or months to spare, PickFu<\/a> is here to help. <\/p>\n\n\n\nLet me show you how it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n\n\n
#2a. How to run a customer needs discovery poll with PickFu ( + starter question)<\/h4>\n\n\n
First, just like before, start by signing up for an account with PickFu<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\nOnce you\u2019re logged in and confirmed, the top of your screen should look something like this. Click \u201cstart new poll\u201d. Don\u2019t worry \u2013 we\u2019re just at the draft stage right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/15-970x61.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s where you\u2019ll land. You have two choices here: you can go with a pre-built poll type or you can build from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/16-970x240.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nI\u2019m a build-it-from-scratch kind of girl myself, so that\u2019s my default mode. If you\u2019re not, we have a wide variety of templates, sorted by industry. Just take a peek:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/17.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nFor now, follow along with me and choose \u201cBuild from scratch\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/18-970x753.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019ve run a previous poll, you\u2019ll see the question populate for re-running it. If you have a fresh account, you\u2019ll see the same screen as the above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now we need to figure out our magic question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A good poll question<\/a> is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n- Unbiased<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Specific<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- A single question (not <\/em>a double-barreled question<\/a>) <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Fast to answer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
A potential starting question for figuring out customer wants and needs is:<\/p>\n\n\n\nIf you could change one thing about [competitor product or own product], what would it be?<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
If that sounds too general to be useful, don\u2019t worry, we\u2019re getting to that in just a few screens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For my goals, I\u2019d love to learn more about what business owners are looking for in blog articles, so this is what my question looks like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you could change one thing about blog articles written for business owners and\/or entrepreneurs, what would it be? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nNote: This is a marketing research question. Answer for whatever blogs come to mind.<\/em> \ud83d\ude42 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nAfter your question is sorted out, the next step is to choose your answer options. As you add options and fill out your poll, your cart total will update dynamically so there aren\u2019t any surprises at the end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/20-970x485.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf you want to use an Open-Ended poll<\/a>, a Star Rating poll, or run a Click Test<\/a>, remove one of the options.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIf you want to run a Head-to-Head poll<\/a> to test one option against another, fill out the default two fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\nIf you want to run a Ranked poll<\/a>, click \u201cadd more options\u201d until you\u2019ve filled out all potential answers. Each answer will add to your cost, so choose with care, and err to fewer rather than more.<\/p>\n\n\n\nFor my purposes, I think this type of question is best as an open-ended poll, so I deleted one option and left it blank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
You\u2019ll be asked what type of poll you\u2019d like to run at the next step. Choose the first option if you\u2019re using my starter question as your formula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/21.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHere is where we get technical. If you\u2019ve chosen to use a general question, you need a custom audience to ensure you\u2019re getting relevant <\/em>customer insights.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Screenshot-2023-11-03-at-2.49.38-PM-970x705.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAs the screenshot above implies, we have 90+ targeting traits available, depending on what you\u2019re looking for. Whether it\u2019s Amazon Prime shoppers, side-hustlers, or mobile game players, there\u2019s an audience for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Take a moment to scan through the list or use the search function to find the best audience fit for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For me, \u201csmall business ownership\u201d is exactly the audience I want to gather more primary data about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/23.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAfter your audience targeting is sorted, choose your audience size. I recommend starting with 50. <\/strong>Because this poll is targeted, you don\u2019t need more than that to unearth the different types of customer needs in your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/24.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIt\u2019ll keep your bills down, and it should be more than enough to build customer-centric products. Even better, those new products should help strengthen your already existing customer relationships, too. Nothing spells customer retention like products people want<\/em> to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\nSave the big polls for the biggest decisions. For customer research discovery, stick to targeted and small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After choosing your audience size, proceed to the next screen where you\u2019ll have the option for additional demographics data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If there\u2019s something you feel is critical <\/em>to understanding your customers, then I\u2019ll never tell you not to run a poll on it, but if you\u2019re following this guide, you can leave this screen as is. What we\u2019re looking for is in the answers, not the demographics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/25-970x786.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nFrom here, decide if you want a .CSV to play with this information later (it will save you some time, but if you have elbow room, may not be needed) or to save $5 by publishing your poll in our poll gallery<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/26.