No Customer Development Plan

It's pretty easy to tell when a company doesn't have a Customer Development Plan.

How can I tell?

You take a look at the merchandise sold by a brand, and you rank-order the items from best to worst for the following:

• Overall Performance.
• Performance Among the Acquisition Audience.
• Performance Among the Welcome Audience.
• Performance Among the Emergence Audience.
• Performance Among the Loyal Audience.

Here's an example ... actual data.

There is almost no difference whatsoever between audiences. None. The same items sell well across all audiences.

When a brand is lousy at Customer Development, the same items sell at the same rates across all audiences.

When a brand is fabulous at Customer Development, different items appeal to different audiences. The brand uses personalization and marketing strategy to get certain items in front of loyal buyers, while featuring the items that generate long-term loyalty to first-time buyers.