One of the most important and elusive things about running an online business is having a clear understanding of what your customers want.

Sure, you can ask them to fill in a survey, but unless it’s heavily incentivised you might not get a good sample size of answers. Also, if you’re a solo business owner that is familiar to your customers, the chances of you receiving critical feedback are slim.

The more you know about your customers, the easier it is to give them what they want – and ensure they keep coming back for more.

Website analytics

Ok, this one is a no-brainer. I read a quote recently – ‘if you look at your analytics and all you see is numbers, you’re missing the point’. I wholeheartedly agree.

I look at which blog posts were the most popular and make a list of topics that received a good response. I look at who has linked to me and leave a comment on their blogs. If they’re on Twitter or Facebook I add them there too, to start building a relationship.

Email analytics

Each week I send a newsletter to my mailing list. It’s composed of two parts sharing information I have collected from around the internet, and two parts promoting my own content.

Every month I look at the reports to see what has been clicked on the most. I look at the type of content it is, the style it was written in, what the headline is and who it’s appealing to. I purposefully include links to different topics to see how my audience responds. By analysing the links that my audience click on, I get to know their likes and dislikes.

Social networks

I could write a whole column on the customer data you’ll find by observing your social network. This time, I’m just going to focus on observing the links that your network shares. Make a note of the headlines and analyse what makes them attractive.

Your competitors’ blogs

Take a look at other blogs in your niche. You want to look for the most popular posts and the posts with the most comments and social network shares. Analyse why they received attention – was it the headline? Did it touch on a want or need of your niche?

Use an email list auto responder

Most email marketing providers these days have an auto responder function. You can schedule an email to send to new subscribers several days after they sign up.

Take advantage of this function and craft a short, personal email asking them for the problem that is most troubling to them. You can bet that your audience shares their problem. Use the replies to draft blog posts.

Read your users

Identify the top 20 openers of your emails and note any similarities within them. This will lend insight into who is reading your messages and why.

Clare Lancaster has been working online since 2001 and owns business consultancy firm dotmarketing.com.au.