Step 1 - Customer Research

OK.  So you know that Step One is all about Customer Research, and you know that assessors are looking to see what you do to capture all types of information about your past, existing and potential customers and what you are doing with the information you get.

We all know that preparation is everything, and we also know that it is easy to forget to pass on all the information we have, especially when we are not necessarily collecting some of it ourselves.  This may particularly apply to businesses that are part of larger organisations with central functions able to provide a broad spectrum of customer data.  So don’t forget, if you have data collected elsewhere to refer to: it is still evidence of your organisation’s commitment to customer research.

You know your organisation has procedures in place to do this, but have you consulted your staff to see if they have any other ideas?  If you have, did you tell the assessors what you considered, whether you adopted or rejected any suggested alternatives, and if so, why, or did you hide your organisation’s good practice in this area?  If you do this, it illustrates your commitment and it is part of the battle won as it removes a point for consideration.

In order to know your customers better, you need to know what their options are and where else they can get the service you are offering, be it accommodation, food provision, a leisure experience or facility provision.

Listed below are reminders of what you need to consider.

Know your customers and in some instances your customer’s customers!

That may sound obvious, but would you achieve a high score?

• There are some businesses where your customer is a more complex being than others. As everyone is aware the person paying the bill may not always be your customer and therefore there can be many challenges in illustrating a detailed knowledge of your ultimate consumer and key stakeholders. For example, if your business is school catering the consumers may be children but there are a number of other groups who have an interest in the product and influence your customer such as a local authority or a governing body including parents/teachers and local authority managers.

• Is it a straightforward exercise to categorise your customers, if so why?

• If not, how have you done it or how do you intend to do it?

• What have you/will you do with any data collected? Will it be analysed and what will trigger any actions?

How do you gather data about your customers?

• Do you collect all the relevant information about your customer at the point of sale?  Whether it’s an internet booking, during check-in or over the phone it’s important to recognise the opportunities to capture data to make informed marketing decisions. If however you are ever short of information you may need to review your information needs and how they can be addressed.

• Does your IT system have facilities and functionality you are not yet taking full advantage of to capture key customer data?

• Capturing a home postcode may be invaluable if it gives you a feel of the concentration of your customers which can be cross-referenced to other data analytics.

• It is not always easy to get key demographic information particularly data such as a date of birth, but if this is an important piece of information for your business and your customers experience is there an offer you could devise to justify this?

• Have you considered alternative methods to those you currently use? Can you make better use of internet sites both your own and any other strategic partners you may have?

• Can you engage your customer in a more personal manner by face to face discussion to find out more about their reasons for choosing your business??

• Do you maintain a database of any sort on key customer preferences? If so what do you do with the information captured?

• Can you capture verbal feedback at point of delivery if so how do you do this?  Are all your staff engaged in capturing information about customers, if so, how is this recorded and is it easy to access the information provided?

• Have you considered third party research to identify non-customers and their reasons for non take up of your service? Can you use tourism bodies’ information or trade association research?

• Is there a good reason you don’t use customer comment cards? If so what is it and what is your alternative?

• Have you considered what an acceptable rate of feedback is and do you get it? If not how will you achieve it?

• Are you using any web-sites to track customers’ views? If so do you advise them of this media and encourage them to use it?

• Can you or your staff participate in or run user groups to obtain meaningful feedback from your customer and or other stakeholders?

Know your competitor - they are not always the most obvious.

• If you have a handle on your competitor you may have already identified a source of new customers as the appeal your competitor has; may be something you can capitalise on for example larger portions or special deals

• Can you define/justify why, when a business is providing a similar offer e.g. food service on the same or neighbouring site, that it is or is not a competitor?

• “Two for one offers” at high street chains might not seem like a competitor for a university catering operation but it may be changing the pattern of spend if customers are getting a good deal in a different environment.

• A Bed & Breakfast operation may not be seen as a direct competitor to a 5 Star hotel but what is the offer and how attractive is it in an economically challenging period.

• Have you sampled your competitors’ prices recently? Do you keep records of these?

• Have you or members of your team taken the opportunity to visit competitor sites? Do you record the key learning points?

Are your customer’s needs changing?

• Have you undertaken a PEST or SWOT analysis recently?  How have the political/economic/social and technological changes of the last year affected your business? Doing this examination of the current situation will give you an insight into some of the areas impacting on your customers and therefore on your business.

• Have you previously undertaken this exercise? If so what are the changes?

• Evidence of this activity will demonstrate you are constantly taking account of the factors that can change your customers and potential customers’ needs.

• Is the whole market changing? Recent financial challenges could be both detrimental and beneficial to your business.  How are you analysing this?

• Are you starting to get more or less UK based visitors as the economic climate creates a more stay at home culture and the exchange rate has moved against sterling, or is this bringing you more overseas customers?

• How will you and your customers react to the changing economic landscape?

• Is the age or gender profile changing?  Are there new products or trends that might impact on your offer?

• Are you keeping abreast via the trade press with the latest developments, offers and opportunities?

• Have you attended industry events and identified potential new ideas to enhance your product?

If you have further suggestions or ideas you would like to share please let us know.

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