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThis should bring your total to $115, depending on your specific targeting options and add-ons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/27-970x500.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nNow all that\u2019s left is our most exciting step: confirming your poll is everything you want it to be and publishing it. Here\u2019s how mine looks at this stage:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/28.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nClick the big \u201ccheckout\u201d button at the bottom. On the last screen, you\u2019ll checkout and review your order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/29.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re ready to go, fill in your payment information and click the \u201cpay $X.XX\u201d button. Your poll will launch immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And now we wait while that sweet, sweet customer research rolls in. Most polls come in under an hour, but targeted polls and polls with bigger audiences can take longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I chose to run this poll with 100 small business owners, so my poll results took a few hours to come in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/30-970x362.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHere\u2019s a preview of what those results were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/31-970x621.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nNow, let\u2019s talk about what to do with them.<\/p>\n\n\n
#2b. How to analyze your customer research from an open-ended poll<\/h4>\n\n\n
This section of the guide assumes you opted for the .CSV. If you didn\u2019t and have an extra hour or two to spare, you should be able to follow along by creating your own spreadsheet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Likewise, even if you didn\u2019t use PickFu, this method will work for turning any qualitative data into quasi-quantitative numbers and, more importantly, insights you can easily communicate and act on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, upload your .CSV to Google Drive so we can take it into Google Sheets. If you don\u2019t already have the file at hand, follow this guide to download your results<\/a>, then come back to this step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/32.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe file name should start with \u201cPickFu\u201d. Mine is \u201cPickFu-gW8xKKMkRx\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Once it\u2019s uploaded, open the file inside Drive, then click \u201cOpen with > Google Sheets\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/33-970x770.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nImmediately, it\u2019ll look a lot easier to read. There are still a few things we need to do to set this sheet up for us before we can get into it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
First, rename your file to whatever will be easiest for you to find. Then, create a new tab called \u201cPoll Summary\u201d by clicking the plus symbol at the bottom left of the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/32a.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nRename your original working sheet to \u201cResults Coding\u201d. Your tabs should now look like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/32b.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nNow, switch to your results coding tab where all of your information is. Select the first eight rows and copy them to your clipboard. Switch back to the poll summary tab and paste them into the blank sheet, then clear those rows from the results coding tab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/36-970x314.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThis should leave your sheet looking something like this in your results coding tab:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/37-970x161.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nWe want to create a filter so we can quickly toggle through the data later. Using the menu at the top of the sheet, navigate to \u201cData > Create a filter\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/38.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAfter that, hide any columns you don\u2019t want to see. We\u2019ll need the extra space later. For the analysis I\u2019m currently doing, I don\u2019t need anything but the explanation column, so I hid A-F.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/39-970x349.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nNext, set up a few template columns for yourself to the right side of \u201cexplanation\u201d. You can use whatever placeholder word you like. I used \u201ctheme\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/40.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nFrom here, set a timer for 5 minutes on your phone, turn off all distractions, and read the responses. Don\u2019t do anything with them yet \u2013 just read them and absorb. Look for themes. If your question and audience was specific enough, they should emerge quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A good starting point is to find five themes in 5 minutes. You may end up discovering more than that depending on the size and scope of your research, but start small and err to brevity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The themes I immediately noticed in my poll results were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n- More depth of topic<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Less sales<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- More relevant content<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Less time-consuming<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- More transparency\/accessibility<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
After you\u2019ve settled on themes, change your column names. Then, create one additional column at the end and title it \u201cother\u201d. We\u2019ll come back to why later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here\u2019s what it looks like for me so far:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/41-970x481.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe fun part starts now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In an ideal world, you have a two- or three-person team that copies the workbook to work on their own copy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This guide will assume you\u2019re working alone. If you\u2019re not, the same method applies at scale. Have your team follow this guide, then compare their results and settle any disagreements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
