Customer Types & Behavioral Styles: Overview

This chapter introduces students to the concept of customer types and behavior styles, exploring how individual preferences, communication styles, and personalities influence customer interactions. You will learn to categorize customers, adapt their service approach, and create customer personas to understand diverse customer needs better.

Learning Objectives

After reviewing this information, you should be able to do the following:

• Describe the Social Style Matrix and its dimensions of assertiveness and responsiveness.
• Identify and differentiate between the four social styles: Analytical, Driver, Amiable, and Expressive.
• Explain the impact of introversion and extroversion on customer behavior and communication preferences.
• Distinguish between emotional and logical decision-making styles and their influence on purchasing behavior.
• Categorize customers into different types, such as first-time customers, loyal customers, impulse buyers, and discount shoppers.
• Demonstrate strategies to effectively engage with and adapt service approaches for different customer types.
• Recognize the importance of internal customers and their role in delivering exceptional customer service.
• Develop customer personas using data-driven insights to better understand and engage with target audiences.

 

Common Behavior Styles

Understanding the social style matrix provides insight to customer service and engagement as you adjust your communications to meet the social style of your customer. What makes people so different in their style, perceptions, and approaches to things is defined in the social style matrix.  The social style matrix is based on patterns of communication behavior identified by David Merrill and Roger Reid back in 1999. It plots social behaviour based on two dimensions: assertiveness and responsiveness. In the matrix below, the x axis is assertiveness, which indicates the degree to which a person wants to dominate or want something from someone else (control the conversation or insist on a sale for example). The y axis represents responsiveness, which is how a person responds to requests or demands (how quickly you follow-up, for example) and is considered the sociability axis.^[1]

In Figure 8.1, the Social Style Matrix, you can see the four quadrants; each quadrant represents one of four social styles: analytical, driver, amiable, and expressive.

 

Each of the social styles has specific characteristics that are important to keep in mind as you prepare and present your sales presentation.  The model “demonstrates that each of the four social styles has positives and negatives associated with their behavior.  Versatility is the true power of social style  It is the ability to leverage the strengths of your own Style while recognizing and responding effectively to others’ unique Styles. It allows you to create meaningful and productive relationships with people of any Style whether they’re like you or not”.^[2]

Expressives are creative and can see the big picture clearly; they have a vision and use their style to communicate it and inspire people. They are not caught up in the day-to-day details. “People with an Expressive Style tend to be more willing to make their feelings known to others. They can appear to react impulsively and openly show both positive and negative feelings. They are typically described by others as personable, talkative and sometimes opinionated.”^[9] Expressives build relationships to gain power, so people like employees, viewers, or voters are very important to them as well as status and recognition.

Since expressives are not big on details, you might find their offices to be a bit disorganized, even cluttered and messy. Their offices are set up in an open format, as they would prefer to sit next to you rather than across the desk from you. They avoid conservative dress and are more casual with their personal style.

When you are providing service to an expressive, take extra time to discuss everything. Give them recognition and approval. Appeal to their emotions by asking them how they feel about the product or service; focus on the big picture of what is possible because of buying your product or service. If you try to dazzle them with data, you will not get very far.

Personality Styles

Understanding Introverted vs. Extroverted Customers

Building on the foundational understanding of the behavior styles discussed above, it’s important to recognize that broader personality traits, such as introversion and extroversion also influence customer interactions. While behavior styles describe how customers process information and make decisions, introversion and extroversion reveal preferences for social interaction and communication. These traits can shape how customers engage with service environments, interact with staff, and respond to different touchpoints. Understanding these dynamics allows service providers to adapt their approach, ensuring a more personalized experience that resonates with each customer’s unique preferences.

Extraversion is the state of primarily obtaining gratification from outside oneself. Extraverts tend to enjoy human interactions and to be enthusiastic, talkative, assertive, and gregarious. Extraverts are energized and thrive off being around other people. They take pleasure in activities that involve large social gatherings, such as parties, community activities, public demonstrations, and business or political groups.

