Why User Behavior Should Lie at the Center of Each Marketing Decision

At its core, marketing is the study of consumer behavior. This behavior can range from the shopping habits of a customer, their preferences, or their concerns. All of this information serves to create a big picture that brands can then use to create marketing campaigns that will reach and resonate with consumers. But not every business prioritizes the study of user behavior when formulating their marketing strategy. Why not?

This is time-consuming, and often the amount of data that can be collected is more than what some marketers know what to do with. However, the study of user behavior should always be a central part of every marketing decision a business makes. Why is this important? Because this can make or break the success of a campaign.

There isn’t much worse, for a marketer than a campaign that is tone deaf and/or delivers lackluster results. And so, since it is the goal of a marketing professional to maximize the results of their campaign, this user behavior thus plays an important role. Many aspects of the platforms a business uses to communicate with users are a great source of information on those users’ behavior.

Let’s dive into some examples of behaviors to keep track of. Always Respect Opt-Ins In today’s age of privacy and data sharing (and the suspicion big tech has left on many industries), it’s vital to respect customers’ wishes when it comes to their information.

This includes, but is not limited to, the sharing of their email address, the amount or type of emails or communications that are sent, and any sensitive information such as credit card information that should always be guarded. Believe it or not, many businesses don’t take this as seriously as they should. What happens in these cases?

Customers lose trust quickly, and once that trust is lost or damaged it’s very difficult to get back. Pay Attention to the Type of Content Users Prefer Engagement is a common metric often measured by marketers. This metric is a great tool for finding out what content prompts users to interact with it, what they don’t seem to favor, and what causes them to take a favorable action towards becoming a paid customer (or fulfilling whatever it is the company’s goal is). Tracking engagement can help mold future marketing campaigns, as businesses can take whatever performed well before and tailor it into future endeavors.

Engagement is also a key behavior on social media, which is often a brand’s “face” and therefore important to ensure that the right content is being pushed through these channels. Engagement also comes in handy when it comes to email marketing.

Tracking things such as open rate and click rate can help identify areas to improve for a business and its email marketing initiatives. User behavior is important to monitor, as coming across as tone deaf or otherwise not in tune with what customers want is almost always a death wish for a marketing campaign.

Alienating customers, current or prospective, is a big mistake that businesses often make. For this reason, it’s important to always monitor user behavior, test content, and campaigns, and track results in order to create the best big picture of a company’s target market.

5WPR CEO Ronn Torossian