Understanding how your customers think helps you immeasurably. Imagine being able to talk to them in a manner that they not only understand but relate to. Marketing isn’t about appealing to the masses and communicating with a group. It’s about making every single person you’re marketing to feel as if you’re talking directly to them. Your prospect wants to know that you not only understand their plight, you feel their pain. You know exactly what they’re dealing with and you know how to help them. To be able to communicate that effectively with your customers and prospects means understanding them at their core level. You need to know how they think.

But that’s not always so easy. After all, empathy only goes so far. You can imagine what their life is like and how they feel but it’s difficult to know and understand. The good news is that there are ways for you to get a better understanding. In fact, many organizations create customer profiles for their various types of customers. These profiles are in depth and describe a day in the life of each different type of customer. For example, a soccer mom’s life and challenges may be quite different from a single working professional but they both may have the need for fast and healthy meals.

Let’s take a look at some of the tools and resources at your disposal to learn more about your customer’s mindset.

1. Analytics – Use your analytics for more than identifying next month’s blog post topics. How are people interacting on your website? What is their path? What topics do they respond to and when do they take the next step to become part of your community? For example, when do they sign up for your email list or post a comment on your blog?

2. Read What They Write – Social media is vastly underused. Most business owners focus on spreading their message. However, it’s a gold mine for learning more about your customers and prospects. What do they talk about? What language do they use? (You can mimic this language in your content.) What pages do they like and what comments or posts do they share? What gets them fired up? Use social media, including your own blog comments, to learn more about how your customer thinks.

3. Sales Reports – How does your customer buy? When do they buy? How long does it take them to trust you and what seals the deal and finally earns that trust and that first purchase? Learn to identify trends in your sales and you’ll learn more about your customers.

There are services that you can hire to learn more about your customers. They can create detailed customer profiles. If you have room in your budget, this can be a useful investment. However, you also have the ability to reach out to your customers personally and spend time getting to know them. Get involved with your prospects and customers and learn how to connect.