Customer Centric: Definition, Tips and Strategy for Businesses | Great Britain (2023)

What is customer centric?

The way we do business is changing rapidly. Today's customers are competent, knowledgeable and won't settle for subpar service. Additionally, the ecommerce options are seemingly endless. If a customer doesn't like a product or service, they'll happily take their business elsewhere.

However, this does not necessarily mean disaster for your business. You may just need to start doing things a little differently to keep your customers with you. To survive in today's competitive retail ecosystem, customer retention is critical.

Many of today's successful companies are pioneering a customer-centric approach. We're talking about companies like Amazon, Deloitte, and LinkedInZappos.

In this article, we talk about the customer-centric approach. Many of us think we have it, but in reality most of us have only scratched the surface of this important business strategy. But don't worry, we'll tell you everything.–along with some actionable steps you can take to become more customer-centric today and forever.

How to focus on the customer

A customer-centric strategy is a business term that delivers what it promises. In its purest form, customer centricity is the act of putting your customers first. Is inCenterfrom everything you do

But here's the thing. For your business to be truly customer-centric, "putting your customers first" needs to be more than just a compliment.

Customer-centric organizations put their customers at the center of their business plans. The idea is to guarantee lasting relationships based on quality customer experiences.

After all, customers are the lifeblood that keeps a business running.

But despite this logic, it's not that simple. As entrepreneurs, we generally invest most of our time and energy in our products.

That's not wrong per se, but it's not a customer-centric approach.

listen to us

When you move to a customer-centric company, you are faced with an overwhelming amount of data. This is your gold dust.

This data tells you exactly what your customers are doing. What do you like? What do not you like? Which products are popular? How do they navigate their platforms?

With all this data you are able to improve your products and thus the customer experience. So when we say customer focus instead of product focus, we're not telling you to sell crap.

No way.

If you instead focus on the customer first, you'll have the data to support better business decisions - better products, better UX, better promotions, better everything.

Sounds good right?

The truth is,83% of companies that prioritize customer satisfaction are also seeing revenue growth.

What does it mean to be customer centric?

So what does customer orientation really mean in practice? Good question.

It means thinking about your customers first in all decision-making situations.

As a customer-centric company, your concern isn't just to have lots of short-term customers, but to keep them, and you do thatifShe.

It's not enough to just deal with an abstract idea of ​​your customer base. You need to know your customers andgive them exactly what they want.

That means doing a lot of research and market testing (e.g. A/B testing) to:

• Thinkas customer
• Deliver exactly what your customerit takes
• Insert customersHerzthe corporate culture
• Offer a positive customerExperience

Well, no one said this was going to be a walk in the park. Aligning the entire corporate culture with the customer is a major task. But it is worthwhile in any case.

The numbers don't lie. Customer-centric companies are60 % profitablerthan their non-customer-facing peers.

In a moment, we'll reveal our customer-centric secrets to help you plan, deploy, and measure a customer-centric culture in your organization.

But first, let's talk about the benefits.

Benefits of customer focus

When a company becomes customer-centric, it is likely to see some changes. positive about it. It looks really easy. Happy customers mean happy results. Let's take a look at some of the benefits of having a customer-centric business model.

growth and scalability

To become customer-centric, you need to start collecting lots of data. Customer insights, performance data, whatever. You can even have your own chosenCustomer Relationship Management(CRM system). Listen. These insights present an opportunity for serious growth. Look for emerging trends and respond to new products and services that directly address your customers' needs.

Negatives become positives

When you take a customer-centric approach, negatives become positives. what do we mean Seeing complaints in a new light. Negative feedback doesn't mean more trouble or disaster. Instead, it becomes an opportunity to do better and improve service for your customers. You will begin to see customer feedback as your ticket to success and customer loyalty.

Competitive advantage

You put your customer first, give them exactly what they need, listen to their feedback, provide better products and services. He assumes? That means your customers will love you. It also means your competitors' customers will love you too. Soon you will be enjoying a larger market share and therefore higher sales.

The Risks of Ignoring Customer Orientation

We're dealing with a simple concept here, but sometimes the simplest things are the most important. And this is one of those cases.

The way companies function has changed in recent years. Customers have the power to make or break your business.

Customer expectations are high. With the luxury of choice, our consumers are free to take their business elsewhere if they choose.

And many do.73% of consumersnow say that a good customer experience is key to their brand loyalty.

With this in mind, it's clear that prioritizing customer retention through customer-centric service is more important than ever.

Why customer loyalty matters

Customer loyalty is not just a business buzzword. This directly affects your bottom line.

