Target groups are an important aspect of e-commerce marketing strategy. A target group is a specific group of people who are most likely to purchase your products. Your target groups are the sort of customers who are more likely to shop with you again.
A targeting strategy is crucial for driving traffic toward your e-commerce business. Knowing your target market should be at the top of your business strategy checklist. Target groups also recommend you to their friends and praise your business on social media.
Having a target group is important for determining your business’ every more. Your product and your marketing campaigns are all dependent upon your target demographic. Without a target group, your business will not have a focus, and it will be difficult to measure your success rate.
This article will guide you on how to create target groups that best serve your business’s needs. You will also learn about the benefits of target groups and how you can use them to drive traffic to your e-commerce business.
What is a Target Group?
A target group is the group of people your marketing and advertising efforts are aimed at. When you run an e-commerce business, identifying your target marketing is important. Identifying your target group helps you find new customers easier and brings interested buyers to your website, resulting in higher click rates and sales. A target group is also a target audience synonym.
In terms of target market vs. target audience, you evaluate two different aspects. The target market is the industry your product fits into, whereas the target audience is who your product is aimed towards.
Benefits of Having a Target Group
There are several benefits to having a target group. Here are some benefits at a glance.
| Benefit | Purpose |
| Effective Marketing | Target groups maximize marketing efforts |
| Better Product Development | Target groups help create a better product |
| Good Time and Resource Management | With target groups, you don’t waste time and resources |
Effective Marketing
With a target group, you can market more effectively. Having a target group narrows your focus and helps you aim for a customer base that is more likely to purchase your products.
A target group helps you understand what works and what doesn’t work in your marketing strategy. You can use this information to tweak your product or cut back on your marketing campaign.
Target eCommerce strategies can be important for your e-commerce business. If you’re just starting out, you can narrow your target demographic for the best possible results. Your marketing becomes more strategic if you have a target group in place.
Better Product Development
Having a target group can help you with your product development. You can conduct surveys and focus groups sessions to help you build your product.
When you are starting your business, it is important to look at market research in order to build your product. When you get to know your customer base, you understand the challenges and limitations they are experiencing. You can use these challenges to create a product that is beneficial for your customers.
Doing market research will help you create a product that people are looking for. This research can help you create a target group at which you will aim your product. In your survey, you should find out information about what people enjoy and what their hobbies are. You can use data to develop a product for that particular customer base.
Once you have developed a high-demand product, you can create targeting strategies to market your product.
Good Time and Resource Management
Having a target market will help you position your time and resources accordingly. By casting a wide net to reach your product, you might end up wasting your time and money on a low success rate.
A clearly defined target group is highly beneficial for your business as it will bring your customers in and increase your sales. You will make the best use of your resources and time with a target group.
If you are running a small business, you are at risk of bankruptcy. In order to maximize your marketing capabilities, having a target audience will be highly beneficial for your business.
If you are running a business not a tight budget and need to conduct a quick marketing campaign, you need to do market research. When you do your research, you can build a target group that is more likely to purchase your product and give profits on a tight budget.
How to Create Your Target Group?
Many businesses keep most of their focus on creating their product when starting out their business. While this is an important step, it takes away your focus from creating a target group. When you are creating a business plan, make sure to brainstorm your target group, as this will be a key component of growing your business.
Knowing your target audience will help you in creating your product and your brand story. When you are making your product, you should think about the type of customer you would want to purchase your work. By doing so, you will be able to create something that fits a certain customer market.
While it is ok to create products targeting a broad customer base, it is important to target specific markets when you are just starting out with your business. When you target specific markets, you will have a dedicated audience that is more likely to promote your brand themselves. This can be a helpful marketing strategy to grow your business.
When researching your target audience, you should think about what they want rather than what you want. Social media is a great marketing tool and you can use this platform to create target groups.
In terms of social media, if you prefer using Instagram, you might also prefer using the Instagram marketing strategy and gaining customers from that platform only. Doing this can be harmful to your business growth as you are alienating potential customers from other social media platforms.
