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Do you keep track of customer interactions? For example, do you know how many “regulars” you have? What do they buy? How often do they leave feedback?
Your Best Customers
And what about your best customers? Who are they? You may be surprised to learn that these so-called “Superconsumers” may be able to unlock the secrets behind driving more incoming business and increasing customer satisfaction across your entire audience.
But what exactly is a Superconsumer?
In the next paragraphs, you’ll learn how they tap into their thoughts and opinions, and most of all, how they can have an impact on your overall business strategy.
What Is a Superconsumer?
The term “superconsumer” was first coined in a book by marketing consultant Eddie Yoon, titled “Superconsumers: A Simple, Speedy, and Sustainable Path to Superior Growth”.
So let’s try to describe what is a superconsumer in a few words. In the shortest possible answer, this is your best possible customer. While your customers buy your stuff, your superconsumers regularly purchase from you, because your product is able to solve a lot of problems or aid them with their regular needs.
As Yoon puts it, they are hiring your products as part of their quest.
You want long-term, devoted customers, of course, but superconsumers provide even greater benefit than a regular source of income.
By understanding why these customers have decided that your product or service is the go-to solution for their problems, you can understand what draws other customers to your brands, as well as identify your place in the market and any issues along the way.
Read also: Customer Lifetime Value. What is CLV, and how to measure it
What a Superconsumer Does?
Superconsumers actually know your product better than you do, in a sense.
While you and your team often look at your business from the perspective of enticing new customers and retaining current ones, superconsumers want to be sure that the business they’ve “hired” as their unofficial supplier is performing to their standards.
They’ll notice trends in quality, delivery, and communication faster than you will, because they know the process better than anyone.
They’ll experience the effects of any changes in your procedures or products faster and more intimately than the standard one-time customer.
But here’s the tricky part: the most valuable superconsumers to your brand may not even know you exist yet. That may sound confusing, but read on!
How To Find Your Superconsumers
Superconsumers are everywhere. In fact, Yoon recommends you start looking for them by looking at the correlations between your products and related products.
In his book, he uses the example of people who have purchased substantial insurance policies. As one can imagine, those who upgrade their insurance policies are highly risk averse. This not only is reflected in their robust coverage, but in other aspects of their lives, such as their purchasing habits when it comes to power generators or other emergency preparedness devices.
The common idea is that superconsumers of one brand also practice this heightened level of brand loyalty for at least nine other brands, and the link between them usually makes a great deal of sense, once it’s examined in detail.
As Yoon points out, this defies the basics of demographics, and heads more into psychographics (more about these two terms here).
Sure, individuals at a certain income level or in a particular geographic location may be linked by a particular need for specific products. But the well-rounded business owner also understands that many purchases are made on an emotional level.
Ask Yourself A Few Questions to Dig Further
Therefore, you need to understand why the superconsumers are purchasing in addition to what they are purchasing.
Why have they hired your brand? What encourages their loyalty, but even more than that, what inspires their need? In the example of insurance and generators, the driving factor was preparedness.
Digging even deeper into the psychology of these consumers, Yoon and company found that some of the superconsumers interviewed saw themselves as superheroes who could overcome any type of unforeseen adversity.
By investing in insurance and generators, they saw themselves as being above an emergency scenario.
There are several ways to identify your brand’s superconsumers. Take a look at your sales figures. Most likely, your best customers will comprise less than 10% of your overall sales, but will make up for per purchase spend with frequency.
They’ll enroll in loyalty programs, sign up for email lists, and follow your brand on social media. They may take advantage of nearly every discount code you offer, or appear whenever you’re running a special on a particular item.
They have a very distinct pattern of interaction with your brand, which is what makes them very useful for understanding your brand from an outside perspective.
Superconsumers Can Literally Drive Your Business
Understanding the emotional drive behind your customers’ behaviors can thereby help you get in touch with how prospective and existing customers see your brand.
Obviously, you know your emotional connection with your brand, but how well can you see through the eyes of your customers?
As superconsumers, these individuals are more deeply and regularly engaged with your brand. Why? Once you identify these customers, you can, in fact, ask them.
From marketing and merchandising, to product offerings and pricing, these folks understand what it means to be on the receiving end of your brand.
Even better, they have established an ongoing relationship with your brand, which means they have a greater emotional connection to the success of your business.
How And What to Ask
Starting a dialogue may seem a bit awkward at first.
After all, you would probably be a little confused if your favorite brand of shoe sent you a personal email, asking you to describe why you like their shoes so much.
Instead, try incorporating feedback into interactive content like surveys, or incentivize completing feedback requests via email. Gamification is also a great way to encourage your superconsumers to share more details, as a little competition for exclusive products or discounts is engaging and mutually beneficial.
Next Steps
Once your superconsumers have shared their insights, you’ll learn more about what your customers love about you, and where you fit in a variety of problem-solving scenarios.
This can help you modify your marketing campaigns, your site content, even the User Experience and User Interface aspects of your various online outlets.
Life-long customers are the bread and butter for nearly every business, and understanding why they’ve engaged with your brand can help you not only continue this valuable relationship, but help you attract and retain additional superconsumers, as well.
