Jasmine Star (00:00:00) - For recording podcasts. I got a DM. This girl asked me a question and I said, I love this question. Do I have your permission to number one, ask the question. And number two, can I make a podcast out about it? And she's like, yes, absolutely. So guess what I'm doing today? I'm literally taking her question, creating a framework, creating a podcast. And I told her I'm doing it just for you. Then I thanked her. People love to be seen. Welcome back to The Jasmine Star Show, a place where we discuss business mindset and today, understanding your customers. This isn't a magic trick or like business voodoo. It is simply putting yourself in the shoes of your customers and making decisions that you know will help and benefit them. So I want to talk about a recent example. We had what we called the Visibility intensive. We hosted it in Nashville, and this was a bonus that we created for my live course experience. Your biggest Launch ever. I knew that after six weeks of live trainings, our students would need a shot in the arm to help them get more visibility in attention on their offers.

Jasmine Star (00:00:58) - Now the course your biggest launch ever walks you through how to launch your products, services and your biggest passion project, right? So in the process of going through the mechanisms like how you launch, that's one thing, but actually how do you get more eyes and attention? I was so happy to be joined by Amy Porterfield, Rory Vaden, Julie Solomon, and we got together and we were talking about incredible strategies around how to exactly accomplish this. And we also did live Q&A. So that was understanding what my customer needed, serving them in a way that not just surprise them, but delighted them with how much they got in such a short amount of time. I want to go through a few responses that we got after that intensive, Christine said. Loved every minute, blocked out the entirety of my day. It was so worth it. Laurie said so much value and inspiration. It's been fantastic. And Rodney said, thank you for this incredible gift. By understanding the needs of my customers, I was able to create value and helpful resources for them to get massive results.

Jasmine Star (00:02:05) - And this is exactly why in this episode, we're going to go over the fundamentals of customer behavior, the customer journey, and factors that influence customer behavior. We're also going to be going over the Fog framework and using data to better understand your customers. Okay. Now, this isn't a conversation about customers as much as it's about an understanding of your customer and how that drives business growth. Okay. In fact, I think the more you know them, the more you can scale your business because you're going to attract more people like them. So let's start with the basics. I truly believe that understanding customer behavior is the driving force of any successful business strategy. So think of it as like peeling back the layers of why people choose what it is they choose. It's not just about the what, it's about the why behind every purchase decision. And once you understand the why man alive, then you could craft your products, your services and experience that anticipate their needs and desires unlike anybody else. So here's an example.

Jasmine Star (00:03:02) - Now you know I love my small businesses. Ooh wee. I love mom and pop coffee shops. But for the sake of this example, a company that does this really well is Starbucks. I know who Starbucks. But here's the thing I want to tell you why. Have you ever noticed how some coffee shops feel more inviting than others? Some feel like an extension of your living room or comfortable workspace that's away from your office. That is exactly the experience that customers at Starbucks know and love. Now, on the other hand, you might have experienced a coffee shop that has like a cold feeling, like metal chairs and like there's a literal time limit. Have you been to a coffee shop where there's a little time limit, where you can only be seated for like 30, 60, or 90 minutes? Or like maybe you need a code on the receipt to use the bathroom. I think that these coffee shops scream, get your coffee and please leave. Thank you very much. So yes, Starbucks has comfy chairs, plenty of space free Wi-Fi, which creates a warm and inviting atmosphere.

Jasmine Star (00:03:58) - But there's a reason that they do this. And it isn't just about creating a nice experience. It has to do with what they called a third space. Starbucks noticed the need for people to go and meet at a place that wasn't work or wasn't home, where people wanted to feel comfortable. It's a place to relax and socialize and catch up on work or personal life. They called this a home away from home. So here's a side note. Bars use the same like third place strategy that creates a sense of belonging and keeps people coming back. And they do this by saving chairs, remembering customers names, or having bartenders that are like, oh, this place is not just with you, it's for you. Now, by understanding the need for a third place, Starbucks has become not just a coffee shop, but I'm going to come out and say, like, not that this is new, but like a cultural phenomenon. They've tapped into the why behind their customers purchasing behavior and crafted an experience that keeps them coming back for more.

