How to Understand Customer Behavior and Biases

Most deals aren't lost to competitors. They're not lost to price. They're not even lost to product gaps. Both deals and customer success are blocked by something far more powerful: → Hidden buyer biases that prevent even the most needed changes. When prospects ghost you or say 'maybe later,' you're not battling logic—you're battling human nature. And in that battle lies your greatest opportunity: ✨ → To understand these patterns and lead your customers forward. The reality is clear: ↳Customers need to make changes. ↳Great gains await them. ↳But psychological barriers hold them back from their own success. The best sellers understand this deeply. ↳They don't just spot these biases... ↳They create intentional paths to help customers move past them. 🎯 Here are the 5 deadliest biases and your roadmap to overcome them: 1️⃣ Status Quo Bias: The Comfort Zone Trap → Even broken systems feel 'safe' → Logic says yes, but emotions scream 'stay put' Your Move: ↳Share success stories of similar companies ↳Offer low-risk trials ↳ Build a phased approach 2️⃣ Loss Aversion: When Fear Wins → Potential losses feel 2x stronger than gains → 'Cost of inaction' beats 'future benefits' Your Move: ↳Highlight current money left on the table ↳ Show competitors pulling ahead ↳ Frame change as avoiding loss  3️⃣ Choice Overload: Less is More → A confused mind says no → Too many options = decision paralysis Your Move: ↳Present max 3 options ↳ Make clear recommendations ↳ Simplify the decision path 4️⃣ Trust Gap: The Credibility Crisis → Buyers enter skeptical → No trust = no sale Your Move: ↳ Lead with insights, not pitches ↳ Share relevant case studies ↳ Be radically transparent 5️⃣ Effort Aversion: Make it Easy → Complex = No Decision → The brain avoids heavy lifting Your Move: ↳ Show clear implementation path ↳ Offer done-for-you solutions ↳ Map out customer success journey ✅The Path Forward: ↳Master These Biases = Lead With Understanding ↳Now, Let's Turn That Understanding Into Action These aren't just biases to recognize... ↳They're opportunities to differentiate yourself through deeper customer understanding. When you master these patterns, you: → Serve your customers at a deeper level → Guide them past psychological blockers → Help them achieve the changes they need to make Because in the end, sales isn't about battling these biases... It's about understanding them so well that you can create clear paths to customer success. 👇 Which bias do you see holding your customers back the most? Share below and let's discuss strategies that serve. ↗️ Save this post - it's your roadmap to better customer conversations ➕ Follow Holly Moe for strategies on leading your customers to success

Surveys can serve an important purpose. We should use them to fill holes in our understanding of the customer experience or build better models with the customer data we have. As surveys tell you what customers explicitly choose to share, you should not be using them to measure the experience. Surveys are also inherently reactive, surface level, and increasingly ignored by customers who are overwhelmed by feedback requests. This is fact. There’s a different way. Some CX leaders understand that the most critical insights come from sources customers don’t even realize they’re providing from the “exhaust” of every day life with your brand. Real-time digital behavior, social listening, conversational analytics, and predictive modeling deliver insights that surveys alone never will. Voice and sentiment analytics, for example, go beyond simply reading customer comments. They reveal how customers genuinely feel by analyzing tone, frustration, or intent embedded within interactions. Behavioral analytics, meanwhile, uncover friction points by tracking real customer actions across websites or apps, highlighting issues users might never explicitly complain about. Predictive analytics are also becoming essential for modern CX strategies. They anticipate customer needs, allowing businesses to proactively address potential churn, rather than merely reacting after the fact. The capability can also help you maximize revenue in the experiences you are delivering (a use case not discussed often enough). The most forward-looking CX teams today are blending traditional feedback with these deeper, proactive techniques, creating a comprehensive view of their customers. If you’re just beginning to move beyond a survey-only approach, prioritizing these more advanced methods will help ensure your insights are not only deeper but actionable in real time. Surveys aren’t dead (much to my chagrin), but relying solely on them means leaving crucial insights behind. While many enterprises have moved beyond surveys, the majority are still overly reliant on them. And when you get to mid-market or small businesses? The survey slapping gets exponentially worse. Now is the time to start looking beyond the questionnaire and your Likert scales. The email survey is slowly becoming digital dust. And the capabilities to get you there are readily available. How are you evolving your customer listening strategy beyond traditional surveys? #customerexperience #cxstrategy #customerinsights #surveys

