Four tips for increasing customer insight

December 4, 2024

Marketing strategist Tiina Kosonen and Insight Team Leader Jaana Jamalainen give their best tips on how to increase your understanding of your customers’ values, interests and purchase motives.

1. Make choices

You have to make choices because when you try to reach everyone, you typically end up reaching no one. This is why it’s important to determine whether you’re targeting your existing loyal customers or looking for potential new customers. Analyse the data – whether it’s your own data or research data – dig deeply into your target groups, compare them to your goals and make your choices based on this. Making choices doesn’t necessarily mean that your target audience will be small; rather, your choices will steer your media strategy in the right direction.

Use messages that appeal to your target audience and appear on channels that reach that audience. Using channels with sufficient reach will ensure that you also reach a wider audience through the halo effect. For example, target group insight can help your marketing influence your intended target groups with the right message, in the right place and at the right time.

2. Identify purchase motives

Why do people buy your products? Understanding purchase motives is surprisingly significant. For example, let’s consider people who buy electric cars. Some of them are interested in the latest technology, while others want the least polluting option possible and base their choice on sustainability. The communications that appeal to these two groups are very different. People also have very different motives for buying foods such as protein quark. One person buys it to boost their gym workout, while it might be a permissible sweet treat for someone on a diet.

Purchase motives are best used as the basis for marketing communications. Content based on purchase motives stands out from media hype and therefore has a better impact on consumers than generic messages. You can use surveys tailored to your customers to help you identify their purchase motives. They can help you identify the factors that influence consumer decision-making and those that may promote or deter purchases.

3. Do you understand your customer’s purchase path?

Do you know what your customer’s purchase path is like? According to the latest international research, it takes between 20 and 500 encounters with a brand to make a purchase decision. The differences between products are understandably considerable – choosing between protein quarks is probably easier than between car brands. People are more information-hungry than in the past and seek information to support their purchasing decisions. What does this mean for different industries? Industry and purchase path research can help you identify what activates your customers’ purchase needs, what kind of information they want, and where they look for it.

4. The right approaches and communication channels

You can combine the above tips in various ways to create a distinctive and appealing message. Different consumer segments have different values, attitudes and ways of using media – and you should use this insight when planning creative ads. Sanoma’s media use segmentation will help identify the right communication approach for each target group.

There can be huge differences in media use within groups at particular life stages. For example, let’s consider families with children, which is a relevant target group for many marketers. One parent in a family with children might spend micro-moments using media, while the other might spend long periods unwinding by watching TV, for example. We’ll help you identify both the differences and similarities to get the most out of your marketing communications.

Sanoma has a deep understanding of Finnish consumers, which gives us access to a vast amount of information. All our recommended solutions are based on data in one way or another. Feel free to reach out to us whenever you want to understand your customers better.

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   Further Reading

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Video advertising is one of the most effective ways to make an impact. These three research facts gathered by Video Commercial Manager Tuomo Sinkkonen show that the attention value of video advertising in Sanoma’s news media environment beats social media giants.
By Pia Hauskaviita June 26, 2025
The survey results are also good news for advertisers. 75% of Finns say they trust most of the news they follow and 67% believe that most news can be trusted, according to the Digital News Report 2025 survey by the Reuters Institute at Oxford University. In Finland, trust in news has been more common than in other countries throughout the survey's measurement history. High-income and highly educated people are more likely to trust the news than low-income and less educated people. Sanoma's news media reach the majority of Finns on a weekly basis. We have a high-quality, free media and an uncompromising professional ethic. Our news media are respected and Finns typically find their news by visiting directly to mediasites or apps. "For advertisers, this is good news. In addition to reach, a safe media environment also strengthens the message of the ad," says Pia Hauskaviita , Marketing Manager at Sanoma. Finland also has a higher share of people interested in news than most other countries in the comparison. 63% of Finns are very or quite interested in the news. Men (71%) are more interested in news than women (56%). The share of people with a high level of education and high income who are interested in news is also higher than average. Finns want to be up to date on current events. They also enjoy the news for a long time. For example, our biggest news paper, Helsingin Sanomat, is read for about an hour a day on average. "For advertisers, this means that advertising also gets more attention. Reading and browsing the news media is slower and more concentrated than on social media," says Hauskaviita. In most of the countries surveyed, text has remained the most popular form of online news presentation. This is particularly the case in Finland, where people are far more likely to read online news than to watch or listen to it than in other countries. On the other hand, Finland is the only country in the comparison where news videos are more typically viewed on news sites than on social media. "The video format in news media is therefore a great choice for advertisers. When you use the Katselutakuuvideo (viewing guaranteed -video), we promise that your video ad will be watched until the end and you will only pay for the final views," Hauskaviita sums up. The Reuters Digital News Report compares news consumption in 48 countries. The data is based on a survey of around 2,000 respondents in each country. The survey is conducted annually and Finland has been participating since 2014. The report is funded by the Media Research Foundation. This year's survey was conducted in January and February as an online survey by the YouGov research institute. Read more about how Juustoportti’s bold and colourful video advertising stopped thumbs in Sanoma’s news media.
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Dairy company Juustoportti’s eye-catching campaign boosted the launch of their new protein products. Outstream video advertising in popular news media is a perfect match for a TV campaign and a productive next step after focusing on social media.
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Kia’s front-page advertisements have resulted in plenty of earned media and boosted their brand as a forerunner in electric cars. Helsingin Sanomat, a trusted icon of Finnish media, lends both visibility and reliability to advertising on its pages.
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