5 Different Types of Customers and How to Approach Them

Depending on how you segment the market, how broad your categories might be, and what factors you use, there are innumerable different types of customers. That being said, let us take a look at the five main types, and how you might go about approaching them.

New

A new customer is someone that has made a recent purchase from you, so might not have had the chance to grasp the full scope of the product or services yet. To satisfy a new customer, make the process after the sale as seamless as possible. If there is a problem, make it easy for them to get in touch – if they want more from you, make it easy for them to purchase from you again.

The key with new types of customers is to encourage them to stay in contact with you, but not so much that they feel pressured or annoyed.

Value-driven

Customers are driven by different things. For some, the cost might be the determining factor. For others, they might be driven by value. To attract value-driven customers, you must prove to them how your product or service works, how it can help, and how it might solve a problem.

One of the best ways to do so is to host a live event, webcast, or webinar, using an interactive platform like ON24. In this session, you will be able to demonstrate the product itself, explain how it works, utilise storytelling to exemplify how it solves real-life problems, and even answer questions from the audience.

Impulsive

On the other hand, impulsive buyers don’t need much persuasion in order to become a customer. Instead of having to nurture the lead for a while, slowly encouraging them to make a purchase, an impulsive customer will make a purchase decision at the drop of a hat.

To approach impulsive customers, keep everything short and sweet. Stay away from long-form content – give them everything they need to know in concise points and snappy FAQs. Similarly, make sure that replies to queries are near-instantaneous, either over live chat or social media.

Potential

Potential types of customers are technically not your customers yet – but they could be soon. These are people who fit the demographic of your target customers and have expressed interest either in your business or products before.

With potential customers, the goal is to convert them into new customers, by prompting them to make a purchase. Keep in mind that potential customers might need some kind of incentive or persuasion to become a new customers. After all, they have probably been on your website before and decided not to buy once already – that’s how you found them.

Loyal

As reported by Forbes, it can cost a business up to five times more money to attract new customers than to retain existing customers. And, by increasing customer retention by just 5%, you could potentially increase profits by 25-95%.

To foster a sense of loyalty, and thus keep customers coming back time and time again, find out what it is that they like about you, and use it. You can also offer incentives such as loyalty cards or tailored offers to existing customers.

With these 5 types of customers in mind, you have the starting points to be able to better understand your target market, and tailor your CTAs towards untapped customers.