Customer insights are the key to marketing growth. According to McKinsey research,  companies that lead in customer experience achieve more than double the revenue growth of their competitors.

When you truly understand what drives your customers' decisions, you create products they love, campaigns that convert, and strategies that actually work. Unfortunately, most marketing teams have data but struggle to turn it into actionable improvements. 

This guide reveals how to uncover the customer insights that actually matter, decode what they're telling you, and turn those discoveries into marketing moves that deliver real results.

Key takeaways

• Transform data into actionable marketing insights: Raw campaign metrics tell you what happened, but customer insights reveal why it happened and what to do about it. Combine behavioral data, feedback, and context to drive real marketing improvements.

• Use the ICE framework for systematic insights: Identify patterns across multiple data sources, contextualize findings by customer segment, and execute through specific marketing experiments with measurable outcomes.

• Leverage multiple insight types for complete understanding: Behavioral insights optimize conversions, feedback insights improve messaging, competitive insights reveal differentiation opportunities, and predictive insights enable proactive campaigns.

• Build cross-functional collaboration around insights: Create standardized insight briefs, establish shared metrics definitions, and assign clear ownership for turning discoveries into coordinated marketing actions across teams.

• Scale your insights program strategically: Start with basic analytics and simple surveys, then gradually add dedicated analysts and enterprise tools as you grow. Focus on consistent process over perfect tools.

• Measure impact to prove marketing value: Track how insights drive campaign performance improvements, cost reductions, and revenue growth. Use concrete examples like "increased email open rates 27%" to demonstrate ROI to leadership.

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What are customer insights?

Customer insights are interpretations of customer data and behavior that reveal the underlying motivations, needs, and preferences driving their decisions.

Unlike raw campaign data that tells you what happened, customer insights explain why it happened and what you should do about it.

Here's a practical example: Your email analytics show that 40% of subscribers don't open your campaigns. That's data. But discovering they don't open emails because your subject lines use industry jargon they don't understand – and that using customer language increases open rates by 34% – that's an actionable marketing insight.

Customer insights vs customer data vs market research

Understanding the following distinctions helps you build an effective strategy:

• Customer data is the raw information you collect.

• Market research provides broader context about your industry, competitors, and market trends. It helps you understand the environment you're operating in.

• Customer insights synthesize both data sources to reveal actionable patterns about your specific customers' behavior, preferences, and needs.

For customer insights to drive real marketing value, you need these three essential components:

• Behavioral data (what customers do): Website analytics, email engagement, campaign interactions

• Feedback data (what customers say): Surveys, reviews, social media mentions

• Context data (why customers act): Journey stage, competitive factors, seasonal influences

Key insight: When marketing teams combine all three components, they move from simply knowing that campaigns underperform to understanding why they underperform and how to fix them.        

6 types of customer insights to track in marketing

Each type of customer insight serves a distinct purpose in understanding your customers, from analyzing what they do to predicting what they'll do next. Together, they form a complete picture that drives your strategic decisions.

1. Behavioral insights

Behavioral insights reveal patterns in how customers actually interact with your marketing touchpoints and website. These insights are particularly valuable for marketers because they're based on real actions rather than stated intentions.

Comprehensive usability testing provides the most complete picture for marketing optimization. Through moderated or unmoderated sessions, you watch real users complete tasks on your website, uncovering friction points that hurt conversions. 

Methods like first click testing show where users naturally look for information, revealing whether your navigation and content placement match customer expectations.

Mark McShane, Marketing Lead and Managing Director of AED Training, discovered this firsthand.

 2. Feedback insights

Feedback insights capture the voice of the customer directly, providing qualitative context for your campaign performance and targeting decisions. User interviews reveal the deepest understanding of customer motivations – the stories behind your marketing statistics.

Collection methods include NPS surveys for loyalty measurement, CSAT surveys for satisfaction tracking, and post-interaction surveys for immediate feedback. Support ticket analysis often reveals hidden messaging issues that customers describe in different ways.

Don't overlook your existing case studies and testimonials – they're marketing insight goldmines. Analyze them for patterns:

• What specific problems did customers solve?

• Which features do they mention most?

• What words do they use to describe value?

These patterns reveal what resonates with successful customers, helping you replicate messaging wins with prospects.