At this stage, go through each explanation and, if the answer touches on a theme, put a 1 in the column that corresponds to that theme. Answers can and often will have more than one theme. Just put a 1 in each column it applies to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Freezing your top pane will be deeply helpful for this. If you haven\u2019t already done so, select your top row, then go to \u201cView > Freeze > 1 row\u201d to keep the top row locked in place.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For ~100 short answers, it took me about 20 minutes to go through and code them. Here\u2019s how it looks now:<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/42-970x520.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe next thing we\u2019re going to do is investigate our \u201cother\u201d column. If we have a lot of \u201cothers\u201d, we might have missed a theme. To see just the entries that were coded with \u201cother\u201d, use the data filter by clicking on the downward triangle in the cell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then once you\u2019re there, deselect \u201cblanks\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/43-970x560.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nOut of 100 entries, I have 26 that didn\u2019t fall into my original five themes, or surfaced a new potential theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Of those 26, 9 fit into an entirely new theme \u2013 efficient blog navigation \u2013 and 4 fit into a smaller theme. The rest were outliers or could be sorted back into the existing themes. This leaves me with just 6 remaining uncoded entries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/44-970x314.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nThat\u2019s fewer than 10% of my total, so I can discard them and move on. Clear your filters so you\u2019re looking at your sheet unfiltered again, then switch over to your \u201cpoll summary\u201d tab. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Copy and paste your theme headers below your summary information. You can use columns or rows \u2013 I chose columns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/45.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re using the 50-person poll from this guide, put the following formula into the cell just below your theme header:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
=COUNT(‘Results Coding’!H:H)\/50<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nThen, turn on percentage expression by selecting your cell and clicking \u201cformat as percent\u201d in the command bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/blog.pickfu.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/46.png\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIf you\u2019re using a 100-person poll like me, the formula looks like this instead:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
=COUNT(‘Results Coding’!H:H)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\nThese numbers are already percentages (they\u2019re expressions out of 100), so there\u2019s no need to use the percentage function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Copy and paste the formula under each cell. If you\u2019ve followed my setup, it should automatically update the formula to pull in the new data for each theme. If you haven\u2019t, the \u201cH:H\u201d refers to the column where you want it to count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s it. Here are my final results and what I can read from them now \u2013 as well as share with my team:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nBut like most things in life \u2013 and all things in business \u2013 there\u2019s nuance. The picture gets grimmer when we look inside the comments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s good news here despite this, and it\u2019s not all cynical. The good news is that customers do <\/em>think businesses are responsive to their needs, but very few think it\u2019s because you care about them personally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also turns out they\u2019re okay with that, flying in the face of many marketing<\/a> research reports about what users want from brands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I ran another poll with 100 additional consumers to find out what turns them into loyal customers for a business<\/a>. It turns out it\u2019s not about your brand or service at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s about your products.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Overwhelmingly, businesses that create the best products in their given category earn the most customer loyalty. People are looking for value and product quality. They don\u2019t care as much that businesses are out for a profit or if they have the best support teams anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Interestingly, aligning with social values is all but a footnote to most consumers polled. Being treated as more than a number, something we should all strive for regardless, is only marginally more significant than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When asked to rank the most important consideration<\/a> for choosing a new product or service, purchasing decisions came down to product features and price. Customers care about those two things in a landslide over design, customer service, and ease-of-use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Does that mean you can devote all of your resources to just<\/em> selling products and still meet customer expectations? No. Customer satisfaction requires all of these aspects we\u2019ve mentioned. It’s a pecking order of priorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The biggest takeaway from these three polls isn\u2019t that people want to be treated like robots, either. It\u2019s that they demand you meet their needs with your products first. Any effort to satisfy their needs outside of a best-in-class product won\u2019t have staying power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, with that understanding out of the way, let\u2019s look at how to actually identify the specific needs of your <\/em>customers.