Customer interview record
Turn conversations into evidence you can compare without treating every positive comment as demand.
Library · Topic guide
Customers and marketing
Why do people buy, and what makes them return?
Marketing decisions need a view of the whole customer experience: the problem people want solved, how they find the offer, what happens when they ask about it and whether the first purchase gives them a reason to return.
How to approach this topic
More attention is useful only if the business can turn it into worthwhile relationships and deliver what it promises. Look at unanswered inquiries, unsuitable offers, weak contribution and disappointing service before assuming the answer is more advertising.
A suggested reading path
Build the picture, one question at a time
Read in order for an introduction, or start with the question you are facing. Some guides connect more than one business topic.
- Step 1
Understand the buying decision
Explore the customer’s existing alternatives and the evidence that would support a paid offer.
- Step 2
Follow the cost of acquiring a customer
Define which spending and which customers belong in the comparison before judging a channel.
- Step 3
Examine the economics of a discount
Compare additional sales with the contribution given up, including sales that would have happened anyway.
- Step 4
Learn from the second purchase
Look at comparable customer groups and the experience between purchases before adding another reward.
An illustrative business situation
A promotion that fills the room
A restaurant sees more bookings during an offer. To understand the result, it needs to distinguish additional diners from customers who would have paid the usual price, account for the offer’s costs and watch what happens after the promotion. A full room answers one question; the value of the promotion requires several more.
Put it to work
Price-change workbook
Compare price and volume scenarios when considering an offer.
All marketing articles and resources
Explanation
Will a discount bring useful sales or just cheaper ones?
A busy promotion can leave less money behind. Compare additional demand, contribution and the customers who would have paid full price.
Explanation
Customers try the business. What brings them back?
Follow what happens after the first purchase, compare customers fairly and find the obstacle before creating another reward or offer.
Explanation
People like the idea. Will they pay for it?
Find out what people already do about the problem and whether they will commit time or money to your solution. Compliments alone do not establish demand.
Explanation
What does one new customer actually cost?
Count the costs and new customers over the same period, then compare the cost per customer with what their purchases leave after direct costs.
Working tool
Customer interview record
Record what happened the last time a customer faced the problem, what they tried, what it cost, and what commitment came next.