THE IMPORTANCE OF CUSTOMER RESEARCH

Brand competition has long driven the growth of many markets with rival brands striving to offer an improved customer experience than that of their competitors. What has proven to be a crucial factor in optimising the customer experience is customer research. The latest example of this is, of course, Costa Enterprises.

When visualising Britain’s caffeine champion, many would quickly name Starbucks; but in 2011, Costa Enterprises overall sales soared by 24% to become the UK’s leading coffee brand.

So how did Costa manage to rise above competitors, with more stores than Starbucks and Caffè Nero combined?

Investing so much energy into customer service and customer feedback, Costa has excelled in maintaining and constantly improving an already high quality service.

In fact, Costa’s marketing feedback tool ‘Listen and Learn’, receives 40,000 customer responses a month, which has assisted the brand in working out exactly what consumers expect from their service.

But the coffee king also looks after its own camp with an internal survey ‘YourSay’, which seeks information on how to improve team relationships.

Taking care of all the cogs in the system, Costa ensured success with all elements of the company improving the quality of both products and services.

Caroline Harris, marketing director of Costa Enterprises told Marketing Week:

“A year ago, convenience would have been the most important factor, but the quality of the coffee has now become the number one driver of preference.”

While Costa’s victory sets a notable example of a once ‘competitor brand’ dwarfing its rivals, it also highlights how imperative customer feedback is in improving your products, services and overall brand.

At Thread, we specialise in driving your brand forward with our decades of experience – and the trick is understanding the very core of your brand… and your target market of course.

We know that the target market is the most important factor to study in any business, so we value the importance of useful customer research and feedback tools including social media, effective email lists and customer surveys.

When you know your customer base well, the direction of your brand becomes all the more clear.

So if your need advice on how to expand your brand by refocusing on your clientele, why not call us today on 0207 226 0099 or contact us to find out more about what we do.