Who is your customer? Use Case Approach

The who your customer is question is one of the most important in business. Asking it correctly can unlock a lot of value while getting it wrong can lead to disaster.

?Yet, defining who your customer is can be surprisingly tricky. Even companies with decades of experience in their market can get it wrong. That’s because there are different types of customers, and you need to identify which type you want to serve.

?There are three main ways to go about this: the use case approach, the customer profile approach, and the customer segmentation approach.

?The Use Case Approach

?The use case approach defines your customer in terms of the problem they are trying to solve. It doesn’t matter who they are or what they look like, just what they need.

?For example, let’s say you are a company that makes smartphone applications. Your customers might be businesses that need an application for a specific purpose, like making a product or filling a specific role in their production process. Or maybe your customers are individuals who need applications for their personal use.

?In either case, the use case approach tells you that your customers are people who need widgets and are willing to pay for them. It doesn’t give you any information about their demographics or preferences, but it does tell you what motivates them and how you can reach them.

?The Customer Profile Approach

?The customer profile approach defines your customer in terms of their characteristics. This includes things like age, gender, income, education level, and so on.

?Using the application example, a customer profile might look like this:

?Customers are typically 18-35 years old, male, and have some college education. They are making between $30,000 and $60,000 a year and are looking for an affordable application that meets their needs.

?This approach gives you a lot of information about your customers, including what motivates them and what they’re looking for. However, it doesn’t tell you how to reach them or how to sell them on your application.

Which Approach Is Better?

Neither approach is better than the other; they both have their strengths and weaknesses. The use case approach is good for understanding what motivates your customers and figuring out how to reach them. The customer profile approach is good for understanding who your customers are and what they want. We will take a deeper look into the use case approach because it’s easier to start there.

We will look into the use case approach because it's easier to get started.

Why developing customer groups based on use cases is a good idea

?Developing customer groups based on use cases is a great way to simplify your marketing efforts and create more relevant content. When you know which use cases your product or service is best for, you can target those customers specifically.

?This also makes it easier to create content that is relevant to your target audience. Rather than creating general content that may or may not appeal to your customers, you can produce content that is tailored specifically for them. This will help you to stand out from the competition and increase your chances of conversion.

?What are the benefits of the use case approach?

?The use case approach is a powerful technique for understanding and designing systems. It has been successfully used in a variety of industries, including software engineering, system administration, business process engineering and telecommunications.

?The use case approach is based on the idea that real-world problems can be best understood and solved by studying how people use systems. By understanding the sequence of actions that users take to achieve their goals, we can identify the essential features of the system and design it to be more effective and user-friendly.

?Identifying customer groups using product use cases: The process

There are three steps to identifying customer groups' by-product use cases:

?1. List all the ways your customers can use your product.

?2. Group those ways into categories.

?3. Assign each group a persona based on their needs and behaviours.

?Let's look at an example. Say you own a company that makes a mobile app. Your customers can use the app to do a variety of things, such as check the weather, find nearby restaurants or book a flight.

?Here's how you might group those ways of using the app:

?– Checking the weather: This could include checking the forecast for today or tomorrow, seeing what the temperature is in a particular location, or getting alerts about severe weather conditions.

?– Finding nearby restaurants: This could include looking up restaurant ratings and reviews, finding menus, or getting directions to a restaurant.

?– Booking a flight: This could include searching for flights, comparing prices, and booking tickets.

?For each of these groups, you would then create a persona that represents the needs and behaviours of your customers in that group. So, for example, your persona for customers who use the app to check the weather might be called "Weather Watcher" and they would be someone who wants to stay up to date on the latest weather conditions.

Identifying the most profitable customer groups

?As a business owner, it is important to identify which customer groups are the most profitable and focus your marketing efforts on them. The most profitable customers are not always the ones who spend the most money. They may not even be the ones who are the easiest to sell to.

?Instead, the most profitable customer groups are typically those that offer the highest margin or have the greatest potential for up to 100% growth. Once you have identified these groups, you can then create targeted marketing campaigns that will resonate with them and increase sales.

?What information should we gather about the use case customer groups?

?To gather information about the use case customer group, it is helpful to perform interviews with potential customers or survey them. This information can be used to create personas, which are fictional representations of the target customer. Personas help to guide product development by providing a target customer to design for.

?Some questions to ask potential customers to gather information about their use case:

What needs does this product address for you?

?How does this product improve your life or work?

?What are you currently using to address this need?

?What are the top benefits of using this product?

?How should marketers use the use case information they have of their customers?

?Marketers should use the use case information they have of their customers to personalize their marketing and advertising. Use cases are the scenarios in which a customer would use a product or service. Knowing a customer's use case can help marketers understand what motivates a customer, what features they are likely to use, and how best to communicate with them.

?Avoid thinking you know what customers want: The Passion Trap

?Too often, companies think they know what their customers want. They develop a product or service and put it out into the market, if they build it, customers will come. This type of thinking can be disastrous for a business.

?To create a successful product or service, it’s important to first understand your customers. What are their needs and wants? What are they currently using to meet those needs and wants? What are their frustrations with current products or services?

?Only by understanding your customers can you create a product or service that truly meets their needs. Don’t be afraid to reach out to them directly and ask for feedback. You can also use surveys, focus groups, and interviews to learn more about your customers.

?Once you have a good understanding of your customers, you can begin creating a product or service that meets their needs. Keep in mind that it’s important to continually listen to your customers and gather feedback so you can continue to improve your product or service.

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