While it can be easily believed that customers are the ultimate experts about their own needs, there are ways to gain insights and knowledge that customers may not be aware of or able to articulate directly. While customers are the ultimate source of truth about their needs, product managers can complement this knowledge by employing a combination of research, data analysis, and empathetic understanding to gain a more comprehensive understanding of customer needs and expectations. The goal is not to know more than customers but to use various tools and methods to gain insights that can lead to building better products and delivering exceptional user experiences. ➡️ User Research: Conducting thorough user research, such as interviews, surveys, and observational studies, can reveal underlying needs and pain points that customers may not have fully recognized or articulated. By learning from many users, we gain holistic insights and deeper insights into their motivations and behaviors. ➡️ Data Analysis: Analyzing user data, including behavioral data and usage patterns, can provide valuable insights into customer preferences and pain points. By identifying trends and patterns in the data, product managers can make informed decisions about what features or improvements are most likely to address customer needs effectively. ➡️ Contextual Inquiry: Observing customers in their real-life environment while using the product can uncover valuable insights into their needs and challenges. Contextual inquiry helps product managers understand the context in which customers use the product and how it fits into their daily lives. ➡️ Competitor Analysis: By studying competitors and their products, product managers can identify gaps in the market and potential unmet needs that customers may not even be aware of. Understanding what competitors offer can inspire product improvements and innovation. ➡️ Surfacing Implicit Needs: Sometimes, customers may not be able to express their needs explicitly, but through careful analysis and empathetic understanding, product managers can infer these implicit needs. This requires the ability to interpret feedback, observe behaviors, and understand the context in which customers use the product. ➡️ Iterative Prototyping and Testing: Continuously iterating and testing product prototypes with users allows product managers to gather feedback and refine the product based on real-world usage. Through this iterative process, product managers can uncover deeper customer needs and iteratively improve the product to meet those needs effectively. ➡️ Expertise in the Domain: Product managers, industry thought leaders, academic researchers, and others with deep domain knowledge and expertise can anticipate customer needs based on industry trends, best practices, and a comprehensive understanding of the market. #productinnovation #discovery #productmanagement #productleadership

Your Product Managers are talking to customers. So why isn’t your product getting better? A few years ago, I was on a team where our boss had a rule: 🗣️ “Everyone must talk to at least one customer each week.” So we did. Calls were scheduled. Conversations happened. Boxes were checked. But nothing changed. No real insights. No real impact. Because talking to customers isn’t the goal. Learning the right things is. When discovery lacks purpose, it leads to wasted effort, misaligned strategy, and poor business decisions: ❌ Features get built that no one actually needs. ❌ Roadmaps get shaped by the loudest voices, not the right customers. ❌ Teams collect insights… but fail to act on them. How Do You Fix It? ✅ Talk to the Right People Not every customer insight is useful. Prioritize: -> Decision-makers AND end-users – You need both perspectives. -> Customers who represent your core market – Not just the loudest complainers. -> Direct conversations – Avoid proxy insights that create blind spots. 👉 Actionable Step: Before each interview, ask: “Is this customer representative of the next 100 we want to win?” If not, rethink who you’re talking to. ✅ Ask the Right Questions A great question challenges assumptions. A bad one reinforces them. -> Stop asking: “Would you use this?” -> Start asking: “How do you solve this today?” -> Show AI prototypes and iterate in real-time – Faster than long discovery cycles. -> If shipping something is faster than researching it—just build it. 👉 Actionable Step: Replace one of your upcoming interview questions with: “What workarounds have you created to solve this problem?” This reveals real pain points. ✅ Don’t Let Insights Die in a Doc Discovery isn’t about collecting insights. It’s about acting on them. -> Validate across multiple customers before making decisions. -> Share findings with your team—don’t keep them locked in Notion. -> Close the loop—show customers how their feedback shaped the product. 👉 Actionable Step: Every two weeks, review customer insights with your team to decipher key patterns and identify what changes should be applied. If there’s no clear action, you’re just collecting data—not driving change. Final Thought Great discovery doesn’t just inform product decisions—it shapes business strategy. Done right, it helps teams build what matters, align with real customer needs, and drive meaningful outcomes. 👉 Be honest—are your customer conversations actually making a difference? If not, what’s missing? -- 👋 I'm Ron Yang, a product leader and advisor. Follow me for insights on product leadership + strategy.

