How well do you know your customers?  It’s certainly a tough thing to evaluate.  Luckily, one fantastic tool we have in our arsenal for creating happy customers is  research in social psychology. We also have data on company-customer interaction.

With these insights into the human mind and research studies on customer loyalty, we can more objectively approach questions like, “What makes a happy customer?”

Today, I’d like to discuss 10 such studies that reveal 10 things your customers WISH you knew about them.

Note: If you’re a visual learner, check out the infographic version of this post.

  1. Customers Care More about Service Quality and Attitude than about Service Speed

  2. Customers Know What They (and Other Customers) Want; They’re also Willing to Help

  3. Customers like Loyalty Programs… as Long as You Make Them Seem Easy

  4. Creating Goodwill with Customers Doesn’t Take a Lot of Money

  5. Customers Absolutely Adore Personalization; They Will Gladly Pay More for It

  6. Your Customers Love Stories and Are More Open to Your Business Selling through Them

  7. Customers Will Remember Your Business If You Can Remember Their Names

  8. It Pays to Surprise Your Customers: You Don’t Need to Trumpet Every Benefit

  9. Selling “Time” over Savings Can put Your Customers in a Better Buying Mood

  10. Bringing up Savings Makes Customers Feel Self-Centered and Greedy

Some useful tips I hope to apply running my own (very small) business. Many would probably also apply in an employment setting.