You may know your customers, but do you know your market? No, it’s not the same thing…
Many marketers feel in touch with their market because they talk to their current customers a lot. They do onboarding surveys and churn surveys, interview them for case studies, meet them at customer meet-ups, and listen to Support and Customer Success teams.
This is all wonderful stuff! Keep doing it (especially if you’re in loyalty and retention marketing).
But your customers are not always reliable representatives of your market. For one simple reason: Your customers ALREADY CHOSE YOU—they swiped right.
How Your Market Is Different
Your market? It includes your customers. But, more importantly, it also includes those who swiped left and those who haven’t swiped at all. These people include:
Your competitors' customers:
People who chose your competitor, for whatever reason. Maybe they saw something they didn't see in your product. Maybe they didn't even consider your product. Digging into their journey is just as insightful (maybe even more) as digging into your own customers' journey.
Evaluators:
These are the people who are right now in the consideration phase. Getting a better understanding of this mindset is key to conversion. When you talk to your own existing customers, you're getting one perspective of this phase—the one where you came out on top. What about the people who go elsewhere, procrastinate, or give up altogether? What more could you have done to reach them at this stage?
Unlocked potentials:
These are people who are somewhat oblivious today. They may be trundling along with an old-fashioned solution (e.g. using Word and Excel instead of your SaaS solution). And they may be happy with this, not seeing any particular need for change. But it's always good to consider whether you could rouse them out of this state of inaction. Are there problems you can agitate? Is there a way of unlocking them? The compelling thing about this group is you have a clear product advantage over their current solution (which may not be true for all your competitors' customers).
What Your Market Can Teach You
The distinction between your market and your customer is Pragmatic 101. But it's worth considering what efforts your organization is making to understand the different groups in your market.
There's so much you can learn from these groups. They may be falling at hurdles that your paying customers got over, like:
👀 They haven’t even heard of you (build brand awareness)
🤨 They don’t see the real need for your solution (you need to spend more time agitating their pain)
💸 They see the need but don’t think it’s worth paying for (prove the ROI with more robust and data-driven product claims)
👈 They choose your competitor (understand why: price, product, reputation…)
🤦 They considered you but thought your product was too [basic/advanced] for them (make sure your website is crystal clear on who you’re for)
🫤 They didn’t understand your product (clean up vague product messaging)
💰 They were put off because you weren’t transparent about price (consider your pricing and packaging strategy)
👎 They’ve heard negative things about you (figure out what it is and fix it)
If you’re on the acquisition side of marketing THIS is the stuff you need to hear. So, yes, talk to the paying customers who already swiped right. But start listening to your larger market too.