Jasmine Star (00:04:58) - Now, I recorded a podcast episode and it was called How to Create an Unforgettable Customer Experience, and that goes over the customer journey in detail. I highly recommend that you listen to that, and I'm going to link it for you in the show notes. But just to get us on the same page, because it really does, it goes in deep. I want you to listen to that. But in order for us to have the rest of the conversation, I'm going to do a quick review. So make sure that we're on the same page. So I'm going to go through a few of the key points. First, when it comes to your customers, there's an awareness stage where customers become aware of your business. Then comes consideration where they weigh their options and decide whether or not your offer is right fit for them. Next up is the decision stage, and this is where they finally make the purchase. And finally, there is the post-purchase stage where their experience after buying from you can literally influence their loyalty and where they're going to come back for more.

Jasmine Star (00:05:48) - Okay, now I'm going to give you an exercise at the end of this episode to help you improve these stages, especially after you listen to that last episode, because you want your customers coming back, you want them to buy more. So make sure that you listen until the very end. Okay, this brings me to the Fog framework. This concept was developed by psychologist BJ Fogg. Y'all know I love me some psychology and the brain up in business. This is an idea that represents human behavior in three different ways. So go ahead and picture a three legged stool, each leg representing an essential aspect of behavior. Okay. So the three trigger the three legs are going to be motivation ability and triggers. So let's break this down each so that we understand your customers in like what they want. So you can sell them more and retain them more. So motivation. This is like the first leg on that stool. Motivation is the fuel that drives action. It gets us out of bed every morning and it pushes us towards our goals.

Jasmine Star (00:06:46) - In the context of the fog model, businesses need to understand what motivates their customers and then they aligns their offerings accordingly. So someone creating an app for language learning well, they need to understand what motivates people to learn new languages, job opportunities, travel, career growth or just personal development. Once that app founder understands the motivators, they can design their app to address those desires. Now, for example. The career focused app, the person who is focused on their career to learn another language. They might benefit from industry specific vocabulary. Well, the traveling app user could benefit from location based or travel based phrases. Do you see how these small nuances have a big impact? Now next we have the second leg of the stool. And that's ability. Ability refers to the ease of which a behavior can be performed. So think of it as removing barriers and then making it as effortless as possible for people to take action. You can, and you should absolutely do this by simplifying processes, providing clear instructions, and minimizing friction points like hand to heaven.

Jasmine Star (00:07:57) - I have things in a cart and then I left them in the cart. I walked away from the sales page because the barriers in the checkout process were just like too complicated. I was like, forget it. I can't tell you how many times I have been targeted on an Instagram ad. I'm like, this is so perfect and it's so complicated to check out on that third party checkout form. Then I'm like, forget it, never mind. So let's think about how the app designer might be able to make it easier for people to download a user app. Maybe they gamify a program, or maybe they have bite sized lessons so that it's less overwhelming and more fun to use. They can even have options of how you want to learn that day. Like maybe it's audio, maybe it's text, maybe it's pictures, maybe it's videos, right? So we're understanding how they can take action. Now the third leg of the stool is triggers. Triggers are cues like prompts that encourage a behavior getting your customer to do something.

Jasmine Star (00:08:48) - This can be a notification on your phone or it can be a visual reminder, like in your environment, like a pop up ad or a product display. Triggers serve as catalyst for action triggers. Get your customers to do something now. Businesses can strategically design triggers to prompt behaviors at the right time and the right place for their customers. Now, there are many ways that an app designer could do this, or you could even do this in your business. But I would 100% gamify with street challenges to keep people engaged. Why? Because it would create a sense of urgency and momentum and help them build a habit. Plus, I also think this is like really great and achieving longer streaks, right? So the longer the streak becomes, the bigger the sense of accomplishment or satisfaction or motivating users to continue using the app and reach their goals. This means retention, reviews and referrals. So we're going to pause here because you're like, Jasmine, I don't have an app. Most of the podcast listeners and watchers don't.

