Understanding consumers is the key to business success.
No matter what the size of your business, knowing the characteristics of your consumers and their behavior is vital to your success. And you must truly understand consumers to find success; advertising pioneer David Ogilvy observed, "Can advertising foist an inferior product on the consumer? Bitter experience has taught me that it cannot."
Gender
Gender is a vital consumer characteristic on which to collect data. Shopping preferences vary widely by gender, and men and women respond to advertisements in different ways. In addition, She-Conomy.com points out that 85 percent of all consumer purchases are made by women.
Purchasing Power
Understanding a consumer's income level can be helpful, but assessing purchasing power is more important. As MeasuringWorth.com notes, purchasing power takes into account the Consumer Price Index, which factors in the cost of products, which can vary with fluctuations in the economy. In other words, purchasing power may not be as high as income level, so using this measure can prevent you from being overly optimistic.
Consumer Knowledge
As Lars Perner, Ph.D., a faculty member at University of Southern California's Department of Marketing explains, the level of consumer knowledge can affect how they understand marketing as well as whether or not they will purchase a product. For instance, if a consumer is not knowledgeable about personal health, even a scientifically sound advertisement might not persuade the consumer to purchase a health-oriented product.
Priorities
Consumer priority is a vital characteristic to understand. As Rockbridge Research points out, priorities can be influenced by many factors, including the economy. The research company notes that consumers may postpone purchases or downgrade to less expensive options when the economy is lagging. However, certain types of products, such as food, tend to always be high priorities.
Age
The age of your consumers can influence not just the products that you market to them, but the way in which you market those products. For instance, internet-based marketing can be effective for younger consumers, but marketing in a newspaper would likely be less effective.
Tags: purchasing power, income level, your consumers