The process of customer portrait is mainly divided into three parts: clarifying marketing needs, determining the dimensions and metrics of customer portrait, and customer portrait and marketing analysis.
1. Clarifying marketing needs
In various marketing activities, merchants must conduct precision marketing to target customers and use limited marketing resources to “capture” more target customers. In order for merchants to achieve accurate capture, it is particularly important to obtain “intelligence” about customers. Therefore, customer portrait is, to a large extent, a customer map and customer intelligence; with customer portrait, merchants’ marketing can be accurate.
For cross-border e-commerce companies, the four core issues that need to be solved in the entire data-based marketing process are traffic, conversion, average order value and repurchase rate. (1) Traffic problem, that is, the problem of “how to attract customers”. To attract customers, we must first understand them, so that we can accurately arrange promotion plans and display attractive products, attractive promotional activities, fun interactions, etc. to target customers. Only with display can there be clicks, and only with clicks can there be traffic. Therefore, in order to solve the traffic problem, we need to describe the number and proportion of customers from the perspective of new and old customer resources, purchase region distribution, shopping platform (mobile and PC), browsing habits, etc., and then make corresponding detailed arrangements.
(2) Conversion problem, that is, the problem of “how to make customers buy”. To make customers buy, merchants must know the needs and preferences of customers, push different products to different customers, and try to meet the needs of customers. The same product will have a relatively large difference in conversion rate when facing different traffic sources in different regions. In the case of limited marketing resources, it is necessary for merchants to introduce traffic from target groups with high conversion rates. Therefore, in order to solve the conversion rate problem, we need to describe the customer’s conversion rate from the perspective of new and old customers’ regional distribution, shopping platform (mobile and PC), browsing habits (source), etc., and then improve the conversion rate. In the later stage, we must do a good job of after-sales work, such as managing buyer shows and comments, which will help convert new visitors in the later stage. (3) The problem of average order value, that is, the problem of “how to make customers buy more”. To get customers to buy more, merchants need to know which customers will buy more, and then match different price points and different matching plans to the corresponding customers, such as optimizing SKU (stock keeping unit) through matching purchases and combined discount activities to increase the average order value.
(4) The repurchase rate issue, that is, the issue of “how to get customers to buy again”. To get customers to buy again, merchants need to know which customers are more likely to buy again. Therefore, merchants need to study the repurchase rate of customers from the aspects of regional distribution, shopping platform, browsing habits, etc.
2. Determine the dimensions and measurement indicators of customer portraits
(1) Customer portraits from multiple dimensions
If merchants want to describe customers more accurately, it is not enough to measure and describe only one dimension. For example, if we only describe a person’s height without describing his weight, it is difficult for us to have a more vivid perception of his figure. Therefore, to describe a person’s figure, we must at least use two dimensions, height and weight. For adult women, we often need to add data such as “three measurements” to describe their figure in order to have a more vivid perception.
If merchants want to understand customers more comprehensively and accurately, they also need to measure and describe them from two or more dimensions so that the customer portrait will be three-dimensional and full. Then merchants need to analyze existing customers, such as what existing customers are like, what consumption habits and preferences they have, and where potential customers are, what they like, through what channels, and how much it costs to obtain them, so that precision marketing can have application value.
(2) Common dimensions and measurement indicators of customer portraits When merchants conduct customer portraits, they need to start from marketing needs and sort out the dimensions and measurement indicators of customer portraits. Common dimensions of customer portraits include: purchase time (R), number of purchases (F), purchase amount (M), region (domestic and foreign), source (primary, secondary, tertiary), gender, age, shopping platform (mobile and PC), etc. Usually, when different dimensions are used to describe customers, the measurement indicators used are also different. Below we introduce some common measurement indicators used to describe customers.
1 PV: also called page views, that is, the number of times a page is viewed. If a customer opens or refreshes the same page multiple times, the indicator value is accumulated.
2 UV: Also called the number of visitors, that is, the number of visitors to each page of the entire store. If the same visitor visits multiple times within the selected time period, deduplication calculation is required.
3 Number of returning customers: that is, the number of customers who visit again every other day within the last 7 days. For the number of customers who visit again on the same day, deduplication calculation is required within the selected time period.
4 Average visit depth: The visit depth refers to the number of pages that a customer visits the store continuously each time (that is, the number of pages browsed each time he enters the store); the average visit depth is the average number of pages that a customer visits the store continuously each time.
5 Number of transaction customers: The number of customers who successfully took pictures of the goods and completed the payment, counted by payment time.
6 Transaction amount: The amount of successfully completed payment, counted by payment time.
7 Conversion rate: The calculation formula is, conversion rate = (number of transaction customers-UV) x100%.
8 Average customer price: The calculation formula is, average customer price = transaction amount-number of transaction customers.
9 Number of returning customers: Customers who have made transactions in the store and then make transactions again are called returning customers. Duplicate calculations must be performed within the selected time period (the statistical standard of Business Advisor is that customers who have made transactions again within the past year are counted as returning customers).
3. Customer portrait and marketing analysis
After clarifying the marketing needs and the dimensions of the portrait, we can conduct customer portrait and marketing analysis from different levels and dimensions for target customers. Specifically, we can conduct the following aspects.
(1) Customer gender ratio Under normal circumstances, most categories have targeted target customers.
For example, women’s clothing is generally believed to be purchased by females. However, in the actual operation process, it is found that the proportion of male customers is not low. Therefore, in the process of marketing and detailed service, merchants cannot only consider the needs of female customers, but also the feelings and experiences of male customers. In stores of different categories, merchants should conduct research on the different consumption characteristics of different customer groups.
(2) Customer age structure
Customer age structure is one of the important dimensions of customer portrait. Merchants need to consider the consumption characteristics of customers of different age groups in product design, price positioning, picture page design, and promotional activity planning. Of course, the customer situation in each region is still different. Merchants need to conduct a comprehensive analysis and then merge the customer situation in each region into a complete customer portrait.
(3) Geographical distribution of customers
Compared with physical stores, the biggest feature of cross-border e-commerce companies is that they have broken through geographical restrictions and covered customers all over the world. In areas with relatively high conversion rates, when delivering paid traffic, you can create a separate delivery plan in these regions to achieve more accurate delivery. Profiling customers by region can effectively help merchants design marketing activities. The climate, humanities, history, language habits, and consumption time of different regions are different. Merchants can formulate differentiated plans based on the number of customers, purchasing power, purchasing habits, etc., which will help products quickly seize the market and expand the market scale.