Psychographic research techniques

4 replies
I'm compiling customer psychographics for a client and I'm curious how other copywriters approach this task.

I started with mining information from online reviews for both my client and their competitors. Next I'll check reviews for businesses nearby or reviewed by the same customers. If it seems like there are gaps, I may do some informal focus grouping, but that seems unlikely with this client.

I've been encouraged to check books and magazines that the ideal customer would read to get further into their headspace, but in the past this has not felt helpful. Not everyone is a reader, and many reviews I've come across stick to quality of the content and not how the reader reacted on an emotional level. Is this something you have used and did you find it beneficial?

I look forward to your feedback and any other research techniques you think are useful. Thanks for your help.
#psychographic #research #techniques
Avatar of Unregistered
  • Profile picture of the author Matthew Stanley
    Some of this is highly dependent on your niche/what you're selling ... generally speaking, though, a couple additional general techniques i've found fruitful include:

    - online forums your target may be participating in - which can be useful for understanding what they're dealing with, their language, their perspective and pain points, etc

    -contacting repeat buyers (if possible) for a short conversation about why they purchase, etc
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11634914].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Stephen Floyd
      Thanks, Matthew. If you contact repeat buyers, do you approach them as a copywriter/marketer, or as a representative of your client? Or does it matter?
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11635890].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author GordonJ
    Originally Posted by Stephen Floyd View Post

    I'm compiling customer psychographics for a client and I'm curious how other copywriters approach this task.

    I started with mining information from online reviews for both my client and their competitors. Next I'll check reviews for businesses nearby or reviewed by the same customers. If it seems like there are gaps, I may do some informal focus grouping, but that seems unlikely with this client.

    I've been encouraged to check books and magazines that the ideal customer would read to get further into their headspace, but in the past this has not felt helpful. Not everyone is a reader, and many reviews I've come across stick to quality of the content and not how the reader reacted on an emotional level. Is this something you have used and did you find it beneficial?

    I look forward to your feedback and any other research techniques you think are useful. Thanks for your help.
    Here is one exercise, which may, or may not be of use.

    What is the jargon used? Which problem or solution, or bridge does the product provide? Then open up thesaurus, and make a list of related terms.

    Example. Golf. Jargon might be swing, stance, setup or used with a specific club...the DRIVER; smash, crush, boom, killer, screamer, long, he man, boss...and within the jargon you want to look for the emotional appeals.

    Drivers are sold by appeals to EGO. Most golfers would rather be the longest Driver in the group rather than the best players.

    You want to associate the jargon, or specific language to how it will make the buyer feel and what it does for them.

    The idea of reading the mags and books is to give you an idea of where the head is at, and where the head goes, the body (and wallet) follows.

    GordonJ
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11635041].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author Stephen Floyd
      I would never have thought to use a thesaurus in that way, but that sounds like a very effective technique. I'll have to give it a try when I'm deeper down my current research rabbit hole.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11635891].message }}
Avatar of Unregistered

Trending Topics