The best PMM research doesn’t come from collecting more data. It comes from collecting data from more SOURCES...aka triangulation. Triangulation helps you improve the validity, depth, and confidence of your findings by cross-checking insights across distinct but complementary data sources. This helps reduce bias and reduce how much you need from a single data source. For instance, for most B2B personas, just 5 solid interviews will get you 80% there, if you complement it with other sources. So, how can you apply this practically? Let’s go through a real example: Research question: What key benefits should we emphasize in the messaging for our primary persona, Business Ops leads? 1️⃣ Data source 1: Qualitative (what they say) Sources (pick one or more): --> 4 customer interviews with biz ops leads --> Gong snippets from late-stage technical eval calls --> Internal CSM notes during onboarding and renewal   Common quotes include: “Every tool we add creates another integration headache.” “I just want something that doesn’t break other things.” This suggests they care less about flashy features and more about stability, reliability, and ease of maintenance. Now let’s verify this by going thru behavior data. 👇 2️⃣ Data source 2: behavioral (what they do) Sources (pick one or more): --> Support logs and ticket categories for similar accounts --> Feature usage of admin controls, integrations, and audit logs --> Help center searches by role/persona tag Insights: → Ops users are most active in integration, data sync, and permission → High NPS users rarely file tickets, but when they do, it’s for downtime or bugs, not UI complaints This confirms that reliability and ease of system management drive real behavior. 3️⃣ Data source 3: outcome ( what they choose) Sources: --> Win/loss notes --> Procurement objections tagged by role --> Post-sale NPS comments filtered by Business Ops titles Insights: → In wins: “Didn’t have to loop in Engineering” or “We were able to integrate in 1 sprint” → High NPS Ops users cite: “It just works. Rarely need to touch it.” This confirms that the decision patterns match the earlier sentiments. ✅ Triangulated insight: “Business Ops leaders prioritize system trust and low-maintenance integrations; they will choose a solution that promises stability, control, and minimal firefighting over advanced features.” In summary, triangulated findings are more defensible, easier to get buy in and more resistant to bias. You won’t always have time for deep research, especially in a startup. But even a scrappy mix of 2–3 sources can level up your insight. The good news is you can use AI to speed up the grunt work, and then YOU bring the insight. This is the type of work that helps you drive business strategy and get seen. ❓ When you build personas or messaging, what sources do you pull from? #productmarketing #research #strategy #coaching 

Your customer avatar is probably wrong. It’s not your fault. The entire industry has been running the same lazy playbook for years... But there's a better way to truly understand your audience—I'll break it down for you step by step: First, it's important to note: most marketers confuse *data* with *insight*, and most brands only know their customer’s basic info. They'll run entire marketing campaigns based on minimal insights: • Male • 25-45 • Likes fitness But that’s not a profile. That’s just a demographic checkbox. To actually connect, you need to go deeper… I use a 5-point system to build customer avatars that actually work. The 5 pillars are: 1. Identity 2. Emotion 3. Generation 4. Seasonal purchasing behavior 5. Cultural movements Here’s how it works: 1. We start by researching Identity. Your audience isn’t just a group of people—they see themselves as someone specific. Are they: • Hustlers? • Achievers? • Rebels? Their core identity drives what they believe, which is why we start with the core and layer things on top. 2. Next we get insight on Emotion. Emotion drives buying decisions, not logic. Understanding which emotions fuel your audience is key: • Fear of missing out? • Desire for control? • Pride in their achievements? If you can nail the emotional hook, your offer becomes irresistible. 3. We then move on to Generation. Boomers, Millennials, Gen Z, and Gen X aren’t the same. Each grew up with different values, tech, and cultural experiences. Even subtle things like humor or world event references can make a huge difference. We add this to the mix along with: 4. Seasonal Purchasing Behavior Your audience doesn’t buy the same things year-round. Track when they’re most likely to spend and align your campaigns with their *natural habits*. E.g.: Fitness goals spike in January, outdoor gear in spring. Timing is everything. 5. Finally, we study Cultural Movements. What’s happening in the world that aligns with your audience? If we’re gonna tap into shared beliefs, trends, or societal shifts to make your brand feel relevant, we need to know how to go from “just a product” to a movement. When you understand these 5 layers, you stop guessing—and start connecting. You stop throwing spaghetti and start painting a masterpiece. TLDR; If your avatar is built on a static template from 6 years ago, you’re in trouble. Avatars are as fluid as the humans they’re built on. Knowing how to track the 5 most important those changes (and build a strong marketing strategy from them) is the key to real growth. 🔑