Jasmine Star (00:09:46) - But what I'm saying is you can incorporate these into particular ways and triggers for your offer. So let's say you have a course. Well, you can have a pop up every time somebody logs into the portal reminding them of their progress. Maybe you have a membership. You can have challenges on the inside of your membership to make sure that people are activating and taking the most of it. Okay, so by incorporating all three elements of the Fogg Behavior Model, you can eliminate any barriers and then increase the likelihood of a successful offer. In fact, we use this model as a framework for Social Security members. We know their motivation. It's to easily and efficiently create and schedule their social posts to grow their business. We know their ability, writing posts and marketing content is hard, and business owners struggle with writer's block and creatively making marketing content. So we use Dottie, your digital social media assistant, to personalize your content. We know their triggers. We know Dottie can encourage behaviors with our members, like to schedule posts it'll post automatically via our app, or members will get a reminder to post that day.

Jasmine Star (00:10:54) - Okay, the more we improve our knowledge of our members, the longer they will invest in our offer. And the more you know your members customers, the longer they're gonna invest in yours. So now let's flip this luxurious opportunity that social curator has. When you see Starbucks first come about, they did not have the luxury of setting mountains of customer data that we have today, like back in the 70s, when Starbucks started gauging customer preferences, relied heavily on smaller focus groups and a bit of intuition. Today, data gives us a granular look with what works and what doesn't. So how do you use data and gather information to understand customer behavior? Well, we could talk about that in a moment. But first, here are my top three ways. My personal favorite ways to find out about my audience, clients, and community members. Like, I want to know what they want more from me. So this is how I do it. This is how I want you to do. To number one, ask them.

Jasmine Star (00:11:52) - I know, I know, this is probably not what you want to hear. It's not sexy. But I recently got the best feedback from podcast listeners. I am talking about long, detailed messages of people telling me what they wanted more of and why. You guys, when you guys do this, I am literally touched and I am moved and I am like, game on, I will give you more of what you want. Why this ain't. For me. It's for us. I win, you win. This is the power of direct communication. I had asked in a podcast episode. Hey, I'm trying something new on this podcast. Do you like it? Because if you don't, I will stop doing it. And then people responded, no, this is me asking again. We are creating frameworks and we're changing the scope of how we're creating go to market strategies for business owners. If this is not your cup of tea, or if you prefer personal stories, if you prefer less frameworks, you tell me what you prefer.

Jasmine Star (00:12:48) - Then we get that feedback. So thank you. Okay, getting direct feedback for your business as it is for mine. It can be simple. I mean you could do it how I just did it. Now if you have a podcast like asking an open ended question, but you can ask open ended questions on social media platforms like or, and you can ask a handful of people who are like, I think that this person would be perfect if they bought from me. Ask him what they want. People are usually very happy to share their thoughts when you give them the opportunity. In fact, I'm gonna do it again right now. I just did it. I'm gonna do it again. Please send me an Instagram. Damn. Telling me what podcast you prefer or you don't prefer. I read and I personally respond to each one. I literally feel so thankful getting your feedback because it makes this show better. And when it's better, y'all leave reviews. Okay, let's talk about those reviews. If you have listened to more than three episodes on The Jasmine Star Show and have not left a review, homie, are we really homies? I ask for very little.

Jasmine Star (00:13:40) - Your 32nd review has like 30 years of impact. I know that sounds dramatic, but it is very true. Let's get into number two how to get feedback and ask people what they want. Host interactive events or Q&A sessions. I think I've talked about this before on my podcast, but during my most recent launch, this is how I found out what language to use. This is how I found out what to take out of my presentation, what to explain in further detail. There is nothing like real time interaction to get to the heart of what your audience wants, or how they need to understand it. I really recommend that you consider hosting periodic live Q&A sessions, maybe before or during promotional periods when your audience can ask you questions, they can share feedback. They can engage with you directly. So these interactive events, they don't only provide valuable insights, but they also help strengthen the connection between you and your community. They want to know your real and that you exist. Plus, they're a great way to showcase your expertise and build trust with your audience.

