Tapping the Customer's Mind

Ever since language was discovered and people started interacting with each other, this urge to know what the other person is thinking has been in vogue. With the international markets and increasing number of players, all the big multinational companies are clamoring to know what is inside the mind of the customer. Niche customers are a few. It takes little effort and resources for the huge companies to identify the needs and aspirations of these customers. However, when it is a product with diverse customers serving diverse needs and requirements and differing brand images, it is becoming increasingly difficult to understand what is there in the minds of the consumers.

With the advent of technology in our daily lives in the form of websites and online shopping, companies are devising ways to understand the customer's tastes and preferences and formulate their marketing strategy on the basis of what the customer desires. Cookies are included in the web-pages to track the mouse clicks of the customer and inform the marketer of the process through which customer selects a product from among the many players. Nonetheless, these cookies fail to fully tap a single customer's preferences. Most of the mouse clicks are momentary and involuntary guided by marketing campaigns online. The customer exhibits a completely different taste when it comes to real time shopping where he gets adequate freedom to choose between the various varieties. More customers aspire for the physical feel before buying a product. However, statistics show a confusing trend where the people who prefer online shopping and real time shopping are equally divided.

Marketing campaigns earlier used to be a mix of print media, outdoor hoardings, and TV commercials as the dominant players. The internet has crept in very fast to become one of the most dominant players in this campaign. Indeed, there are certain companies established just to help you in your online marketing activities. A single click by a customer has become so significant that companies are trying in various ways to make the customer go to a web site and click on a link. Mouse clicks have become an important aspect of revenue generation for such companies that are bent in making online campaigns. Interestingly, customers are ignoring the colorful mails with offers from different companies. Email marketing is fast loosing its sheen. The fact that email marketing might soon come in a new wave cannot be ruled out in these turbulent times. Anticipation seems to be a difficult task, especially when it is related to the customer's tastes and preferences.

Experts suggest that customer research is the only way to identify their tastes and preferences. Online research firms are mushrooming and storming the customer mails again. Request mails to customers to spare a few minutes are abundant. The information that the customers provide are sent to the respective marketers and companies. Regardless of understanding the real customer needs, tastes and preferences, many people are thriving on this aspect of marketing especially with the advent of internet into our everyday lives.