How does this apply to customer service and engagement? Extroverted customers, enjoy social interactions and are often more comfortable with verbal, spontaneous discussions. They may thrive in environments where they can build rapport with service staff and are likely to appreciate lively, high-energy environments (think interactive retail spaces, vibrant restaurants, or casinos). Extroverted customers may make quicker decisions based on verbal explanations, enthusiasm, or in-the-moment engagement.

On the other hand, introversion is the state of primarily obtaining gratification from one’s own mental life. Introverts are typically perceived as more reserved or reflective.  An introvert is likely to enjoy time spent alone and find less reward in time spent with large groups of people. Introverts are easily overwhelmed by too much stimulation from social gatherings and engagement and prefer to concentrate on a single activity at a time. They are also  more analytical before speaking. 

As customers, introverts tend to prefer lower-pressure interactions, value privacy, and often respond better to clear, concise communication without excessive small talk. For example, they may prefer email or online chat to face-to-face conversations or phone calls and prefer more tranquil, organized environments (e.g., spa-like atmospheres, quiet hotel check-ins). Introverted customers will likely take more time to process information before making a decision, preferring written details or time to reflect.

While introversion and extroversion are broad traits, recognizing these tendencies allows businesses to create more personalized and comfortable customer experiences. For example:

• A hotel offering digital check-ins might attract introverted customers who want to avoid long conversations at the front desk.
• A tour guide who tailors their approach to extroverted customers might spend extra time engaging in storytelling or interactive activities.

Emotional vs. Logical Decision-Makers

The emotional vs. logical decision-making styles focus on the underlying drivers of customer choices, offering a different lens than behavior styles (e.g., analytical, expressive) or personality traits (introversion vs. extroversion). While those frameworks deal with how customers behave or communicate, the emotional/logical lens reveals why they make decisions, particularly in service scenarios. Here’s how they differ:

Emotional decision-makers prioritize feelings, intuition, and subjective experiences. Their decisions are often driven by personal values, mood, or how a product or service makes them feel. They are more likely to be influenced by storytelling, testimonials, and visuals that evoke emotions. Customers who are emotional decision-makers would choose a boutique hotel because its ambiance feels cozy and personal, even if it costs more than a chain hotel or pick a restaurant entrée because it reminds them of a childhood memory, rather than its nutritional value or price.

Emotional customers respond well to warm, empathetic interactions. Service providers can appeal to this style by creating memorable experiences, demonstrating empathy, or highlighting emotional benefits (e.g., “This vacation will be a lifetime of memories!”).

Logical Decision-Makers rely on facts, data, and objective reasoning. They evaluate options based on features, benefits, and value. This group is less swayed by emotional appeals and prefers clear, evidence-based communication. For example, a business traveler selecting a hotel based on proximity to a conference and availability of amenities like high-speed internet or a diner choosing a meal based on price, nutritional content, or how well it aligns with their dietary goals would be characterized as logical decision-makers

Logical customers expect clear, transparent information and appreciate a professional, no-frills approach. Service providers should focus on communicating value, highlighting features, and delivering what was promised without overpromising.

Emotional/logical decision-making isn’t about how customers interact (like behavior styles) or who they are (like introversion/extroversion); it’s about the motivation behind their choices. An introverted customer, for example, could still be an emotional decision-maker if their choices are deeply tied to personal feelings or memories. Conversely, an extroverted customer could still make highly logical decisions based on data.

Understanding these decision-making styles allows service providers to better tailor their messaging, interactions, and environments to satisfy different motivational drivers, ultimately exceeding customer expectations.

Categorizing Customers by Type

When asked, most people understand what a customer is since virtually everyone on the planet, at one time or another, has the experience of purchasing goods or services from somebody else. Whether you are buying socks at a clothing store, eating at a restaurant, or streaming an online movie, the customer is, in fact, the very essence of successful business.

