Customer insight: Mind control

Knowing how your customers tick, their needs and foibles will help encourage them to become regulars, the latest research discovers. Phil Mellows reports.

What questions do you ask your customers? Beyond "what'll it be?" and "how was your meal?" you probably don't think it appropriate to delve deeper into their psyche. Yet understanding customers - both yours and those of your competitors - is critical. Not least because that understanding allows you to meet their needs and deliver the best possible service.

How many times a week do your customers visit you? What are their reasons for the visit? What are they buying from you and why? At what times do they buy certain products? And, perhaps most importantly, what is likely to be the next trend or fashion in the on-trade? Answering all these questions can help your business succeed.

In the past few months research consultancy Harris International Marketing (HIM), which has conducted some 14 million customer conversations in various retail sectors since it was founded in 1967, has turned its attention to the on-trade.

The primary objective of the research project, called Ontrack, is to capture the thoughts and actions of consumers at the "moment of truth" and so validate, shape and develop a robust business strategy for clients.

As such, Ontrack is not merely intended to record yesterday's sales but challenges customer attitudes and behaviour so as to identify opportunities for increasing sales and profits.

"Through skilful questioning, listening and analysis of customers we will know them and their needs better," explains Noel Reidy, client development director for HIM (pictured)​.

"The Ontrack study has been developed to provide an industry benchmarking tool which communicates why consumers prefer some pubs over others, what they find attractive and irritating, which categories they buy into and compares what they might have done to what they actually did".

The first Ontrack fieldwork event took place last autumn. Canvassers questioned nearly 800 customers as they entered and left a cross-section of pubs. The customers were predominantly male, three-quarters were in the ABC1 social groupings and 55 per cent were under 34 years old. Seventy per cent of respondents were single and one in four was not working.

The results showed that on average customers visit their local pub 2.2 times a week and spend an average of £13.60 [each visit], amounting to an annual spend of £1,556.

Customer loyalty​

There were strong regional differences. For instance, the average visit frequency in suburban London is 2.8 times a week with a trip spend of £15.46. In other words, customers spend 50 per cent more a year in suburban London than the national average.

In South Coast suburban pubs the visit frequency is even higher - 2.9 times a week but with a lower trip spend of £13.93.

The study revealed that we are still a nation of beer drinkers - 85 per cent of total drink expenditure was on beer. On average, 69 per cent of all on-trade customers buy beer, rising to 75 per cent in suburban London and 56 per cent will buy three pints or more (72 per cent in suburban London).

While the Ontrack study showed the majority of customers are loyal to their brands, the favourites varied from region to region. Overall, Stella Artois is number one but Foster's comes second in the London area, Carlsberg takes second place in the South and Carling in the North West.

Five out of six respondents said they would switch brands if they could not buy their preferred product but one in 10 would leave and go elsewhere.

One in four will buy snacks on each visit, one in five will buy hot food and two out of five would use a cash machine if it was available.

In answer to the question "How far do you travel to the pub?" 49 per cent had travelled less than half a mile.

Those who travelled more than two miles (12 per cent) did so because they saw it as a "destination" pub - in other words, it offered them a better experience.

On average, 43 per cent said they used "this pub more than any other" but 45 per cent admitted to being promiscuous, saying they used four or more other pubs in a typical month and 59 per cent said they would use at least two other pubs "today".

So what attracts customers to a particular pub? Staff friendliness came top of the poll here, followed by atmosphere and convenience of location, with speed of service and value for money in joint fourth position. "Obviously this tells us that human interaction and the chance to socialise in a good atmosphere are most important to customers when choosing a pub," Noel says.

What they dislike most, though, is poor value for money, with 11 per cent putting it at the top of their hate list.

One in 10 customers were dissatisfied with facilities such as toilets, car parking and televised sport.The top four reasons given for "visiting here today" were:

• To meet friends and have a good time (34 per cent)
• This is my local (30 per cent)
• To meet colleagues after work (10 per cent)
• To have a meal with a group (three per cent)

The second tranche of Ontrack fieldwork is now under way and, in addition to looking at how different pub operators are performing against what their customers want, it is comparing on-trade with off-trade to highlight opportunities where retailers can improve the customer experience.

• For more details, visit www.him.uk.com

Ontrack insights​

• Customers visit the pub 2.2 times a week
• They spend an average of £13.60 per visit
• Seven out of 10 buy beer
• One in 10 would walk out if their preferred product isn't available
• One out of five buy food, one out of four buy snacks
• Half travel less than half a mile
• 45 per cent use four or more pubs a month
• Friendly staff are the biggest attraction.

Which issues most irk target audience?​

So where do your customers stand on the key issues facing the licensed trade? A survey carried out among visitors to the London pub search website Fancyapint.com produced some interesting results that could be worth bearing in mind.

In most respects, the trade as a whole seems to be getting it right. Despite the survey taking place in the middle of a media binge about the terrors of "all-day drinking", restricted opening times topped the list of issues pub-goers were most concerned about.

However, binge-drinking hardly registered as a worry at all.

Customers in their twenties, predictably, were most interested in getting longer licensing hours with the figure rising to more than 30 per cent among that age group.

Similarly, drinkers don't seem to be too bothered about the 100 per cent pint, despite the new bid for legislation on the issue.

A much more serious concern for customers was smoky atmospheres, which came second overall. With Scotland already planning a smoke ban and tough legislation likely to be introduced in England and Wales, the trade should note that, on the basis of this survey, it will get wide public backing.

For women, who made up a quarter of the 700 respondents, smoke is in fact the number one problem, with 31 per cent saying it was their biggest concern. And among customers over 50, a growing target market for the pub industry, 51 per cent were most worried about smoke.

High prices also figured strongly, third in the list, and were of special concern to younger pub-goers who, presumably, have less disposable income and more time to dispose of it.

By contrast, customers in their forties found service quality to be a more important part of their visit to the pub than other age groups, with 20 per cent