How to get started with Open Marketing
Step 3. Gathering strength - Part 1

Hello everyone. I am Hayashi, the representative of Monosus.

From now on, I would like to move on to ways to attract core customers.
Step 3: Let's talk about "gathering strength."

In Step 1 and 2, you need to recognize the existence of your core customers who have supported and valued your business.
I have explained the importance of believing in the values that our company holds dear and the way we do business.

From now on, I would like to talk about approaches to increasing your core customers.

What makes a core customer a core customer?

In order to think about how you can engage with more of your core customers, you first need to understand the difference between core customers and other customers.
In the previous article, we quantified our core customers in a measurable way.
However, it is not just high purchasing amounts or high frequency of purchases that make a core customer a core customer.

For customers who continue to use the same products and services over and over again,
There is a good reason for this.

When we look into why this is the case, we find that core customers share similar experiences.

I'll explain this with some real examples.

[Luxury hair care products]
A luxury hair care company interviewed customers who had been using the company's products for over 10 years.
What we found was that all of the customers felt that their hair quality had improved after several months of using the product.
It also became clear that those who felt this way were female customers who had some concerns about their hair quality, such as frizz or waves, and who had tried various methods to improve the quality of their hair.

[Interior goods store]
At a company that operates interior goods stores, I visit the stores almost every week,
We interviewed enthusiastic customers who stayed in the store for nearly an hour at a time.
What these customers have in common is that they are not coming to the store to buy things,
By being in the store, you can get ideas for the interior of your own home,
It has also changed the way I invite people over and the food I cook at home.
We noticed that people's behavior was changing, such as giving gifts to others.
Also, as I continued to attend, I realized that my sense of style had improved.
This has also revealed changes in the relationships with those around us.

This is a very brief introduction, but
When analyzing core customers, similar experiences like these become apparent.
Some parts have been deformed to make it easier to understand,
We have found these commonalities in most of the interviews we have conducted with core customers of various companies.

We call the experiences common to our core customers the "core experience."

This is a bit of a digression, but I want to talk a bit about the order of discovery of core customers and core experiences.
For the sake of explanation, I have explained about core customers first.
In fact, the first thing we verbalized was the core experience.

When initially conducting interviews, we selected interviewees as clients by saying, "Let's extract the customer base that we want to do business with in the future, not based on sales or purchasing frequency."
He decided to just do this and looked at the customer list from top to bottom,
It took a lot of effort to select the interviewees.
The low accuracy of the sampling was compensated for by having a larger number of interviewees.

As I interviewed them, I felt that the customers I interviewed were really good customers.
Gradually, I realized that there were common experiences like the ones above,
We decided to call it the "core experience."

And the customers who continue to buy from us as regular customers after experiencing a common core experience are called
Later, we came to call them core customers.

The core experience isn't for everyone.

Discovering the existence of a core experience
In developing the idea of Open Marketing,
It was of great significance.

Not all core customers have arrived at a completely common core experience,
It is fascinating to see how customers from different backgrounds can become core customers through similar experiences.

And the discovery of the core experience is at the same time,
"Not all customers or prospects will experience the core experience."
This also led to the discovery that...
Rather, when we visualize the core experiences of various companies,
It turns out that only a very limited number of customers are able to achieve the core experience.

There is no product or service that satisfies all customers.
I often hear the phrase,
The nuance of this statement can be understood as giving up on a certain segment of the customer base that doesn't suit you ,
In reality, only a very limited number of customers who are a good fit for the product can experience the core experience.
We realized that they would not become our core customers.

In the hair care products mentioned earlier,
I have some concerns about my hair quality, such as frizz or wavy hair.
We found that women who have previously tried various methods to improve the quality of their hair are the type of customers most likely to reach the core experience.
(In reality, there are more detailed conditions and a slightly different customer base.)
It sounds easy to say, but the frequency with which these customers appear is by no means high.

Once the core experience becomes visible,
At the same time, marketing challenges become apparent.

Thank you for reading to the end this month as well.
Next time, I'd like to talk about how discovering the core experience changes marketing challenges.