Author: Bianca Male

1. When should a business do customer research?
The short answer is: constantly.
If you really want to know what your customers are thinking, "you need to always be listening," Guay says. "Whether [your business is] big or small, there's no excuse not to do it -- there are so many solutions."

While hiring a research firm to implement official voice of the customer analysis might be out of the question for some small business' budgets, there are other ways to consistently gather information about your customers that are more indirect and won't cost you anything.

Falkland offers this example: "At Disney, every touchpoint is an interaction... they're driven by two customer-focused elements: 'know me' and 'be relevant'." In each customer interaction, the company is constantly asking questions that give them a better picture of their customer's needs and wants; it's a process that's built into the way they do business.

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