How Can Unexpected Insights from Customer Feedback Shape Marketing Initiatives?
CMO Times
How Can Unexpected Insights from Customer Feedback Shape Marketing Initiatives?
We asked Founders and CEOs about the unexpected insights they gained from customer feedback that shaped their marketing initiatives. From prioritizing authenticity to driving innovation from simple insights, here are thirteen ways these business leaders learned from their customers.
- Prioritize Authenticity Over Safety
- Emphasize Personalized Service
- Simplify the Rental Process
- Highlight Simplicity and Ease of Use
- Promote Customizable Reporting Features
- Highlight the Local Community
- Embrace Open Space
- Stage Properties Before Listing
- Simplify Messaging for Healthcare
- Emphasize Thorough Cleanup
- Create Anticipation With Campaigns
- Focus on Mental and Emotional Benefits
- Look to Simple Insights for Innovation
Prioritize Authenticity Over Safety
As a brand expert, I specialize in helping clients craft and refine their brand stories to drive more successful marketing initiatives. Recently, I worked with a large church with over 100 years of history. Initially, I proposed developing a brand identity centered around safety and belonging, leveraging the Innocent brand archetype. This approach aimed to appeal to young professionals and college students in the area who might be searching for a welcoming, affirming place to worship.
However, when I presented the idea to the church’s leadership, they raised valid concerns. They pointed out that many churches promise similar benefits but fail to deliver, leading to distrust and disillusionment. While they were confident in their church’s authenticity, they worried that such a message could be met with skepticism by the very audience they wanted to reach.
The leadership team also shared a different vision—they wanted to foster an atmosphere of challenge, insight, and open dialogue. Their goal was to create a space where young people could ask questions, engage in thoughtful discussions, and explore difficult topics other churches might shy away from. With this in mind, we pivoted to a brand framework based on the Explorer archetype. This resonated deeply with the leadership, aligning with their current members' values and hopes for attracting new members.
As we move forward, the Explorer archetype will be the foundation for crafting marketing messaging that resonates with the church’s mission. This approach allows us to build messaging that emphasizes curiosity, personal growth, and authentic exploration of faith—values aligned with the church's leadership and the young people they want to attract. By tapping into the spirit of adventure and discovery, we will create campaigns that stand out, inspire engagement, and foster a deeper connection with the target audience.
Emphasize Personalized Service
The funny thing that we came across through our customer feedback at Kualitatem was the need to focus on the personalized aspect of our approach in the marketing collateral. Everyone seems to be in sync on the fact that our core promotion should be the technical expertise and the variety of services we have to offer. Customer feedback, however, showed that the best thing our clients appreciate is how we can customize our offerings to be able to help them and go the extra mile to offer them support.
This insight helped us change our marketing strategy whereby we focused on the customers in case studies and the testimonials highlighting what customer problems were solved and how the company worked with them. Our emphasis on personalized service and teamwork added to our brand message and client satisfaction; we enhanced the outreach efforts as new clients were more interested in the softer side of our services.
Simplify the Rental Process
One unexpected insight I gained from customer feedback was the importance of simplifying the self-storage rental process, which led to a significant shift in a marketing initiative. While we were initially focused on highlighting features like security, climate control, and affordability in our campaigns, customer feedback revealed that many potential renters were overwhelmed by the complexity of the rental process. They found it difficult to navigate options, understand pricing, and complete bookings online.
This feedback made us realize that what customers truly valued wasn’t just the features of the units, but a seamless, hassle-free rental experience. In response, we shifted our marketing initiative to focus on the ease and simplicity of renting a unit. We redesigned the website to streamline the booking process, reducing the number of steps required to complete a reservation. Additionally, we adjusted our messaging in ad campaigns and on landing pages to emphasize how quick and straightforward it was to secure a unit, using phrases like “Rent a Unit in 3 Easy Steps” and “No-Hassle, Instant Bookings.”
This shift resulted in improved user engagement, higher conversion rates, and an increase in online bookings. The insight taught me that sometimes the perceived value for customers isn’t just in the product itself, but in the overall experience of interacting with the brand. Listening to customers and understanding their pain points can reveal areas for improvement that might not be immediately obvious, ultimately leading to more effective marketing initiatives.
Highlight Simplicity and Ease of Use
One unexpected insight we gained from customer feedback at Rail Trip Strategies was that many of our clients—small- to mid-sized digital marketing agencies—felt overwhelmed by the sheer number of tools and platforms they had to manage as part of their sales and lead generation processes. While we initially assumed our clients were looking for more sophisticated solutions, the feedback revealed that they actually valued simplicity and ease of integration over new features or complex strategies.
This feedback shaped a key marketing initiative where we shifted our messaging from focusing on the depth of our offerings to highlighting how we simplify sales processes. Instead of emphasizing all the tools we can integrate, we focused on how our services reduce complexity, streamline workflows, and help agencies focus more on growth than on managing multiple systems. We also created content, including webinars and case studies, that showed how our solutions helped other agencies cut down on unnecessary tools while still driving high-quality leads.
The result was an increase in engagement, with clients appreciating our focus on simplicity and scalability. This unexpected insight taught us the importance of truly understanding not just what clients need, but also what they feel burdened by, which ultimately drove more qualified leads and improved customer satisfaction.
