You can't see your customers very clearly in just one dimension. Marakon Associates points out that companies invest vast amounts of money into attitudinal research about their customers that demonstrates very little about how they might act.

"They track changes in their satisfaction religiously, develop detailed segmentation schemes based on customers' attitudes and perceptions, and design into their products the attributes customers say are important to them," according to a recent paper by Marakon consultants Ron Langford and Matt Hammerstein. "But knowing what customers think or say is not the same as knowing how they will react to changes in product attributes or marketing messages. Knowing the 'minds' of customers is only useful if it deepens one's understanding of their behavior and how to change it."

But even an understanding of behavior -- a second dimension of insight -- is not enough. Indeed, companies often fail to track the existing or potential profitability of customers -- even though 20% of them consistently account for all profit. This leaves them blind to the real value of their customers.

Langford and Hammerstein contend that companies must develop a three dimensional customer perspective that accounts for attitudes, behaviors and economics. Such an approach, they believe, can increase insights "exponentially." Critical to understanding customer value, the researchers note, is the notion of "switching behavior" -- a key variable in determining where profitable growth lies.

Companies can use these insights to "develop clearer pictures of the economic drivers of customers and customer segments, and dedicate their attitudinal research to interpreting and improving their understanding of how to influence customer behavior." Firms that think this way "outpace their rivals because they know which customers to target and spot opportunities for profitable growth that are invisible to companies employing one dimensional or less comprehensive approaches to developing customer insight," the authors state.