<\/p>\n\n\n If you already have a customer base and you\u2019re trying to understand what they need, ask them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, it\u2019s that simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is no better source of customer insights <\/a>than your customers themselves. You could spend weeks trying to gather secondary data and never come close to the value that a handful of customer interviews offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Customer surveys are a low-cost, low-effort way to start uncovering potential opportunities. They’re a standard arrow in the marketer’s quiver for gathering information and a marketing research technique<\/a> anyone can and should use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Personally, I\u2019m a huge fan of Typeform<\/a> for performing customer needs analyses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It’s also good for gathering any form of primary customer data<\/a> generally, which is data sourced directly from interactions with an audience. Primary data is, bar none, the gold standard for identifying current customer needs \u2013 even potential customers’ needs far on the horizon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I created a free 5-question customer needs survey mockup for you to copy here.<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll notice that this survey doesn\u2019t <\/em>ask attitudinal brand questions<\/a> or for customer feedback on the business specifically. Keep your questions focused on the objective of your search and the need you want to find.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re trying to identify customer needs for existing products, for instance, tailor your questions around those products, but keep it hypothetical. You want <\/em>your respondents to answer with their wildest imagination for what that product could be. The fewer constraints, the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You should only use attitudinal questions for customer need discovery if you\u2019re in the earliest stages of product development and need more inspiration than insight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To create your own Typeform, start with signing up for a free account<\/a>. Then, once you\u2019re logged in, choose which workspace you want to work out of from the left-hand side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By default, this will only show one workspace, outlined in orange above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you\u2019re at your workspace, click \u201c+ Create typeform\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n On the next screen, choose \u201cStart from scratch\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Give your survey a short-and-sweet name and choose the first option on the drop-down menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Go for clarity over cleverness with your title. “Customer needs survey” is perfectly acceptable. If you start overthinking it, just leave the default title and come back to it later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now all you need to do to add new questions is select the \u201c+\u201d button in the right-hand menu. If you\u2019re following our template, each question will say which type of question field to use to recreate it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to dig in deeper on questions than the mockup I created, Typeform also offers this comprehensive example list of survey questions you could use<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some quick and dirty examples<\/a> of question types are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alternatively to Typeform, Google Forms<\/a> is also free and very respectable, though not quite as user-friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Regardless of how you send your survey, your first stop should be your customers. Think of your email list especially as your own internal focus group<\/a> \u2013 and expect to incentivize them accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Depending on format, surveys have an average response rate of 33% or less<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But response rate can plummet to as low as 2%<\/a> if you don\u2019t offer an incentive to finish the survey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scary, right? Customers may be your best source of intelligence, but they\u2019re also busy people, and probably not unlike yourself, need something to make it worth their while. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Conventional marketing wisdom says to offer a $25 Amazon gift card raffle \u2013 or, in your case, maybe $25 in credit for product or services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that\u2019s fine. You can do that. You should. But unless you\u2019re willing to put up a lot<\/em> of incentive, the reality is that while surveys should be your first stop for identifying customer needs, they\u2019ll rarely be enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For that, we need to turn to our next step.<\/p>\n\n\n Let\u2019s say you have enough respondents in step one to act on it. If so, that\u2019s fantastic, and you could<\/em> consider skipping this step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But I\u2019m going to guess that you didn\u2019t, or you know you won\u2019t because you\u2019re not the kind of person to take surveys, either.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When that happens and you need to learn more about your target customers without weeks or months to spare, PickFu<\/a> is here to help. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Let me show you how it\u2019s done.<\/p>\n\n\n First, just like before, start by signing up for an account with PickFu<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you\u2019re logged in and confirmed, the top of your screen should look something like this. Click \u201cstart new poll\u201d. Don\u2019t worry \u2013 we\u2019re just at the draft stage right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s where you\u2019ll land. You have two choices here: you can go with a pre-built poll type or you can build from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m a build-it-from-scratch kind of girl myself, so that\u2019s my default mode. If you\u2019re not, we have a wide variety of templates, sorted by industry. Just take a peek:<\/p>\n\n\n\n For now, follow along with me and choose \u201cBuild from scratch\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019ve run a previous poll, you\u2019ll see the question populate for re-running it. If you have a fresh account, you\u2019ll see the same screen as the above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now we need to figure out our magic question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A good poll question<\/a> is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n A potential starting question for figuring out customer wants and needs is:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you could change one thing about [competitor product or own product], what would it be?