Each customer has unique needs, preferences, and behaviors, which means a one-size-fits-all approach won’t always be effective. Understanding the various types of customers that interact with your business is key to providing exceptional service and fostering lasting relationships. By recognizing and adapting customer service strategies to the specific type of customer you’re serving, you can enhance their experience, increase satisfaction, and encourage loyalty. In retail and hospitality, customer types can vary, but some common ones typically include:

First-Time Customers

First-time customers are new to your business and may be unfamiliar with your offerings or brand. It’s crucial to make their first experience a positive one. Greet them warmly and ensure they feel welcome. Take the time to guide them through your products or services, answering any questions they might have. Avoid overwhelming them with too much information, but offer enough details to make them comfortable with their choices. Introduce them to loyalty programs, special offers, or key services to increase the likelihood of repeat visits. Following up with a thank-you message or a special offer for their next visit can also help keep them engaged.

Occasional Customers

Occasional customers are those who visit your business infrequently, typically when they have a specific need or when a promotion catches their eye. While they may not frequent your store regularly, they still represent valuable business. When interacting with these customers, make sure their visit is memorable and welcoming. Personalize the experience by recalling any past interactions or purchases, if possible, and offer them relevant product recommendations based on their history. After their visit, follow up with a thank-you note, feedback request, or notification of upcoming events or sales to encourage them to return sooner rather than later.

Loyal Customers

Loyal customers are those who repeatedly return to your business because they value the products or services you offer. Their commitment often stems from positive past experiences, and they tend to be brand advocates who trust your company. To effectively engage these customers, personalize their experience by acknowledging their loyalty and offering tailored recommendations based on their purchase history. Showing appreciation is key; small gestures like thank-you notes or birthday discounts can go a long way in reinforcing their loyalty. Additionally, proactively solving any problems or anticipating their needs can ensure that their positive relationship with your brand continues to thrive.

Impulse Buyers

Impulse buyers are customers who make unplanned purchases, often driven by attractive displays, promotions, or emotional appeal. These customers typically don’t come in with a specific need in mind but may be swayed by a great deal or an exciting product. The best way to serve impulse buyers is by engaging them at the right moment. Be attentive, but not overly pushy, offering assistance just as they show interest in a product. Creating a store environment with clear signage and attention-grabbing displays can help spark interest. Encourage thoughtful purchases by explaining the benefits of the item, but allow them to make their own decision. Even if they don’t purchase, leave a positive impression to encourage future visits.

Discount Shoppers

Discount shoppers are highly price-sensitive and often seek out the best deals, discounts, and promotions before making a purchase. They are focused on getting value for their money, but that doesn’t mean they don’t appreciate quality service. When interacting with discount shoppers, it’s essential to be respectful of their need for bargains while also maintaining efficient service. Highlight any available sales, promotions, or membership discounts clearly and promptly. While assisting them, be quick and to the point, acknowledging that they may not want to spend too much time making decisions. Making them feel valued, despite their focus on price, will enhance their overall experience and keep them coming back for future deals. 

Need-Based Customers

Need-based customers enter your business with a specific product or service in mind. They know what they need and typically want to get in and out quickly. To serve these customers effectively, your first priority should be to listen carefully to their request and guide them directly to the product or service that fulfills their need. Avoid overwhelming them with unrelated options or upselling; instead, focus on providing clear, concise information about the item they are interested in. Being efficient and solution-oriented will ensure they leave satisfied and are more likely to return for future needs.

Wanderers or Browsers

Wanderers or browsers are customers who don’t have a specific purchase in mind and may spend time looking at various products or services without the intention of buying. These customers are often in the store or browsing online for leisure or exploration. To engage them, it’s important to create a welcoming and intriguing environment. Greet them with warmth and let them know you’re available for assistance, but avoid being intrusive. Provide interesting displays or product demonstrations that encourage exploration. If they seem intrigued by certain items, gently offer more information or suggest alternatives based on their interests. The goal is to make the experience enjoyable, so even if they don’t make a purchase, they’ll remember their visit positively. 

