Gaining 3‐D customer insight to drive profitable growth

Purpose – This article aims to introduce a more comprehensive approach to generating customer insights that can improve almost any organization's ability to drive profitable, customer‐focused growth.Design/methodology/approach – Examining data on the disparity between “what customers say” and “what they do” can uncover major business opportunities. For example, data that tracked hundreds of physicians' prescribing behaviors over time was matched with a survey that asked them to rate each of various drugs along certain dimensions. A statistical model was built to determine which product attributes, when rated favorably for one drug, were most predictive of prescribing behavior.Findings – The article finds that the 3‐D approach requires companies to segment based on an integrated view of their customers. This reveals true cause and effect – how changes in a company's offer or communications lead to changes in customer behavior, and what affect these have on company profitability.Practical implications – Man...