“Testimonials are arguably the most powerful tool in your sales and marketing kit. They can be added to outbound sales emails, in sales collateral, on your website, in investor pitch decks, in a PR kit for media — the opportunities are endless,” recommends Amy Saper, former product marketing lead at Stripe. 

3. Competitive insights

Competitive insights can help your team understand market position and identify differentiation opportunities for campaigns and messaging. Monitor competitor reviews on platforms like G2 or Trustpilot. Pay attention to what customers praise and criticize.

Meanwhile, preference testing reveals how your offerings stack up. When customers consistently choose a competitor's approach over yours, you know exactly where to focus your marketing improvements.

4. Journey insights

Journey insights map how customers move through their relationship with your brand, revealing optimization opportunities for your marketing touchpoints and nurture sequences. Combine analytics for behavior flow, surveys for sentiment at each stage, and session recordings for detailed interaction analysis.

“By aligning the journey map to a customer path with a measurable goal, you can keep everyone focused. Without this aim, it’s easy to get lost in tactical initiatives that drive short-term action, but no long-term gains,” explains Jen Clinehens, founder and managing director for Choice Hacking.

You can also try card sorting exercises to understand how customers mentally organize information. Meanwhile, tree testing validates whether your information architecture makes sense before you build marketing landing pages, preventing costly redesigns.

5. Transactional insights

Transactional insights reveal buying patterns and customer value through actual purchase behavior. Unlike behavioral data that shows browsing patterns, transactional data captures commitment – crucial for marketing attribution and customer lifetime value optimization.

Key metrics to analyze

• Purchase frequency and timing (for email campaign scheduling)

• Average order value trends (for upsell campaign triggers)

• Product combinations and bundles (for cross-sell marketing)

• Seasonal buying patterns (for campaign planning)

• Payment method preferences (for checkout optimization)

This data helps predict lifetime value and identify expansion opportunities for targeted marketing campaigns. For example, discovering that customers who buy Product A often purchase Product B within 30 days lets you create targeted email sequences or timely cross-sell campaigns.

6. Predictive insights

Predictive insights use historical patterns to anticipate future customer behavior, enabling teams to create proactive campaigns rather than reactive ones. Cohort analysis reveals how different customer groups behave over time. Early indicator metrics – like email engagement rates – predict future outcomes like renewal or churn.

As an example, you might discover that customers who don't engage with your educational email content during their trial period have significantly higher churn rates. This insight allows you to trigger targeted retention campaigns before it's too late.

Now that you understand what insights to look for, let's explore the practical methods for gathering this intelligence.

How to collect customer insights: 6 proven methods

Your next step is to transform raw campaign data into actionable marketing insights using these proven collection methods. Each method is designed to reveal different aspects of customer behavior that will inform your marketing strategy. 

1. Website analytics

Website analytics provide the foundation for understanding customer behavior that drives marketing performance. Look beyond vanity metrics to track meaningful micro-conversions that indicate buying intent and campaign effectiveness.

Key actions

• Track micro-conversions: newsletter signups, resource downloads, tool usage, pricing page visits.

• Set up custom events for meaningful interactions that indicate campaign success.

• Monitor user paths through critical workflows like signup and checkout.

• Create attribution reports to understand which campaigns drive conversions.

Your action plan: Set up three custom events in Google Analytics for actions that matter to your marketing goals. For example, tracking engagement with pricing information, demo requests, or competitor comparison content can reveal which marketing messages drive buying intent. When you identify valuable but underused content, making it more prominent in campaigns can significantly impact conversion rates.

2. Customer surveys

Surveys remain one of the most direct ways to understand customer sentiment for marketing optimization. Strategic timing and thoughtful design make the difference between actionable insights and noise.

Key actions

• Time strategically: post-purchase for attribution insights, post-campaign for messaging feedback.

• Keep surveys short – aim for 2-3 minutes completion time.

• Mix survey question types: rating scales, multiple choice, and open-text.

• Ask about decision factors, information sources, and competitive alternatives.

Pro tip: Start with rating scales for quantification, add multiple choice for categorization, and always include at least one open-text field for unexpected discoveries about your messaging or positioning.

3. User session recordings

Session recordings provide unfiltered views of real user behavior on your website and landing pages. They reveal the gap between what users say and what they actually do when interacting with your marketing touchpoints.

What to watch for 

• Rage clicks indicating frustration with your calls-to-action.

• Repeated attempts showing confusion with your navigation or messaging.