Angry Customers

Angry customers are those who are upset, often due to a negative experience, such as receiving poor service, encountering a defective product, or facing delays. They can be vocal about their frustration and may exhibit a heightened emotional response. When handling angry customers, it’s crucial to stay calm and composed, ensuring that they feel heard and understood. Actively listen to their concerns without interruption, and acknowledge their emotions by expressing empathy. Apologize for the inconvenience, even if you’re not at fault, and reassure them that their issue will be resolved. Offer a solution or compensation that addresses their concern, and follow through on your promises. After the situation is resolved, it’s beneficial to check back with the customer to ensure their satisfaction and rebuild trust. A well-handled complaint can turn an angry customer into a loyal one.

Internal Customers

Internal customers are all the employees, vendors, and other stakeholders of a business. This concept, attributed to quality management expert Joseph M. Juran, was introduced in the late 1980s. Previously, only those individuals or organizations who purchased goods or services were considered customers. Today we view customers as those who shop in store, buy products, etc. as external customers. When we focus on “internal customers,” we’re examining the relationships with people who support our “external customers.”

What is the motivation to take care of internal customers?

W. Marriott, of Marriott International, a corporation renowned for providing exceptional customer service, emphasizes taking good care of their employees because, “If you take care of them, they’ll take care of your customers and the customers will keep coming back again and again.” Not only is Marriott International currently the world’s largest hotel company but it’s also continuously mentioned as one of the best places to work in the world.

Diana Dosik, a principal for Boston Consulting Group, further emphasized the importance of focusing on internal customer service during her TED talk, “Why we need to treat our employees as thoughtfully as our customers.”

Pay attention to what Dosik says about “getting you as a customer” and how a person’s journey is important to companies. As you watch this video, take note of where she discusses the “pain points” of employees. (Closed captioning available on YouTube.)

Customer Personas

Chapter 1 introduced the idea of customer personas as strategic tools that help provide an in-depth understanding of who a company’s customers are, what they need, and how they interact with the company across all touchpoints.

Assuming you have defined your target audiences, the next important step in developing an understanding of your key customers and target audiences is creating “data-driven customer personas”. Simply defined, data-driven customer or buyer personas are semi-fictional representations that showcase the key traits of a segment of your target audience, based on data you have collected from customer research and/or any other analytics platforms.

Here is a 9-minute video, How To Create A User Persona, that provides a nice summary of what customer personas are, as well as walks you through the process of building your own. Closed captioning is available on YouTube.

Now that you understand what customer personas are, let’s explore two different types of customer personas.

Data-Driven vs. Adhoc or Lean Customer Personas

The main difference between “data-driven” customer personas and “proto, adhoc, or lean” customer personas has to do with how the personas are created. In an ideal world, you start with a blank sheet of paper, make no assumptions, and conduct extensive audience research. You talk to lots of real-world people and use the data collected to construct personas. This is the data-driven approach, and it is how personas should – ideally – be created.

That said, many organizations do not have the time, budget, or desire to do this level of research. So, rather than stall the customer persona process or have no personas at all, you can use a different approach: proto or ad hoc customer personas. This approach is described in detail in the book Lean UX by Jeff Gothelf and Josh Seiden, and as a result, these personas are sometimes also called lean personas.

Adhoc, or lean personas normally are not created by doing extensive external audience research, but rather by collecting information primarily from within an organization. For example, you might hold a workshop or meeting with various stakeholders and ask them to describe your target audience. Based on everyone’s input and/or experience, you can start building some ‘rough’ personas.

The critical thing to note is that these rough personas are not research-led and therefore contain assumptions or biases that may or may not be true. While lean personas can be useful tools, treat them with caution and verify them with research – even if that research happens well after you have created your rough personas. A good approach is to start with a few lean personas to get the process rolling and to get stakeholder buy-in. Then, over time, conduct research to verify and validate their accuracy and refine them as you gain more audience insights and gather more audience data.

