How to Become Customer Centric

 To become a truly customer-centric brand, you must integrate the concept into every single area and channel of your business. While many brands seek to do just this, many challenges can get in the way and hold them back from achieving this goal.

Customer centricity isn’t an approach that you can limit to your customer service department.

Best practices of customer-centric companies

Most companies simply do not have the right components in place to implement a  customer-centric strategy. The ones that have been able to successfully design their company from the customer’s perspective, however, have followed some best practices to get to where they are today.

1. Passionate about the customer

It’s not enough to think of the customer some of the time. It’s not enough to be customer focused only in your customer service department. It’s not enough to implement customer feedback solely in your marketing campaigns.

The brands that are truly customer-centric are passionate about their customers’ needs and truly believe the customer must come first. They know that, without the customer, they simply wouldn’t be able to succeed.

2. Focus on the customer’s needs

It can be difficult to always put the customer first. Your product development team might have come up with a super-cool, innovative product, and. And you might want to bring it to market without getting feedback from your customers first. The same is challegne existstrue in marketing were deadlinesmarketing. Deadlines can get in the way of generating feedback. InThe same is true in sales the pressure. Sometimes, closing the deal gets in the way of what putting the customer really needs.first. However, the best customer-centric brands always prioritize the customer’s needs, shaping their products and services around those needs.

It can be easy to revert back to a profit-focused, company-focused, or sales-oriented approach. But the top customer-centric brands focus on what the customer needs at all times and deliver products and services around those needs.

“Make a customer, not a sale.”

– Katherine Barchetti, Founder, K. Barchetti Shops

3. Build relationships

Successful customer-centric companies take the time to talk to their customers, listen to their needs and implement their feedback. These companiesThey are committed to building real and meaningful relationships with their customers – The goal is to build relationships that ultimatelythat are ultimately designed to maximize the customer experience.

4. Insight-driven

Customer-centric brands don’t guess or assume what their customers want or need. They know there’s often a disconnect between what senior management believes customers need and what those actual customers say they need. Instead, they back up their decisions with real-time customer insights. All their decisions are customer validated.

The 4 C's you need to be customer-centric

The empowered customers in today’s modern age care about what you do, not what you say. They want you to walk the walk. You cannot just say your brand is customer-centric. You need to become customer-centric at your core. Adopting the label won’t get you far if you can’t back it up.

To ensure your customer is at the heart of every business decision you make, you need these 4 C’s.

1. Culture

Brian Solis, bestselling author and marketing analyst, said it best, “Customer-centricity is a way of doing business; it’s more than a slogan."

Being customer-centric isn’t just a marketing exercise. Rather, it needs to be engrained in your corporate culture and reinforced in everything you do.

If you get the culture right, everything else should fall into place.

2. Community

We don't need to tell you that your customers want to be treated like people, not numbers. But more than that, they want to know there’s a real person on the other end of the phone when they call and a person on the other end of that chat message or that email. And they want to feel as though they are a part of a community.

By creating a community for your customers, you can effectively increase emotional engagement, which will in turn build their loyalty.

Never underestimate the power behind the sense of belonging.

3. Conversation

There’s a reason one-off surveys don’t work anymore. There’s a reason online insight communities are the most effective way to generate customer feedback today. Customers want two-way dialogue. They want to be listened to. And they want to feel as though they are being heard.

It’s critical that you speak directly to your customers and listen to their needs, questions and complaints. It’s also important to implement their feedback in your business to show that you’ve listened and you’ve heard what they have told you.

4. Consistency

Finally, we have consistency. In today’s digital world, customers do the majority of their research online. They compare prices and features. They read reviews. They may buy without even leaving their houses or they may only walk into your brick-and-mortar store after conducting comprehensive online research.

At all these touch points, you need to offer consistency to ensure a seamless omnichannel experience across all interactions, channels and devices.

“Offer consistency to ensure a seamless omnichannel experience across all interactions, channels and devices."

7 pillars of customer centricity

The seven pillars of customer centricity can be used as a framework for action. The key is to analyze customers’ perceptions against these seven core areas of your company to ensure your business has truly customer-centric strategy and borne of data-driven customer science.

The customer experience must be convenient, easy, enjoyable and seamless.

Recognizing customers and rewarding them in a way that is meaningful to them can go a long way to keeping them happy.

Highly communicative companies tend to have more engaged and loyal customers. They take the time to talk to their customers, listen to their needs and personalize their communications to show they care

While you don’t need to have the largest selection of products, the assortment you have should meet your customers’ needs.

Successful promotion programs promote the products that are most appealing to customers.

With customer feedback, you can ensure your prices are in line with what your customers are willing to pay for the value you offer.

Prioritizing customer feedback will enable you to create a strong emotional connection with your customers.

Tossing around buzzwords about customer centricity won’t lead to true growth. Analyze your effectiveness in these seven core areas to ensure you really understand your customers, their behaviors and their needs, so you can center your business around them.

Adopting a customer-centric design and strategy is the key to building long-term success and fostering genuine customer loyalty. By focusing on customer needs, fostering open communication, and maintaining consistency across all touchpoints, you can create an experience that delights customers at every interaction. Remember, being customer-centric isn’t a one-time effort; it’s an ongoing commitment to continuous improvement.