Target with Precision: How Defining Your Consumer Profile Drives Higher ROI
Understanding Your Audience Before Diving into Attribution Costs and Consumer Segments
Before you begin analyzing attribution costs or diving into consumer affinity segments, it's crucial to first understand who you're attracting at the top of your sales funnel. This foundational insight will guide your strategy as you move forward.
For Brick-and-Mortar Businesses
Proximity plays a significant role. To maximize your efforts, focus on reaching an audience that’s likely to convert into paying customers and then continue to engage with your brand over time—ultimately contributing to lifetime value. In essence, aim to attract people who will not only purchase once but will return regularly.
For E-Commerce Businesses
The consumer journey here tends to overlap between user search, leads, and eventual conversions. In this case, understanding who is engaging with your content and making purchases is critical for fine-tuning your approach.
Building a Consumer Profile (Affinity Segment)
Creating a detailed consumer profile can help target the right audience. Here's an example of how such a profile might look:
Sample Product: CBD Athletic Recovery Drink
Location: New York City
Age Group: 18-25
Gender: Female
Household Income: $85,000+ per year
Education: BA, MBA, or MA
Disposable Income: $25,000+ per year
Product Affinity: Sweetgreen, Reebok, Athletic Apparel, Pressed Juicery, Citi Bike, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's
Consumer Loyalty Index: >65%
Pain Points: Product access, pricing, flavor availability
Key Conversion Drivers: Value for money, product effectiveness, peer influence
Non-Negotiables: Ineffectiveness, lack of sustainability, inconsistency
Using This Profile to Test and Build Your Audience
With this profile, you can conduct A/B testing for product deployment and run sentiment analysis on a relatively small budget. The goal here is to let the data inform your audience-building efforts during larger acquisition campaigns. Using insights from platforms like Facebook Ads and website analytics, you can then create lookalike audiences to help scale your efforts.
Important Notes for Building Your Audience
Avoid Over-Targeting: While it's tempting to aim for hyper-targeted audiences, it’s often more effective to focus on 3 to 5 key attributes when starting out. Trying to target too narrowly can hinder your consumer discovery phase, making it difficult to uncover broader audience insights.
Affiliates, Influencers, and Third-Party Platforms: Be cautious when partnering with affiliates, influencers, and third-party review sites. While they can help amplify your reach, they often take a significant commission—typically 15-35% of every sale.
To maintain control over your brand and profits, claim ownership of your digital real estate and product from the outset. This way, if these third parties want to feature your product, you can negotiate better terms and commission structures that work in your favor.