How would your customers SWOT you?

Used by marketers to evaluate themselves and the environment in which they work, the SWOT analysis is a cornerstone of most marketing strategies. However if you were to ask customers to conduct a similar analysis, would their results match what their internal experts concluded? One of the biggest challenges is understanding what your customers actually think of your brand, service and your products – essential input required for SWOT analysis. The brief asides and comments customers make every day are all pieces of a jigsaw which, when assembled, can clearly map out what customers really think. It is vital this information is captured to piece together the full picture.

Think about this when you conduct your next detailed SWOT analysis. To get started, reach out to external sources such as social media, but make sure you also partner with the contact centre. These frontline professionals hear complaints, praises, questions and more each day from your customers. And, if the you have the means to mine the data from a technology standpoint, your insights will be even more valuable. The idea behind SWOT analysis is to encourage managers think about their organisation from an outsider’s point of view. Understanding the voice of your customer in this way actually provides that perspective.

It would be great to hear what people are doing to monitor and evaluate what their dialogues with customers. If you have any thoughts to contribute, just drop them in below.