• Hesitation suggesting uncertainty about your value proposition.

• Focus on critical marketing paths: landing page flows and conversion processes.

4. Customer support mining

Support interactions are goldmines of unfiltered feedback about your messaging, positioning, and customer onboarding experience. Create a systematic process to extract patterns from individual issues.

Here’s what your process can look like:

Marketing teams that systematically analyze support tickets often find that addressing their top confusion points through content marketing can dramatically reduce support volume and improve campaign conversion rates.

5. Social listening

Social listening reveals authentic, unsolicited opinions about your brand, competitors, and industry. The key is monitoring beyond direct brand mentions to catch relevant conversations that inform your marketing strategy.

What to monitor

• Industry keywords and trending topics relevant to your campaigns.

• Competitor campaigns and customer reactions for competitive intelligence.

• Problem statements your product solves (for content marketing opportunities).

• Indirect mentions (frustrations that indicate need for your solution).

Pro tip: Someone tweeting frustration about spreadsheets might not mention your productivity tool, but they're expressing a need your marketing can address. Cast a wider net to find more targeting opportunities.

6. Sales team intelligence

Your sales team has direct conversations with prospects, making them invaluable sources of marketing intelligence. Their frontline perspective reveals what messaging resonates and what doesn't in real conversations. 

Here’s a simple feedback form for sales you can use:

Pro tip: Customer words should directly inform your marketing copy. The language they use to describe problems is gold for your ad copy, email subject lines, and website messaging.

With reliable collection methods in place, the next step is turning this customer intelligence into marketing wins.

Applying customer insights across your marketing organization

Customer insights only create value when they drive real marketing decisions and measurable campaign improvements. Here's how to systematically apply insights to boost marketing performance.

Campaign optimization through insights

Transform generic campaigns into targeted initiatives that drive higher conversion rates. Use this campaign performance tracker to document how insights lead to measurable improvements.

Campaign performance tracker - Example results

Personalization at scale

Use insights to create meaningful customer segments for targeted marketing campaigns beyond basic demographics:

Behavioral segmentation for marketers

• Researchers: Visit 5+ pages, download resources → Nurture with educational email content.

• Comparison shoppers: View competitors multiple times → Send competitive comparison guides.

• Quick decision makers: Purchase within first session → Offer time-limited incentives in retargeting ads.

• Support seekers: High support page visits → Provide proactive help content in email sequences.

Content strategy driven by insights

Let customer insights guide your content marketing editorial calendar and SEO strategy. Instead of guessing what topics to cover, use real customer data to create content that addresses actual needs.

Example of a content mapping framework

This approach ensures every piece of content serves a strategic purpose based on real customer behavior, not assumptions.

Presenting insights to leadership

Marketing leaders need to translate insights into business language that demonstrates clear marketing value. Use this simple formula to communicate impact effectively.

Executive summary formula

Structure your insights reports using this three-part framework:

• Customer insight: [specific finding]

• Marketing impact: [what we changed]

• Business result: [revenue/conversion/efficiency gain]

Example report

• Customer insight: Session recordings showed users couldn't find our free trial button.

• Marketing impact: Redesigned homepage with prominent CTA above fold.

• Business result: Trial signups increased 32%, generating $150K additional pipeline.

This formula transforms raw data into compelling business cases that executives understand and value.

From insights to results: A 3-step framework for marketing action

The ICE framework – Identify, Contextualize, Execute – provides a repeatable process for converting customer insights into marketing performance improvements. 

The key to scaling impact lies in the Execute phase, where insights transform into campaign optimizations and measurable results.

Identify patterns in marketing data

Look for patterns across at least two data sources to validate your findings:

• Support tickets + email unsubscribe reasons

• Survey feedback + campaign performance dropoff

• Sales objections + landing page bounce rates

Pattern spotting checklist

• Same messaging confusion mentioned 3+ times this week?

• Sudden change in any campaign metric (>20%)?

• New competitor campaign getting customer attention?

• Consistent user confusion in landing page recordings?

Contextualize with marketing segments

Raw insights need context to become actionable strategies. Never apply insights universally—always segment your findings.

Key questions to ask

• Is this all customers or a specific segment?

• New prospects or existing customers?

• Mobile or desktop traffic?

• One campaign or all marketing channels?

Insight format example: "Among [specific segment], we discovered [pattern] which suggests [marketing opportunity/problem]."

