Customer Analysis

Why Your Customer Analysis is Important

In this section, you will describe your target customers and their core needs. It is important since readers want to be sure you 1) precisely know who your target customers are and what they want, and 2) your strategy (products/services, promotions strategy, etc.) aligns with your customers’ preferences.

What to Include

The Customer Analysis section has two sub-sections: Target Customers and Customer Needs.

Target Customers

In the Target Customers section of your plan, you should provide a profile of your target customers.

For instance, how old are they? Are they married? Where do they live/work?

Below are several demographic (e.g., age) and psychographic (e.g., values) variables you can use to describe your target customers. Some are for B2C (business to consumer) and others are for B2B (business to business) companies:

• Age
• Income
• Gender
• Location
• Marital Status
• Family size
• Occupation
• Language
• Education
• Values/Beliefs
• Activities Engaged In
• Business Size

Customer Needs

Here you will profile the needs of your target customers. Do they care most about speed? Price? Comfort?

Below are several reasons why customers might want or need your products and/or services:

• Speed
• Quality
• Location
• Reliability
• Comfort
• Price
• Value
• Customer service
• Convenience
• Ease of use

Identify which of these (or other) reasons are relevant and then explain them further. For example, you can discuss that customers dislike the fact that getting gasoline takes so long (driving to the station and waiting on line) and how your solution saves them time.