Promote Customizable Reporting Features
An unexpected insight we gained from customer feedback was that users highly value the ability to customize reporting features—more so than we initially anticipated. While we originally focused on streamlining core functionalities and user interfaces, the feedback revealed that our customers were eager for more tailored and flexible reporting options to better align with their unique operational needs. This insight prompted us to launch a marketing initiative highlighting our enhanced customization features, showcasing real-world examples of how these options can address specific pain points. As a result, we saw a significant uptick in engagement and satisfaction from both new and existing customers, demonstrating the power of listening closely to user needs and adapting our messaging accordingly.
Highlight the Local Community
An unexpected insight from customer feedback that influenced a marketing initiative was the significance of highlighting the community around a property. I received feedback from potential buyers that they were not only interested in the actual property itself, but also the neighborhood and local amenities. This feedback made me realize that simply highlighting the features of a house was not enough to attract buyers.
In order to address this, I started incorporating information about nearby schools, parks, restaurants, and other points of interest in my property listings. Additionally, I began including photos and videos of these places in my marketing materials.
The result? My listings received more attention and generated more leads. Buyers were able to get a better sense of the overall lifestyle and atmosphere that came with living in a particular neighborhood, which helped them envision themselves living in the property. This insight not only improved my marketing strategy, but also had a positive impact on sales.
Embrace Open Space
I was working on developing a campaign for Swansea University in Wales, UK, and figuring out how to make a relatively little-known university on the coast of Wales stand out in a challenging market. The insight came during a team meeting reflecting on the criticism from prospective students that Swansea is in the 'middle of nowhere' and thus was perceived as undesirable, presumably with not much going on. While this is far from the truth—Swansea actually has a bustling culture with a surprisingly highly-ranked student experience—it is true that it is surrounded by vast open spaces consisting of rolling hills, sheep-filled farmers' fields, and a seemingly endless coastline. Then COVID hit. With mandatory social distancing and everyone being confined to increasingly claustrophobic living spaces, open space was suddenly the most desirable thing on the planet. 'Space at Swansea' became our flagship campaign that not only put Swansea University on the map, but won multiple awards and kept the Uni's performance ahead of the sector the following year.
Stage Properties Before Listing
An unforeseen insight from customer feedback that influenced a marketing initiative was the significance of staging properties before putting them on the market. I always believed that having professional photos and virtual tours was enough to showcase a property's potential. However, after receiving feedback from several potential buyers, I realized that staging played a crucial role in capturing their attention and sparking their interest in a property.
One particular incident stands out in my mind. I had listed a beautiful family home with great features and amenities, but it had been on the market for over three months without any offers. After reaching out to some of the interested buyers who had viewed the property but did not make an offer, I discovered that they found it difficult to envision themselves living in the space because the furniture and decor were too outdated and cluttered.
Taking this feedback into consideration, I decided to invest in professional staging services for the property. The results were astounding. Within a week of re-staging the property, we received multiple offers and eventually sold it for a higher price than expected.
Simplify Messaging for Healthcare
An unexpected insight we gained from customer feedback at TruBridge was that many of our healthcare clients felt overwhelmed not just by the complexity of revenue-cycle-management (RCM) tasks, but by the technical jargon and complexity of how we communicated our services. We had always assumed that highlighting the technical capabilities of our solutions—such as automation, data analytics, and compliance—was the most compelling way to market them. However, feedback revealed that clients wanted simpler, more relatable language that spoke directly to their pain points, such as reducing administrative burdens and improving patient care.
This insight led us to reshape our entire marketing initiative. We shifted our messaging away from technical details and focused more on the real-world benefits for health care providers, like freeing up time for patient interaction and improving cash flow. We also started creating content that was less about the software features and more about how our solutions could make life easier for health care staff. This change not only resonated better with our audience but also increased engagement rates across our marketing channels.
As a result, our campaigns became more client-centered and approachable, leading to higher conversion rates and stronger client relationships. The takeaway from this experience is that sometimes, simplifying the message and focusing on the human side of your service can have a far greater impact than emphasizing technical superiority. Customer feedback can reveal blind spots that, once addressed, can completely transform the effectiveness of your marketing efforts.
Emphasize Thorough Cleanup
One unexpected insight we gained from customer feedback was how much people valued our cleanup process after tree services. Many clients specifically mentioned how relieved they were that we left their yards spotless, which was not something we initially thought would stand out. This led us to emphasize our thorough cleanup in marketing, showing before- and after-shots and highlighting it in reviews. As a result, we attracted more clients who were concerned about the aftermath of tree work. It has been a small but powerful way to differentiate ourselves in a competitive market.
Create Anticipation With Campaigns
Year over year, we would have a customer appreciation campaign where we told our clients how much we loved them with client appreciation surprise baskets every Valentine's Day.
Four years into doing this year over year, we got too busy and missed doing the campaign. Not one but several clients messaged us after Valentine's Day, asking, "Don't you love me anymore?" And in that moment, I realized we created anticipation. The lesson I have carried forward is: "How can you create a program that would be missed if you stopped doing it?" A great litmus test of how connected your audience is to your program.
Focus on Mental and Emotional Benefits
One of the most unexpected insights I gained from customer feedback came early on in my career. I started out focusing on promoting the physical-health benefits that my product was designed to deliver. However, through feedback, I discovered that many customers were equally—if not more—interested in the mental and emotional benefits. This insight shifted the entire messaging of our product. Our new messaging resonated more deeply with people, and it taught me the importance of listening closely to customers.
Look to Simple Insights for Innovation
While a marketing director at Anheuser-Busch InBev, we came across an insight that "men enjoy sweet drinks, but don't want to be perceived as feminine." This simple but powerful insight spurred an entire line of innovation, including billion-dollar brands like Bud Light Lime, Lime-A-Rita, Shock Top, and many more.
