Do You Know What Your Customers Are Purchasing from You?
Guest writer Debbie Frakes encourages readers to keep track of customer activity in order to have a clear picture of your business in “Do You Know What Your Customers Are Purchasing From You?
To better understand your business and your customers, you have to take a close look at what they are buying from you the most, if you offer multiple products or services. By analyzing the types of purchases your customers make, you can determine what sells the best, how often it sells, and which branches or departments move more or less of specific items. Armed with that information, you will be able to make more informed decisions about your business strategy, optimize resource allocation, and maximize your profitability.
Why tracking types of purchases matters
As an equipment dealer, your success depends on connecting customers with the products and services they need. Identifying purchasing patterns helps you pinpoint what matters most to your audience. Using these insights, you can fine tune your marketing and advertising strategies to focus on high value products—boosting both your marketing ROI and your customers’ satisfaction. Monitoring types of purchases also prevents wasted spend on promoting lower demand items. Instead, you can invest in the areas that generate the greatest return for your company.
Understand your trigger products
Triggers are the products and services that cause customers to come into the store or dealer in the first place. At the grocery store, they are products like bread, eggs, and milk. At equipment dealers, they are things like emergency repairs, seasonal inspections, or specific types of machine breakdowns that lead to a replacement rental. It’s the type of goods or services that bring the customer through the door.
By tracking and analyzing customer purchases, you will start to see what your specific trigger products are. Once you recognize them, you can highlight those items in your marketing and advertising materials. That way, when a customer requires something like a seasonal inspection, they’ll think of you and schedule with you, then potentially purchase more products and services as a result.
Optimize your resources for maximum impact
Your marketing, sales, and financial resources are limited, so they should be used as strategically as possible. Regularly reviewing key business metrics, like the types of purchases that are most common, helps you determine which products to promote, so you feature them in email campaigns, highlight them on your website, and focus on them for any paid advertising. Beyond marketing, these insights also shape decisions on inventory and expansion. Knowing which products sell best allows you to introduce complementary offerings that align with customer demand.
Understanding the types of purchases that are most popular with your customers also helps you understand how well branches are performing and which ones are selling more or less of a specific product or service. If something is selling great at every branch but one, then there is probably an issue specific to that branch that you can address and solve, so their revenues will increase accordingly.
Expand customer awareness with strategic upselling
Once you know your customers’ purchasing behaviors, you can introduce them to additional products they may not have considered. They might visit your website or open an email for one item, but with the right strategy, they’ll discover more of what your dealership has to offer. Use your most popular products to drive engagement and increase overall sales.
Our partner, Zintoro, provides equipment dealers with comprehensive business analytics reporting, helping them track key business metrics like types of purchases, purchase frequency, customer retention, and more.
Schedule a Zintoro demo today to uncover valuable insights and start making data driven decisions!