If you’re a B2B market researcher then you know that conducting great market research for your clients is about much more than surveys or questionnaires. There are many variables and moving parts to get a full understanding of your client’s customer base that sometimes, pulling accurate and reliable data that answers the questions you need feels impossible. 

If this sounds familiar to you, then let us give you a bit of advice: it’s time to start taking a closer look at your client’s customer journey data. We’re not talking about simply mapping out the customer journey and calling it a day, we’re talking about using actionable real-world data like location intelligence to get a 360 view of what is and isn’t working for your client. 

When the customer journey is mentioned, a lot of people likely think about the customer’s path to purchase. That’s not quite the customer journey that we are going to be talking about here. We’re looking at the physical customer journey, the one where we answer questions like:

• What does your client’s target audience like?
• How do they move about in the world?
• At what point did they choose your client over a competitor or vice versa?

What does this have to do with the customer journey? Everything. Instead of using outdated B2B market research data to get the answers you need, the customer’s journey will tell you how they interact with your client’s brand in the real world. This is where location intelligence comes in.

Put simply, location intelligence gives market researchers insight into how customers move around in the real world. By using verified data sets, researchers can analyze near real-time data that tells them what their client’s base won’t say through simple surveys or on the ground questionnaires. 

When location intelligence is used to analyze the customer journey, it becomes a powerhouse tool that will differentiate you from your competitors. For example, you have a client who needs some market research done because they aren’t attracting the same amount of customers that they used to. They want to know where they are going wrong so that they can rectify the problem. At first, you send out surveys, but the issue here is that the surveys are only questioning current customers, not looking at the whole picture. 

You decide to bring in a location intelligence solution. The data surprises you; based on the survey results, you assumed that the problem was a lack of personalized marketing, this isn’t the case at all. By using location intelligence, you realize that your client’s audience is buying from a new competitor that you didn’t even know existed. It turns out that while you were busy looking at a well-known competitor, a new one had just opened down the street and their prices are much better than your client’s. 

With this data under your belt, you are able to determine that your client’s customers are going where the service is cheaper, a new player in the market. You advise them to aim their marketing campaigns at that location and lower their prices a smidge to compete. Other B2B market research firms would have stopped at “lack of personalized marketing” and the results for your client would have been mediocre. You were able to get to the true root of the problem and provide your client with serious ROI, considering their customers came back as soon as the pricing changed.

Real-world customer journey insights can tell you a lot about your client’s audience and what they are looking for out of a preferred brand. With location intelligence in the mix, you are able to give your clients a multifaceted view of their customer base. 

Be the can’t-live-without market research firm for your client and get insights on what their customers really want. Ready to enrich your current B2B market research data with location intelligence? Contact us to speak with a location intelligence expert today.