Stop treating your prospects like calculators. I learned this lesson painfully while leading the launch of a new solution for a healthcare transformation organization. The CEO and SVP of Product Innovation were well-intentioned, but they had biases that fueled their convictions. “Show them the science and ROI. Once they see the data, they’ll switch,” said the CEO. “They’ll switch?” I asked curiously. They rarely switched for the logic. They often resisted because we didn’t understand the emotion that tied them to maintaining the status quo. Most B2B marketers still build journeys on the idea that buyers only care about features, scientific studies, and ROI models. But real people buy with their hearts as much as their heads. LinkedIn's B2B Institute found that emotional factors significantly influence B2B buying decisions, accounting for 66%, while rational factors account for the remaining 34%. When you act like every decision is a math problem, you miss the emotional needs and biases that drive action. Fear of missing out. Desire for security. The endorsement of a trusted referral. Those feelings tip the scales long before spreadsheets ever come out. Three quick shifts to make your GTM more human: 💡 Map emotions, not just touchpoints. Ask: What’s the buyer afraid of at each stage? What small win can calm that fear? Use stories to build trust. 💡 Data is important. But a 2-minute customer story about real struggle and success sticks far longer. 💡 Frame decisions around loss-aversion. “Don’t lose your edge” often lands harder than “gain more efficiency.” When you blend hard facts with a genuine understanding of how people feel, you’ll see faster decisions and deeper loyalty. Takeaway: Your next user journey should start with these questions: ✔️ “How do we show up in our customers' struggles? ✔️ "Do they see us as relevant?” ✔️ Can they see their lives as being better because of our help? Build from there. #businessgrowth #GTM #buyerjourney #CMO

One thing I've noticed when working with clients and doing discovery calls is that a lot of companies are not using customer signals to be proactive instead of reactive. Being proactive rather than reactive is the key to ensuring customer satisfaction and retention. One effective strategy to stay ahead of potential issues is by documenting and understanding "customer signals" – subtle behaviors and indicators that can serve as red flags. Recognizing these signals across the organization allows businesses to engage with customers at the right moment, preventing issues from escalating and ultimately fostering a more positive customer experience. Teams should not just try to save the account once there is a request to cancel or an escalation. You need to pay attention to the signs before you hit this point. Ensuring the entire team knows what to look for means that everyone is empowered to care and improve the customer experience. Here's a list of customer behaviors that could be potential red flags, gradually increasing as they check out or consider leaving: 🔷 Reduced Engagement: Decreased interactions with your product or service. Limited participation in surveys, webinars, or other engagement opportunities. 🔷 Decreased Usage Patterns: A decline in frequency or duration of product usage. Reduced utilization of features or services. 🔷 Unresolved Support Tickets: Multiple open support tickets that remain unresolved. Frequent escalations or dissatisfaction with support responses. 🔷 Negative Feedback or Reviews: Public expression of dissatisfaction on review platforms or social media. Consistently low scores in customer feedback surveys. 🔷 Inactive Account Behavior: Extended periods of inactivity in their account. No logins or interactions over an extended timeframe. 🔷 Communication Breakdown: Ignoring or not responding to communication attempts. Lack of response to personalized outreach or engagement efforts. 🔷 Changes in Buying Patterns: Drastic reduction in purchase frequency or order size. Shifting to lower-tier plans or downgrading services. 🔷 Exploration of Alternatives: Visiting competitor websites or exploring alternative solutions. Engaging in product comparisons and evaluations. 🔷 Billing and Payment Issues: Frequent delays or issues with payments. Unusual changes in billing patterns.

The best way to understand your customer is to be their customer first. This will help you identify inefficiencies, and opportunities where your solution could help improve the overall customer experience. This is also the type of research which can help you develop a tailored point of view that will resonate with Senior Executives who are invested in better serving their customers. It shows them you’ve done your homework and can bring immediate value. Finally, it helps you build immediate rapport since you are already a customer of theirs. Here are a 5 examples of how you can do this: 1. Call into their customer service department and see how easy or hard it is to get an issue resolved 2. Sign up for their newsletter and see the quality and quantity of the communications they send out 3. Use their mobile app or visit their online portals to see what the user experience is like 4. Visit their physical or online stores and see how their products are sold. 5. Read what their employees are saying on Glassdoor and identify where the employee experience could be improved Once you’ve done this firsthand research, then it’s time to establish your point of view on how and where you can help. Finally, you need to share it with the leaders who care most. For example: If your POV is related to their online store, the VP of eCommerce would be a prime candidate to hear this message. The more you know about your customers, the more you know how and where you can help them.

Customer conversations are full of signals. The trick is knowing where to look. Voice data gives teams a clearer view into what customers need and how they’re feeling. When you can spot patterns in those conversations, it gets a lot easier to respond faster, coach more effectively, and deliver a more consistent experience. Here are three insights we’ve seen really move the needle for our customers: 🔹 Why customers are calling: Understanding common call drivers helps you anticipate needs, improve self-service, and reduce repeat issues. 🔹 Which moments carry risk: Things like escalations, interruptions, or sudden tone shifts can point to where customers might be getting stuck or frustrated. 🔹 Where to focus coaching efforts: Voice data can highlight exactly where reps need support, whether it’s navigating objections, adjusting tone, or wrapping things up with confidence. If you had a clearer view into your voice data, what insights would you want to uncover first?