Execute through marketing experimentation

This is where insights create real marketing impact. Transform insights into specific, measurable marketing actions that drive campaign results.

The marketing execution playbook

Step 1: Create your marketing insights brief 

Every actionable insight needs a standardized brief that marketers can quickly implement.

• Marketing insight: [One sentence summary]

• Evidence: [2-3 supporting data points from campaigns/analytics]

• Segment: [Which customers this applies to]

• Marketing impact: [Campaign cost or revenue opportunity size]

• Recommendation: [Specific marketing action to take]

• Channels involved: [Email, paid ads, website, social media]

• Success metrics: [Conversion rate, CTR, ROI improvement]

• Timeline: [When to expect marketing results]

• Owner: [Marketing team member responsible]

Step 2: Share insights systematically

Weekly insights brief (2-minute read for leadership):

• Headline insight: One key discovery

• Business impact: What this means for revenue/costs

• Action items: Specific next steps for each relevant team

• Cross-team coordination: Who needs to work together

Monthly cross-functional deep-dive (30-minute meeting):

• Review previous month's insight-driven changes and results

• Present 2-3 new insights with supporting evidence

• Collaborative discussion of implications across departments

• Assign cross-functional project teams with clear ownership

Step 3: Execute with cross-team ownership

Transform insights into specific, measurable actions using this format: "Based on [insight], if we [action] with [departments involved], we expect [metric] to [change] by [amount] in [timeframe]."

Example: 

"Based on session recordings showing checkout confusion among mobile users, if we redesign the mobile checkout flow (Product + UX) while updating help documentation (Support) and adjusting mobile ads (Marketing), we expect mobile cart abandonment to decrease by 10% in 30 days."

Step 4: Track collaborative success

Monitor these cross-functional metrics:

• Insights adoption rate: Percentage of insights that drive actions within 30 days.

• Cross-team project success: Number of insight-driven initiatives involving multiple departments.

• Decision speed: Time from insight discovery to cross-functional implementation.

• Organizational learning: How often insights influence strategic planning across departments.

Building your insights repository for organization-wide access

Structure insights so any team can find and reference them:

Organize by business impact

• Revenue drivers: Insights that directly impact sales and growth.

• Cost reducers: Insights that improve efficiency or reduce expenses.

• Risk mitigators: Insights that prevent churn or reduce support burden.

• Innovation opportunities: Insights that suggest new features or markets.

Make insights actionable for each department

Tag insights with relevant department keywords for easy filtering:

Measuring cross-functional execution success

Quarterly insights strategy sessions

1. Review wins: Analyze biggest cross-functional successes from past quarter.

2. Prioritize insights: Identify top 3 insights requiring multi-department coordination.

3. Assign teams: Create cross-functional project teams with clear success metrics.

4. Schedule accountability: Set joint review dates and shared ownership.

Key takeaway: The “execute” phase is where most insights programs succeed or fail. When you combine systematic identification and contextualization with structured cross-functional execution, insights become a competitive advantage that drives measurable business results across your entire organization.

How to build a successful customer insights program

Even well-intentioned customer insights programs face significant challenges. While exact failure rates vary by study and definition, common pitfalls consistently derail marketing teams' efforts to build successful insights programs. Here's how to avoid the most common traps.

Pitfall 1: Analysis paralysis

The problem: Teams collect massive amounts of data but struggle to extract actionable insights. Dashboards multiply, but decisions don't improve.

Warning signs:

• Weekly meetings about "what the data means" without clear next steps.

• Multiple tools collecting similar data with conflicting results.

• Teams asking for "more data" before making decisions.

The fix: Start with one clear business question. For example: "Why do trial users churn in their first week?" Focus all analysis on answering that specific question before moving to the next.

Pitfall 2: Insights without action

The problem: Teams generate compelling insights but lack the process or authority to act on them.

Warning signs:

• Beautiful insight reports that nobody references.

• Repeated discoveries of the same problems without fixes.

• Insights shared via email but not discussed in planning meetings.

The fix: Create an "insight to action" template:

• Insight: What did we discover?

• Impact: What's the business cost of not acting?

• Action: What specific change will we make?

• Owner: Who is responsible for implementation?

• Timeline: When will we measure results?

Pitfall 3: Data silos and conflicting metrics

The problem: Different teams use different definitions of success metrics, leading to conflicting insights and internal debates about "what's really happening."