<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n If that sounds too general to be useful, don\u2019t worry, we\u2019re getting to that in just a few screens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For my goals, I\u2019d love to learn more about what business owners are looking for in blog articles, so this is what my question looks like:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you could change one thing about blog articles written for business owners and\/or entrepreneurs, what would it be? <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Note: This is a marketing research question. Answer for whatever blogs come to mind.<\/em> \ud83d\ude42 <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n After your question is sorted out, the next step is to choose your answer options. As you add options and fill out your poll, your cart total will update dynamically so there aren\u2019t any surprises at the end. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to use an Open-Ended poll<\/a>, a Star Rating poll, or run a Click Test<\/a>, remove one of the options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to run a Head-to-Head poll<\/a> to test one option against another, fill out the default two fields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to run a Ranked poll<\/a>, click \u201cadd more options\u201d until you\u2019ve filled out all potential answers. Each answer will add to your cost, so choose with care, and err to fewer rather than more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For my purposes, I think this type of question is best as an open-ended poll, so I deleted one option and left it blank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019ll be asked what type of poll you\u2019d like to run at the next step. Choose the first option if you\u2019re using my starter question as your formula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is where we get technical. If you\u2019ve chosen to use a general question, you need a custom audience to ensure you\u2019re getting relevant <\/em>customer insights.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n As the screenshot above implies, we have 90+ targeting traits available, depending on what you\u2019re looking for. Whether it\u2019s Amazon Prime shoppers, side-hustlers, or mobile game players, there\u2019s an audience for everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Take a moment to scan through the list or use the search function to find the best audience fit for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For me, \u201csmall business ownership\u201d is exactly the audience I want to gather more primary data about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After your audience targeting is sorted, choose your audience size. I recommend starting with 50. <\/strong>Because this poll is targeted, you don\u2019t need more than that to unearth the different types of customer needs in your audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019ll keep your bills down, and it should be more than enough to build customer-centric products. Even better, those new products should help strengthen your already existing customer relationships, too. Nothing spells customer retention like products people want<\/em> to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Save the big polls for the biggest decisions. For customer research discovery, stick to targeted and small.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After choosing your audience size, proceed to the next screen where you\u2019ll have the option for additional demographics data. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If there\u2019s something you feel is critical <\/em>to understanding your customers, then I\u2019ll never tell you not to run a poll on it, but if you\u2019re following this guide, you can leave this screen as is. What we\u2019re looking for is in the answers, not the demographics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n From here, decide if you want a .CSV to play with this information later (it will save you some time, but if you have elbow room, may not be needed) or to save $5 by publishing your poll in our poll gallery<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This should bring your total to $115, depending on your specific targeting options and add-ons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now all that\u2019s left is our most exciting step: confirming your poll is everything you want it to be and publishing it. Here\u2019s how mine looks at this stage:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Click the big \u201ccheckout\u201d button at the bottom. On the last screen, you\u2019ll checkout and review your order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re ready to go, fill in your payment information and click the \u201cpay $X.XX\u201d button. Your poll will launch immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And now we wait while that sweet, sweet customer research rolls in. Most polls come in under an hour, but targeted polls and polls with bigger audiences can take longer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I chose to run this poll with 100 small business owners, so my poll results took a few hours to come in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s a preview of what those results were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, let\u2019s talk about what to do with them.<\/p>\n\n\n This section of the guide assumes you opted for the .CSV. If you didn\u2019t and have an extra hour or two to spare, you should be able to follow along by creating your own spreadsheet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Likewise, even if you didn\u2019t use PickFu, this method will work for turning any qualitative data into quasi-quantitative numbers and, more importantly, insights you can easily communicate and act on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, upload your .CSV to Google Drive so we can take it into Google Sheets. If you don\u2019t already have the file at hand, follow this guide to download your results<\/a>, then come back to this step.