The marketing landscape is more competitive than ever. Customers are bombarded with messages and ads every second, and cutting through the noise requires a deep understanding of their needs and desires.
With the increasing pressure to craft compelling messages, identify and reach potential customers, develop a strategy that works, and increase brand awareness and ultimately, revenue, marketers need new tactics and tools to ensure they’re not missing the mark.
UX Research as a Powerful Ally for Marketers
This is where UX research, often seen as a resource for product teams, becomes a powerful tool for marketers.
UX research can help uncover hidden opportunities in the customer journey, track campaign performance over time, validate that a marketing strategy is working, or even dovetail nicely with existing market research programs to bolster insights.
At AnswerLab, we work with a number of marketing teams that want continuous user insights to support their marketing efforts. These teams don’t always have the internal resources to make this a reality, or they simply don’t know where to start or how best to set up a UX research program. In this article, we’re sharing the top ways we see UX research help marketing teams take their strategic thinking to the next level.
Ways UX Research Can Help Marketers Reach Their Goals
Understanding the "Why" Behind a Purchase
Market research tells you what people buy, but UX research dives deeper, revealing why they buy it. This understanding of user motivations, pain points, and decision-making processes empowers you to tailor and refine your marketing messages (and the channels you use!) to address specific user needs and desires, putting you in control of your marketing strategy.
Optimizing Your Conversion Funnel
A poorly optimized marketing funnel can significantly impact your bottom line. UX research helps identify friction points within your website, landing pages, or purchasing journey.
By understanding user behavior through methodologies like in-depth interviews or focus groups, you can pinpoint areas that are confusing or frustrating to users. Addressing these issues can significantly improve your conversion rates.
Understanding the Customer Journey
Your website, landing pages, advertising campaigns, and social media presence all contribute to the user experience. As marketing messages are often the first touchpoints of a user’s interactions with your brand, getting them right is a critical first step.
Customer journey mapping captures every touchpoint a user has with your product or brand and the emotions, thoughts, needs, and actions that go along with it. It can also help you identify roadblocks your customers encounter on the journey and how you can solve them.
Imagine a potential customer struggling to navigate your website or a confusing call to action preventing a successful sign-up or purchase. By pinpointing these friction points, you can optimize your marketing materials for a seamless user experience.
Crafting Compelling Content and Testing Concepts
UX research can also inform your content strategy, enabling you to craft highly tailored content your customers are looking for. By understanding user journeys and information gaps, you can develop content that addresses user needs at every stage of the buying cycle. This not only improves engagement but also nurtures leads and drives conversions.
We’ve also seen the often-overlooked but significant benefits of testing your high-impact marketing messages before launching them. By conducting concept testing with your customers to understand their reactions to your campaigns and messaging, you can not only refine campaigns before they go to market but also avoid potential pitfalls and missteps.
>> Customer Story:
We worked with a financial services company to gather user feedback on their retirement services marketing strategies. The website content included a header graphic with the title “Retirement Income Matters.” A Black participant mentioned that he felt the headline co-opted Black Lives Matter for marketing purposes. The team was able to change the direction and avoid a major misstep that would have alienated users and damaged brand reputation.
Building User Personas for Targeted Marketing Strategies
Personas are fictional representations of your customers, but they must be truly representative and accurate to provide value. UX research provides the data and insights to flesh out detailed personas based on actual user behavior.
Exploratory research, diary studies, or even ethnographic research, where you observe your customers in their everyday environments, can help you build detailed personas that inform your marketing strategy. Research-backed personas allow marketers to create more targeted audience segments with messaging that resonates with each group's specific needs and desires.
A hidden bonus of this work is it can help build empathy among your internal teams. By understanding your users' needs and experiences, your team can develop a deeper appreciation for the challenges they face. This newfound empathy allows for more human-centered marketing campaigns, building stronger connections with potential customers.
Identifying Naming Conventions and Language that Resonates
The right words can make all the difference. Methods like card sorting can help identify the language your target audience uses to describe their problems and desired solutions. Naming research or studies focused on brand elements can also help you launch with the right look, feel, and product names that will land among your audience. Building user-informed language into your marketing materials can help you build trust and make the right first impression.
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UX research is for more than just product development and design teams. By incorporating UX research into your marketing strategy, you better understand your audience, optimize the user journey, create compelling content, and personalize your approach for higher conversions.
Contact us to learn more about how AnswerLab can support your marketing efforts.