Warning signs:

• Marketing reports different conversion rates than sales.

• Customer success and product teams have different churn definitions.

• Teams spend meetings arguing about which data source is "correct."

The fix: Establish a single source of truth document that defines:

• How each metric is calculated.

• Which tool provides the official number.

• When metrics are updated and by whom.

• Who to contact with questions about specific data points.

Pro tip: Companies that successfully scale insights programs treat data governance as seriously as financial reporting. Assign clear ownership for metric definitions, and ensure everyone follows the same standards.

Customer insights tools for marketing teams

Marketing teams need tools that integrate with existing marketing technology stacks while providing actionable customer intelligence. The key is selecting platforms that offer marketing-relevant insights capabilities without overwhelming teams with complexity.

Free tier essentials

• Google Analytics (behavior tracking)

• Hotjar free plan (basic recordings/heatmaps)

• Google Forms (simple surveys)

• Social media native analytics

Pro tip: For teams needing multiple research methods, platforms like Lyssna consolidate usability testing, first click testing, card sorting, tree testing, surveys, and interview tools in one place.

Building your marketing insights program

Marketing leaders need realistic expectations about investment levels and returns. Here's how to plan and justify your customer insights budget.

Budget framework by company size

Marketing team structure recommendations

Scale your insights capability based on company size and resources.

Team structure by revenue stage

Under $5M ARR

• Part-time insights owner (usually marketing ops or growth marketer)

• Distributed data collection (all marketers contribute insights)

• Monthly insights review focused on campaign performance

$5M-20M ARR

• Dedicated marketing insights analyst (full-time)

• Cross-functional insights committee including sales and product

• Quarterly marketing insights strategy sessions with leadership

Over $20M ARR

• Customer insights team supporting marketing (2-4 people)

• Embedded researchers in marketing and product teams

• Executive marketing dashboard with monthly performance review

Marketing ROI expectations and measurement

Realistic timeline for results:

How to measure program ROI

• Direct marketing impact: Revenue lifted from insights-driven campaign changes.

• Marketing efficiency gains: Reduced cost per acquisition, improved campaign performance.

• Cost avoidance: Campaigns not launched, ad spend not wasted based on insights.

Your 30-day customer insights plan

Transform your marketing approach with this step-by-step implementation guide.

Week 1: Audit and assess your marketing data

Time commitment: 2 hours

• List all current marketing data sources (analytics, email, ads, CRM).

• Identify your biggest marketing blind spot (messaging, targeting, conversion).

• Pick one new insights method to implement.

• Set up basic tracking for marketing attribution.

Week 2: Launch marketing data collection

Time commitment: 1 hour daily

• Launch your chosen insights method.

• Gather initial customer responses about campaigns.

• Note obvious patterns in marketing performance.

Week 3: Analyze findings for marketing optimization

Time commitment: 3 hours

• Find three patterns in customer behavior or feedback.

• Use ICE framework to prioritize marketing improvements.

• Create hypothesis to test in next campaign.

Week 4: Act and measure marketing results

Time commitment: 2-3 hours

• Implement your highest-priority marketing fix.

• Set up measurement for campaign performance.

• Share results with marketing team.

• Plan the next marketing insights iteration.

Pro tip: Block time on your calendar for each week's activities to ensure consistent progress toward building your insights-driven marketing system.

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Turn customer insights into marketing wins

Customer insights only create marketing value when you can demonstrate their impact on campaign performance and business results.

Your customers have already given you the answers to your biggest marketing challenges. Whether it's stuck conversion rates, campaigns that aren't resonating, or targeting that isn't working – the solutions are hidden in customer behavior and feedback.

Start with your 30-day marketing insights plan. Pick one method. Focus on one marketing challenge. Build one systematic process.

Ready to streamline your marketing research?

Platforms like Lyssna consolidate multiple research methods – from usability testing and user interviews to card sorting and preference testing – in one place, making it easier for marketing teams to gather, analyze, and act on customer insights.

FAQs about customer insights

What's the difference between customer insights and customer data?

How do I know if I need a dedicated insights analyst?

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Kai Tomboc

Technical writer

Kai has been creating content for healthcare, design, and SaaS brands for over a decade. She also manages content (like a digital librarian of sorts). Hiking in nature, lap swimming, books, tea, and cats are some of her favorite things. Check out her digital nook or connect with her on LinkedIn.