As a retailer, we are at the mercy of our customers today. With e-commerce booming like never before, customers have the luxury of choice — lots of options.

Today's consumers want seamless omnichannel experiences (from first click to point of sale) and personalized interactions at every point - whether it's via email, bot or social media.

If your services aren't up to par, don't worry, they'll just find your product or service somewhere else that they like better.

Even the smallest glitch in your customer journey can be enough to drive them away.

But customer loyalty is also a key performance indicator in sales. Increasing your loyal customer base means increasing sales. As simple as that.

Today's customers want more than just products. They want to invest in shared values, quality customer service, streamlined shopping experiences, and affordable, on-time delivery.

These are the things that drive customer satisfaction and ultimately customer loyalty.

And to achieve these things, a customer-centric approach is critical.

We're not the only ones saying that. Did you know that65% of a company's businessIs it coming from your existing customers, not new customers? Already58% of companiesare looking for personalization strategies for customer retention.

When you think about it like this, the importance of customer centricity is hard to deny.

Ways to measure the success of a customer-centric organization

But how do we know if our own companies are truly customer-centric?

Well, we're going to need some practical ways to measure our success.

The key to this is customer intelligence; and no, I'm not talking about introducing IQ tests to all our customers. Customer intelligence is about collecting information about customer experiences. Information that you can mobilize to specifically improve your services.

You want to find out exactly what drives your customers' needs, behaviors and motivations.

But how?

Traditional market research has seen better days. In the digital age, these methods are too slow, too expensive and lack the necessary precision to be practical.

Marketers need to mobilize insights from agile, accurate, and real-time customer data. And to do that, you need a CRMCustomer-Intelligence-Plattformit depends on the job.

These software solutions give us insight into our customers' needs and wants and how they interact with our business platforms at critical day-to-day touchpoints, with key customer metrics such as:

• turnover rate

The number of customers who abandon a product or service. By keeping an eye on your churn rate and making changes as needed, you can increase customer retention.

• Promoter-Netto-Score (NPS)

A Net Promoter Score measures customer experience and predicts your business growth accordingly. The NPS distinguishes between promoters (loyal customers like referrals), passives (happy but not loyal), and detractors (unhappy customers who are likely to leave negative reviews).

• Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

The customer lifetime value measures the amount of revenue that a customer generates for your company, from the first to the last purchase. It helps businesses better understand how to keep customers coming back.

Tips to become a customer-centric company

We've kept you waiting long enough. But it was for a good reason. Before you start your own customer-centric journey, it's important to understand why you're doing it. You could call it the main ingredient. But now it's time to offer you our tips and tricks and tell you in practical terms how to become a customer-centric business.

Becoming customer-centric is not an overnight decision. This spirit must permeate your entire business or organization in order to be successful. Especially for larger organizations it will take a lot of communication, time and effort to get the whole organization involved.

But let's focus on some actionable steps.

Here are four things you can do to become more customer-centric.

1. Develop a passion for your customer

We've said it before and we'll say it again. Customer-centric business starts with a change in attitude. Develop a passion for each of your customers as individual customers and drive that passion throughout your organization. Give up profit thinking and remember that the real profit drivers aresatisfied costumers.

2. Prioritize community building

Treat your customers like a community of valuable people. As? be there for her Make sure there's always someone on the other end of the line to answer your questions. Customers want to feel valued and indispensable. So talk to them, listen to them, and act on their feedback. this works outlet her come backagain and again.

3. Transform your corporate culture

It's not good to decide to become customer-centric but not tell anyone about it. This is not a personal spiritual journey that you are on. To be successful, customer-centric business needs to be a cultural shift across the enterprise—not confined to closed silos. This means implementing customer centricity as a corporate policy for executives, stakeholders and employees.

4. Go with data

You should move to an insights-based approach. All your decisions should now be backed by accurate metrics and real-time insights. These will form the central pillar of the new strategy. Without understanding your customers, there is no way to be customer-centric. If you're not already using a specific CRM system, now is the time to do so.

Be customer-centric for success

Today's customers are savvy, and they have every right to be. You won't stay for subpar service. The key to retaining valuable customers in the digital age is total customer centricity.

That means thinking like the customer, listening to them, and making targeted changes to improve the customer journey. And what better way to do that than going straight to the source, making it easy for customers to share their feedback and get help anytime, anywhere.

Engage with the digitalis our digital customer service solution that helps you achieve just that. Find out how you can get customer support and your data up and running today.

Originally published May 19, 2021