What is white space analysis? The ultimate guide to addressing unmet customer needs

Anyone who’s left an end-of-semester essay until the night before it’s due has faced the horror of white space. The cursor blinking at the top of that empty page inspires sweaty palms, a dry throat, and unstoppable writer’s block.

White space in business, however, doesn’t have to be quite so nerve-wracking.

When used correctly, white spaces provide opportunities for companies to revamp their products and services. White space allows companies to increase the volume and velocity of their sales while further building their customer relationships.

In this piece, we’ll take you through the benefits and steps of analyzing white space so that you can leverage this valuable technique to improve your business.

What is white space analysis?

White space analysis is the process companies use to evaluate their existing products, services, and markets to address unmet customer needs. The “white space” is the opportunity itself—the area where a business can innovate, expand, upsell, and cross-sell its products and services. You can think of white space as a place of unfilled potential—a blank slate or canvas that is waiting to be colored in with unarticulated customer needs and business opportunities.

Performing a white space analysis is a critical step in discovering your company’s weak spots. When you’re ready to scale your business, white space analysis reveals your most worthwhile growth opportunities. It’s all about filling in the gaps.

Benefits of white space analysis

Analyzing white space improves your sales process, strengthens customer relations, and grows your business. Here are five key benefits you’ll glean from your analysis:

1. Increased opportunities for upselling and cross-selling
2. Expanded customer base
3. New opportunities for innovation
4. Improved customer relations and retention
5. Refined sales approach and strategy

• Increased opportunities for upselling and cross-selling

It’s a good idea to start your analysis with your existing customer base. After all, you already have all that data at your fingertips. More importantly, it costs more than five times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to blow the dust off your current customer list.

On average, 50 percent of existing customers are more likely to purchase again and to spend 31 percent more when they do so. It makes a lot more sense (and cents) to seek out opportunities to upsell and cross-sell to your current customers. Let’s take a closer look at what that means.

• Upselling

  
  Upselling is a sales technique where reps pitch additional products or premium upgrades to service. While this means a more profitable sale for the company, it can also result in a more enjoyable or user-friendly experience of the product or service for the customer. If Simone is investing in a new chest freezer to stock up during the semi-annual ice cream sale and she receives an offer for an additional warranty, that’s a win-win situation.

• Cross-selling

  
  Similarly, cross-selling is a white space opportunity for the customer to make an additional purchase. The difference is that the add-on is a complementary item or service that fulfills a separate need than the original. For example, if Angelo has just added a jar of peanut butter to his online shopping cart, he might receive a suggestion to also add a jar of Irish strawberry jam and some honey wheat bread. Now he’ll be able to make a delicious PB&J sandwich.
  Making those suggestions at key moments doesn’t just move customers through your pipeline—it makes their experience better. Every successful upsell or cross sell is a fantastic elimination of white space.

• Expanded customer base

You can always uncover new sales opportunities by exploring how to expand your customer base. The easiest way to do this is by targeting a different part of your audience. Let’s say your healthcare technology company has primarily served the northeastern United States. Expanding might mean exploring ways to branch out to other regions of the country.

• New opportunities for innovation

White spaces are also opportunities for product or service innovations. This is where strong knowledge of your competition and your customer preferences comes in handy. Wherever you spot needs that are going unmet and pain points that are not being addressed, pay attention. These are areas for innovation in your existing products, services, and features.

• Improved customer relations and retention

Creating a dialogue with your customers about how they use your product is a great way to show how much you care about their experience. You want to know how you can serve them better, not how you can squeeze more money out of them. Not only does this increase trust between your sales team and your customers, it also gives you valuable insights to make more informed decisions about product development.

All in all, you want to create a cycle of happier customers who are easier to retain because you have a clearer picture of how you’re serving them.

• Refined sales approach and strategy

While no two customer journeys are exactly alike, you can use educated guesses to find out which tactics are likely to be effective with certain audience segments. If your company sells B2B, then you’re more likely to use a consultative selling approach. A customer-facing retail business is more likely to employ a soft sell. Armed with the insight from your white space analysis, you might encourage your reps to take a new approach or employ different techniques to close the deal.

In addition to shifting sales approaches, your analysis can offer guidance on refining your sales strategy and adapting your team goals. Your sales managers might direct their teams to change up product positioning or perhaps research new data about competitors. Let these insights drive necessary changes to your strategy and you’ll enjoy increased sales and ROI.

How does white space analysis work?

Now that we’ve looked at the benefits of white space analysis, let’s break down the steps. Remember, you don’t have to do it all by hand. Plenty of sales software in 2022 has the capacity to generate insightful reports and tools that will assist your team.

How to identify white space opportunities in your business

White space analysis is a big undertaking. Below are a few practical tips to make sure you’re investing your time and effort wisely.

Tip 1: Survey your existing customers

Talking to your current customers is one of the best ways to learn how you can improve your offerings. Your customers know what you’re not offering because they want it and don’t have it. Heed their advice and you’ll have a stronger product, a healthier rep-to-customer relationship, and an overall improved sales strategy.

Tip 2: Innovate on your current offerings

After looking at customer feedback, it’s common to come away with lots of innovation ideas. Consider your existing line-up of products and services. Is there anything missing that makes sense to add? Perhaps your digital marketing agency is lacking in integrated online marketing strategies? That’s a clear white space opportunity for innovation.

Tip 3: Target a new audience segment

If you’re coming up dry on ways to innovate your current offers, then you might consider innovating your audience. Finding a slightly different angle on your audience can yield big results. Take a look at the demographics of your current customer base and see where you can make some shifts.

Tip 4: Reexamine your unique selling point (USP)

If it’s been awhile since you really thought about what makes your product, service, or business different from anyone else out there, it’s time to revisit. By giving your mission statement a closer look, you can solidify your branding strategy, uncover new prospects, and strengthen your business plan.

Accelerate revenue with a clear-cut white space analysis

White space analysis is only as comprehensive as the data you use to guide it. After all, it’s nearly impossible to segment tens of thousands of customers by hand. That’s why smart businesses take advantage of CRM (customer relationship management) software. With a wealth of sales tools at your fingertips, you can sift through customer data, sales performance metrics, and competitor information to define cutting-edge strategies.

With Zendesk Sell, you have full visibility into your sales funnel and pipeline. It’s easy to review your existing accounts, communicate with your customer base, and find the gaps in your offerings—so you can fill them.

Don’t miss out on revenue opportunities because you haven’t identified them yet. Sign up for a free trial of Zendesk Sell today and discover where white spaces are hiding in your business.