The difficult economy and customer behaviour

How is your customer behaving these days? The average customer is restless during times of economic comfort. So what does the opposite end of the economic curve mean to customers?

1. Price becomes more important among differentiators

In a mathematical model, if you attach a weight to each of the metrics that influence customers taking to your product, price would obviously be among the top few. This weight would definitely have increased, especially over the last few months. Conscious purchases would increase as opposed to periodic automatic purchases.

2. Advertisement becomes all the more important

The average customer would definitely spend more time doing research on the product. So, getting the word out that your product is more economically viable, becomes most important.

3. A field of opportunity

These times are the best times for any enterprise to show that they care about their customers. Small measures, such as delaying payment due dates, could greatly influence customer loyalty and churn.

4. It starts as slight pitter-patter on a tin roof

Customer behavior shifts ever so slightly before the deluge. The number of people opting to cook at home was at 74% last October, which increased to 76% last January, and has drastically increased to 84% by April. Identifying slight changes in choice shifts requires an analysis platform to understand what numbers could be used as touch points.
Also, buying patterns would vary drastically and would not be as obvious during better times. The nuggets of information would be in the details and might not jump out at you easily. This further highlights the need for detailed analysis.

Now what would companies need to do ensure that they stay on top of the curve?

• Create an analytics platform to identify small shifts in customer behavior.
  
• Concentrate on customer satisfaction. A dissatisfied customer is more likely to discontinue service during such times. Retention becomes more important because getting a new customer becomes all the more expensive.
  
• Pricing trends based on local competition, while customers are busy shifting to cheaper, local vendors.