Market Research Made Easy - How to optimise your customer

MARKET RESEARCH MADE EASY
How to... optimise your customer acquisition
and retention strategies
The Win/Loss Analysis
is one of the easiest ways to
implement and refine your
marketing, communications,
sales and business strategies.
All you need to do is have follow-up
conversations with customers who have
recently purchased your product or service.
More importantly, talk to people who have
enquired about your product or service
but not proceeded with that purchase.
We call these people “Lost Sales”.
Then, compare why your customers purchase
your product or service and why they don’t.
By conducting this research regularly you will
gain keen insights into your customers’ buying
criteria, their pain points and also pick up early
warning signals about what you need to improve
about your product or service. You will also gain
a better understanding as to why people are not
buying your product or service and obtain useful
feedback about your competitors’ activities.
It’s that easy …
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Top 10 Tips
to make your Win/Loss Analysis work
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Conduct an equal number of interviews with customers
and “Lost Sales”; 10-15 interviews per category is sufficient.
Conduct interviews immediately after the sale, if appropriate;
but no more than three months after the sale.
A conversation-style telephone call works best. Make sure
the interview is no more than 10 minutes long.
Use a structured template that includes a mix of open-ended
and rated responses:
• group your questions into: buying behaviour, product/
service/sales force attributes, how best to promote your
product/service and feedback about your competitors.
You might also like to benchmark your Net Promoter Score1.
Always ask: “Can you name one area that we can improve?”
Have an independent third party conduct your interviews.
Perhaps your best customer service person would be
suitable. This will:
• avoid any conflict of interest by not involving the persons
involved in the sale or lost sale; and
• ensure the interviewer understands your business.
Process and analyse the information into meaningful
recommendations. You must be able to make important,
reliable and accurate decisions using feedback from
the interviews.
Adopt the necessary changes in your business.
Repeat this process on a consistent and regular basis
e.g. monthly, quarterly.
Remember: Perception is Reality.
1. Net Promoter Score: refer to www.netpromoter.com for further information.
The Net Promoter Score is a worldwide standard for organisations to measure,
understand and improve their customer experience.
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MARKET RESEARCH MADE EASY
research
by
design
How to... optimise your customer acquisition
and retention strategies
Sale or enquiry
Repeat this process
consistently
Interview
Win/Loss
Analysis
$
$$
Recent customers n=10-15
“Lost Sales” n=10-15
© Research by Design
Increase
your sales
Analyse
the results
Implement key
recommendations
Aim for 3
Your Win/Loss Analysis will …
• find out what you are doing well to aid your sales and marketing efforts;
• develop and refine your competitive advantage so you can sell
more effectively to your target audience;
• assist with new product development;
• find out what your competitors are doing well and not so well,
so that you can develop strategies to outsell them;
• tell you what channels you need to use to sell more effectively
to your target audience;
• act as an early warning system for your business to identify areas
you need to fix before it is too late; and
• benchmark and measure important internal indicators to make sure
you are running an efficient and successful business.
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