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The file name should start with \u201cPickFu\u201d. Mine is \u201cPickFu-gW8xKKMkRx\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Once it\u2019s uploaded, open the file inside Drive, then click \u201cOpen with > Google Sheets\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Immediately, it\u2019ll look a lot easier to read. There are still a few things we need to do to set this sheet up for us before we can get into it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n First, rename your file to whatever will be easiest for you to find. Then, create a new tab called \u201cPoll Summary\u201d by clicking the plus symbol at the bottom left of the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rename your original working sheet to \u201cResults Coding\u201d. Your tabs should now look like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, switch to your results coding tab where all of your information is. Select the first eight rows and copy them to your clipboard. Switch back to the poll summary tab and paste them into the blank sheet, then clear those rows from the results coding tab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This should leave your sheet looking something like this in your results coding tab:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We want to create a filter so we can quickly toggle through the data later. Using the menu at the top of the sheet, navigate to \u201cData > Create a filter\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After that, hide any columns you don\u2019t want to see. We\u2019ll need the extra space later. For the analysis I\u2019m currently doing, I don\u2019t need anything but the explanation column, so I hid A-F.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next, set up a few template columns for yourself to the right side of \u201cexplanation\u201d. You can use whatever placeholder word you like. I used \u201ctheme\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n From here, set a timer for 5 minutes on your phone, turn off all distractions, and read the responses. Don\u2019t do anything with them yet \u2013 just read them and absorb. Look for themes. If your question and audience was specific enough, they should emerge quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A good starting point is to find five themes in 5 minutes. You may end up discovering more than that depending on the size and scope of your research, but start small and err to brevity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The themes I immediately noticed in my poll results were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n After you\u2019ve settled on themes, change your column names. Then, create one additional column at the end and title it \u201cother\u201d. We\u2019ll come back to why later. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here\u2019s what it looks like for me so far:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The fun part starts now. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In an ideal world, you have a two- or three-person team that copies the workbook to work on their own copy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This guide will assume you\u2019re working alone. If you\u2019re not, the same method applies at scale. Have your team follow this guide, then compare their results and settle any disagreements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At this stage, go through each explanation and, if the answer touches on a theme, put a 1 in the column that corresponds to that theme. Answers can and often will have more than one theme. Just put a 1 in each column it applies to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Freezing your top pane will be deeply helpful for this. If you haven\u2019t already done so, select your top row, then go to \u201cView > Freeze > 1 row\u201d to keep the top row locked in place.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n For ~100 short answers, it took me about 20 minutes to go through and code them. Here\u2019s how it looks now:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next thing we\u2019re going to do is investigate our \u201cother\u201d column. If we have a lot of \u201cothers\u201d, we might have missed a theme. To see just the entries that were coded with \u201cother\u201d, use the data filter by clicking on the downward triangle in the cell. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then once you\u2019re there, deselect \u201cblanks\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Out of 100 entries, I have 26 that didn\u2019t fall into my original five themes, or surfaced a new potential theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of those 26, 9 fit into an entirely new theme \u2013 efficient blog navigation \u2013 and 4 fit into a smaller theme. The rest were outliers or could be sorted back into the existing themes. This leaves me with just 6 remaining uncoded entries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s fewer than 10% of my total, so I can discard them and move on. Clear your filters so you\u2019re looking at your sheet unfiltered again, then switch over to your \u201cpoll summary\u201d tab. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Copy and paste your theme headers below your summary information. You can use columns or rows \u2013 I chose columns. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re using the 50-person poll from this guide, put the following formula into the cell just below your theme header:<\/p>\n\n\n\n =COUNT(‘Results Coding’!H:H)\/50<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n Then, turn on percentage expression by selecting your cell and clicking \u201cformat as percent\u201d in the command bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re using a 100-person poll like me, the formula looks like this instead:<\/p>\n\n\n\n =COUNT(‘Results Coding’!H:H)<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n These numbers are already percentages (they\u2019re expressions out of 100), so there\u2019s no need to use the percentage function.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Copy and paste the formula under each cell. If you\u2019ve followed my setup, it should automatically update the formula to pull in the new data for each theme. If you haven\u2019t, the \u201cH:H\u201d refers to the column where you want it to count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that\u2019s it. Here are my final results and what I can read from them now \u2013 as well as share with my team:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nHow to identify your customers\u2019 needs\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n
#1. Send existing customers surveys (+ free mockup)<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n#2. Conduct audience research<\/a> with a third-party platform<\/h3>\n\n\n
#2a. How to run a customer needs discovery poll with PickFu ( + starter question)<\/h4>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n#2b. How to analyze your customer research from an open-ended poll<\/h4>\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n