There's a reason a customer walks miles to that particular store to get that particular product even in the rain no matter the day or time or busy schedule, it is called customer behavior. It is all the why you could possibly think of. Customer behavior is the study of how individual customers, groups or organizations select, buy , use and dispose ideas, goods and services to satisfy their needs and wants. Simply, why customers buy what they buy. There are different factors that can influence what people buy, some might be the urge to feel among i.e social trend or pressure, for some it is their personality, others it depends on their psychology at that time and for others it is their purchasing power i.e how much they earn.
To understand customer behavior you need to ask questions like why do they buy this product, which brand of this product do they prefer, how often do they use this product, how do they prefer to get this product and how often do they get this particular product. As a business owner, the customer is at the center of everything decision and action you take. You can't please them if you don't understand why they buy a particular brand of product. It is important to the success of your products and business as a whole.
Every customer is unique and simply classifying their personas based on age or sex doesn't cut it anymore. There are vegetarians now, fat haters , gluten avoiders and so many more. For example, Coca-cola didn't just stick to their first product for years because wow everyone seems to like it, they saw and understand the change in trend and personas over time and went further to produce other products like fanta, sprite, schweppes, diet coke and other products. If they had closed their ears to what their customers were saying they wouldn't have been able to satisfy a larger audience and make the billions they making right now.
Being able to detect , understand and apply what customers are saying will help you tailor your marketing approach even better. It will help you understand which form of advertising or medium of advertising will be more effective and impactful enough to turn potential customers into paying customers. It will also open doors of innovation as well, instead of just following the crowd of creating products that end up in the waste bin or sit on shelfs for months or even years. By listening to your customers you'll understand better what ingredient works best or what you should incorporate into your products to attract more customers.
Customers will always communicate their feelings one way or the other and it is important that you pay close attention. Boycotting a product totally is enough to tell you they don't just like the product and you need to improve it. Whether criticism, complains or feedbacks pay attention to them, filter the useful part and make adjustments to your sales, product or customer service. You can conduct customer behavior analysis yourself or pay customer behavior analysis platforms to help you out.