Jasmine Star (00:14:39) - And this is what we say. Hey, okay, why? Why did I sound like a pirate? I just meant to say a but it came out like, hey, it's like a solo pirate. Okay, let's go. Let's get into number three. Test everything. You should be experimenting. Please take the initiative and experiment with different formats and topics. This could be testing AB email subject lines like what works best? Doing polls on social media to test titles. You can even ask your audience to vote on what content ideas, what products, what services they would be most interested in seeing you develop. This helps you gauge interest quickly and allows your audience to directly influence the content and offers you create. I do this all the time and if you follow me on Instagram, you know this. You might have even put in your input and voted. So shout out and thank you. So here's a pro tip when you implement feedback from somebody, whether it's an audience member or a current customer, tell them.

Jasmine Star (00:15:32) - In fact, today we're recording podcasts. I got a DM, this girl asked me a question and I said, I love this question. Do I have your permission to number one, ask the question. And number two, can I make a podcast out about it? And she's like, yes, absolutely. So guess what I'm doing today? I'm literally taking her question, creating a framework, creating a podcast. And I told her I'm doing it just for you. Oh, then I thanked her. People love to be seen and they will feel like they have a stake in what you're creating because they contributed to it. That's cool. And listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, I need you to hear this. When the data and customer feedback align. Data and customer feedback align. You're literally pouring gasoline on a fire. So here's an example. Let's say you're a health coach who has a blog about healthy recipes. Your website analytics show that recipe videos consistently have a higher click through rate compared to text only recipes.

Jasmine Star (00:16:27) - Okay, good to know, but that's not it. In a recent poll, you asked your audience what format they prefer for recipes. The majority say, oh, they find the video is the most helpful. This alignment between data and feedback tells you to focus on creating more recipe videos, as it's already what your audience wants and engages with on your site. Okay, you want to do another example. I love these business examples. I love these strategies. Okay, good. I'm so glad you said that. Now let's go on. Like let's say you host a Q&A session on social media about fitness routines. Most of the questions are about modifications for common injuries. And they express like, oh, you know what? I really like shorter bodyweight workouts. Okay, this tells you that maybe they've been injured before, or maybe they're newer to working out. Good to know. So then you analyze their social media engagement and you see that posts that have low impact exercise routines or like injury modification tips, they consistently receive the most likes, shares and comments.

Jasmine Star (00:17:27) - This data validates the feedback from your Q&A, proving there is a clear need for content in this area. Nice work. Okay, so before I get into your action steps, I want to recap a few things that we went over today. We talked about the fundamentals of customer behavior. We talked about how Starbucks understood their customers behavior and the gap in the market, and then they used it. How to build the third place. We went over the four stages of the customer journey, which is awareness, consideration, decision and post-purchase. Please listen to an old podcast because it's so helpful in deep diving in that we talked about the Fog framework. This idea represents human behavior in three different ways motivation, ability, and triggers. And finally, we discussed using both data and feedback to make a good decision. If you cross-reference this, I promise you it will steer you in the right direction. Data has completely changed the way I show up as an entrepreneur. I used to take guesses. I used to rely on intuition.

Jasmine Star (00:18:27) - I used to say, well, if it works for them, it must work for me. It wasn't until I deep dove into data, and now I make data driven decisions that has decreased my risks and increasing profitability. Yes and amen. Okay, so I have two action steps for you. Number one, go and listen to my podcast episode linked in the show notes. It's called How to Create an Unforgettable Customer Experience. And the number two, I want you to take out a piece of paper and draw four quadrants and write down each phase. And then in each list out the specific actions or strategies you can implement to optimize the stage of that customer journey for your business. This can be a simple exercise, and it will help you visualize where you excel and then where there's room for improvement. And this is ultimately going to guide you towards creating an unforgettable customer experience that keeps people coming back for more. This is how you grow and scale your business. I want to say thank you for listening to The Jasmine Star Show.

Jasmine Star (00:19:23) - It is an honor and a privilege to share this with you. If you have gotten just one thing from this episode, I would be incredibly grateful and it would be so kind of you to leave a review. I look forward to creating these podcasts. I look forward to connecting with you in audio and visual. Thank you for listening to The Jasmine Starship.