17 Give a definition in your own words of your idea of a customer journey. Then, check online. Examples of qualitative methods are interviews, focus groups, and consumer panels; examples of quantitative methods are surveys, observation, and trial and experimentation methods. Examples of internal sources are inventory records and sales figures; examples of external sources are data from government agencies, trade associations, or chambers of commerce. A customer experience refers to how a business engages with its customers at every point of their buying journey, from marketing to sales, to customer service and everything in between. It s the sum of all interactions a customer has with the brand. ONLINE RESOURCES People, societal and social marketing MARKET ANALYSIS The first step of the marketing process includes different activities aiming at knowing the market (competition, customers, and products) so as to map out the customer journey perfectly. Market research Market research is a set of techniques used to gather data about customers tastes and buying habits, market trends, and, in general, what is happening in one s industry sector. Data can be collected in two ways: Field (or primary) research provides new, relevant, and updated data because it is done by the company specifically and directly, but it is quite expensive and time-consuming. Data can be gathered through: qualitative methods, if it takes into account the opinions and feelings of the customers; quantitative methods, if it is based on hard facts and statistics; Desk (or secondary) research saves time and money by using existing data; however it is not always reliable, up-to-date, or relevant to the specific objective. The sources may be: internal if they include information that has already been collected by the company; external, if they refer to data collected outside the company from educational, public, or commercial sources. Market segmentation To choose which part of the market to serve, a company needs to identify it precisely, finding all the common characteristics it shares so as to tailor the product and marketing precisely to that group of customers. Marketing segmentation refers to the activity of dividing the target market into groups according to common features (based on demographics, needs, priorities, common interests and other psychographic or behavioural criteria) with the objective of optimising a company s choices as to products, marketing, advertising, and sales with the help of market research. Customer personas After identifying one or more target markets with segmentation, a company may decide to investigate even further, thus creating a customer persona, i.e. a fictional but as detailed a profile as possible of their hypothetical ideal customer. The aim is to gain a deep insight into their customers so as to respond precisely to (or even predict) their needs. By using such a method, all the departments inside a company can work towards the same objective with exactly the same specific person rather than an abstract figure in mind and thus create a pleasant customer experience (CX) and be more successful. to gain: guadagnare to gather: raccogliere income: reddito insight: comprensione source: fonte to tailor: adattare su misura 52