Using a variety of different methods to reach your audience is important in creating a target group. Thinking through the mind of your preferred customer base will help you create marketing strategies that will help your e-commerce company. Since you don’t represent your target audience, you should avoid creating strategies that cater to your preferences.
Once you get out of that comfort zone, it can be a little intimidating to know how to pinpoint your target group. There’s nothing to worry about, as brainstorming your target group should not be a complex process. Here are some things you should look for:
- Who will benefit from your product?
- Why do they need your product?
- How is this product different from competing products?
Now that you have these questions in front of you, here’s how you can answer them to create your target group.
Host Focus Groups
If you are trying to start your market research, hosting focus groups is a great way to gain insight. A focus group is a group of up to 8 to 10 people who provide honest feedback on your product. This feedback is immediate and helps you focus on your marketing strategy.
To host a target group, you should advertise that you’re looking for people to take part in a research study. Give people an incentive to participate. You can give them a free product or gift card. You can also make the focus group session fun for higher participation.
Your focus group environment should be engaging and relaxing. Having such an environment will make the feedback honest and free-flowing. Engaging with your focus group will help you tweak your product as you gain more market insight. You could also gain potential customers at the focus group. If your focus group is successful, you can build anticipation for your product.
If you want to research a broader market and have your product be available worldwide, you can do online focus groups. With an online focus session, you can do market research on a wide range of customer bases. The data from a global focus group will give you information that will create a detailed target group.
When selecting the people for your focus group, you should be broad with your criteria. This step is important if this is your first time conducting market research. Creating a criteria list based on assumptions will limit the type of responses you may get.
Having broad criteria will help you find out the key groups you should focus on. You can always narrow down your criteria later on when you get a clearer idea of who your product should target.
During your focus group session, you should ask open-ended questions. This will allow you to get detailed data. You can ask questions such as:
- What qualities do you look for in a product you purchase?
- Who can you picture buying this product?
- Why would you have a need for this product?
Instead of having a one-way conversation, you should engage your focus group. You can ask more questions based on the previous questions or, you can ask for more details. Having a free-flowing conversation is important in making a focus group session successful.
Research Your Existing Customer Base
If your business is up and running and you’re making sales, then you should survey your existing customer base. Your customers have already tried and tested your product. They have paid you for your service, which means that there must be something that attracted them to your product. You should research and ask these customers why they were drawn to your product.
If you’re running an e-commerce business, you might have access to a customer’s age group or location information. You can use this data to create a target group.
Let’s say your average customers are between the ages of 20 to 35 years old, and they reside in your local area. With this information, you can create a target group and aim your marketing campaigns on this target group.
You can also provide your customers with a survey at the end of their purchase. You can give this survey either on your site or through email. In your survey, your question should focus on demographical and psychological information. You can ask questions such as
- Your age and gender?
- Why did you choose this product?
- How did you discover our product?
- How does this product fit into your life?
You can use several online survey tools to create your survey. Look for the common denominators in your survey to create your target group.
Keep an Eye on Competitors
Knowing your competitors is an important step in building your target group. It is essential to keep an eye on your competitors, especially if you are selling similar products.
To stand out in a competitive market, you should design a marketing strategy that will help you stand out. When you research your competitors, you should take note of the demographics they are avoiding. You can use this forgotten demographic to market your product.
In your customer survey, you can ask if they considered purchasing any other product before deciding on your product? If so, then why did they decide to go with your product? The answers to these questions will help you create a product that is unique.
Key Takeaways
Your target group is one of the most important components of your business. Without a target group, you are at the risk of experiencing low sales and stagnant business growth.
By having a target group, you can increase your sales and create a loyal customer base that will recommend your business to their friends, thus creating a cycle of marketing that will be beneficial to your business.
You should conduct extensive market research before conducting a marketing campaign. With your market data, you should divide into segments with which you can build a target group. Targeting strategies will help you create a unique product that stands out from its competitors.