How to Build a Data-driven Customer Persona

Below is a framework that will cover all the foundational aspects of a customer persona. However, please keep in mind that all customer personas should incorporate multiple viewpoints, i.e., if a customer persona is being developed by a single person, with only one viewpoint in mind, for only one purpose, and/or for only one stage of your customer journey, your persona may not support your organization as a whole. As mentioned before, your customer persona should work for your product, marketing, sales, and customer success teams. So, try to include a variety of customer viewpoints in the following process because it will make your customer personas much stronger and applicable to the entire organization.

1. Conduct Customer Research
   To get a deeper understanding of your target audience, start by seeking out the answers to the following questions:

• • Who are your customers?
  • How do they behave?
  • What are they interested in?
  • What kind of challenges do they face?

More specifically, here are several customer research data points that you may want to collect and document:

For some more ideas, you may also want to consider Hubspot’s list of what you should consider when defining buyer personas.

2. Identify Customer Pain Points
   Either through customer surveys, interviews, or social listening, you will want to identify the key pain points your customers have, e.g,:

• • What problems or hassles are they trying to solve?
  • What’s holding them back from success?
  • What barriers do they face in reaching their goals?

3. Identify Customer Goals
   This is the flip side of pain points. Pain points are problems your potential customers are trying to solve. Goals or aspirations are positive things they want to achieve. Depending on the kinds of products and services you offer, these goals might be personal or professional. Similar to above, this information can be acquired through customer surveys, interviews, or social listening.

4. Understand How You Can Help
   Now that you understand your customers’ pain points and goals, it’s time to create a really clear picture of how your products and services can help. Stop thinking about your brand in terms of features and dig deep to analyze the benefits you offer to customers. Consider your products and services from a customer’s point of view. And, keep in mind the following three questions:

• • How can we help?
  • What are your audience’s main purchasing barriers?
  • How can you help customers overcome any barriers / pain points and achieve their goals?

5. Define and Name Your Customer Personas
   Define and name these customer segments. Start looking for common characteristics and patterns. As you group those characteristics together, you’ll have the basis for your unique customer personas. Take your collection of characteristics and turn them into a persona that you can identify with and speak to. Give your customer persona a name, a job title, a home, and other defining characteristics. You want your persona to seem like a real person.

Why Use Customer Personas? 

Customer personas assist businesses in knowing what to promote, to whom, when, and through which marketing channels. With digital marketing on the rise and more and more marketing channels available to marketers, making sure you spend your time and money on the appropriate marketing channels and activities can define your organization’s success or failure.

In this article, What is a ‘Buyer Persona’ and Why is it Important?, there is a list of areas across your organization where customer personas can guide the direction of your work, for example:

• Product or Service Development
  Product development can use customer personas to help guide and build product or service roadmaps.

• Marketing Strategies & Activities
  Marketing can use customer personas to build effective strategies and also identify and prioritize marketing activities.

• Sales Prospecting & Sales Calls
  Customer personas can help your sales team build rapport with potential customers by understanding what they want and being prepared to address their concerns.

• Customer Support
  Customer support teams can use personas to better serve your customers by being trained on the problems your customers are trying to solve with your product or service.

• Designers
  Designers can use user experience (UX) / user interface (UI) personas to develop and test useful and understandable visual customer experiences that support an organization’s conversion strategies and goals.

• Competitive Intelligence
  Generate personas for competitors and discover trends as they happen. As a result, you may be able to uncover content, advertising, and partnership opportunities/strategies.

Please note that any tool and any type of market research can result in faulty insights. The key is to choose the proper tool and use it correctly. Bottom line: the identified issues are not inherent flaws in personas, but rather flaws in implementing personas. These flaws can be fixed by proper management, real customer data, and regular updating of personas.

Hopefully, you can see how powerful customer personas can be as a marketing and organizational tool. Knowing how to analyze and create your own customer personas can be important, especially as organizations experiment and try to connect with new target audiences. That said, do try, as much as possible, to develop your customer personas based on data and solid customer research!