What is a customer-centric business?

In a nutshell, being a customer-centric business, means placing customers needs, wants and desires at the core of your businesses model. Every ad campaign, every digital marketing strategy, and every customer experience offered by your brand must make customers feel empowered by placing them in the proverbial driver’s seat. Regardless of the specific industry, companies are well served when they realise the shifting trends in customer-centricity and deploy them as part of their brand awareness strategies.

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The adage “the customer is always right” is a bit on the nose, but it is not that far off when it comes to advising about how businesses should treat consumers. Customer-centricity is not a new concept, as businesses have embraced the notion for more than two decades. How operating a customer-centric business looks today, however, is markedly different than how it appeared in its earliest stages.

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So, what does it mean to be customer-centric in the 21st century? Well, it is about far more than simply making your customers happy or making assumptions about what they need from your products or services.

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Benefits of becoming customer-centric

To fully grasp why customer-centricity is paramount to brand building and longevity in the business world, companies often require evidence of its success…
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• It benefits sales. Brands that go the extra mile to improve customer experience earn 5.7 times more revenue than their direct competitors.
• It builds brand loyalty. Seventy-three per cent of consumers indicated a good experience was the key factor in influencing brand loyalty, with 77 per cent revealing that disorganised customer experiences detract from their quality of life.
• It reduces churn. Customers who do not find new and exciting reasons to favour your product or service are bound to stray. Maintaining product relevance and turning your customer into a brand ambassador will increase your return on investment.
• It promotes new value and improves operational efficiency. Like a gardener tending to their garden, businesses must nurture the customer experience to keep it flourishing. Building brand ambassadors who happily share their amazing experiences with your product or service is one of the most effective ways to bring new customers to your doorstep.
• Even when companies realise the benefits of focusing on customer-centricity, they may struggle with how to best implement the practice in their growth strategies. There are proven methodologies to guide businesses in the right direction.

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Customer-centric strategies for every business

Whether you’re a small business owner with three employees or a multi-million dollar corporation, these customer-centric strategies work wonders for building brand loyalty.

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1. Lesson in instilling empathy as a universal company value

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Empathy is a popular buzzword in the corporate world, but does your company truly grasp its meaning and how best to apply it? Business communication software company Slack corners the market in empathy. Not only does Slack’s leadership understand empathy is a universal value, but it also requires every employee to practice it effectively from the top leadership down.

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Slack’s entire company culture is modelled after the notion that customers may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. When every team member within a company values and employs empathy, customers feel they are heard and valued.

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2. Go above and beyond for your customers

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In today’s mobile-driven, intensely digital world, businesses need to start rewarding their customers for shopping or engaging with them. Customers don’t have to shop with you, they choose to. So, it’s important to show your customers that you appreciate them when they select you.
The nature of customer experiences has changed so much that simply smiling at the checkout and giving 5% off the next order isn’t enough. This is especially relevant now with majority of shopping being online. So, to accommodate and benefit from these changing times, it’s imperative to extend your brands ecosystem so that it’s accessible from the comfort of your customers homes.

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There are small to large scale methods of doing this, but the most effective and scalable solution is leveraging EonX’s Rewards Marketplace. This allows businesses to create their own branded Marketplace, where their customers will gain access to an array of ‘always on’ benefits from Australia’s leading brands. Here, customers can redeem points to purchase discounted to daily essentials, luxury items and more. Every time a customer makes a purchase through the platform, they will be reminded that they are valued and appreciated by that brand.

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3. Make customers part of the solution

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Customer opinions, thoughts and feedback should be utilised as valuable nuggets of wisdom that are necessary to create more innovative and tailored solutions.
This is where customer data comes in, and acts as an important piece to the customer-centric business puzzle. It’s important to monitor and record what products your customers are purchasing, and what content they’re engaging with to gain deeper understandings and insights. This should form the basis of strategy development and product innovation, ensuring that you are truly harnessing your customers to develop viable solutions.

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Additionally, involve them in the design process and testing of new products or services. This will not only ensure customers feel valued as you’re seeking their point of view, but will act as an accurate sounding board.

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EonX’s full suite of data and analytics can be harnessed to deliver real-time insights. Every time a customer makes a purchase in the Rewards Marketplace, the organisation will be able to track and monitor their customer’s behaviour, which is a sure-fire way to learn who your people are, and what they want. This should be used to devise data driven strategies that are fool proof, delivering valuable, engaging and rewarding user experiences that drive benefits for both the business and the customer.

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Taking the Next Steps with EonXEonX is a full-service agency that empowers clients with the technological infrastructure required to implement customer-centric, or better yet, people-centric solutions.
We accomplish this via entire platforms that are designed to meet the needs of members, customers and employees alike, ensuring they are at the corner-centre of strategy.

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Set the rules of engagement, either through Rewards, Recognition or Payments, and we will develop a fully customised solution that engages and rewards your members, customers or employees in ways that are relevant and valuable to them.

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Drop us a note to learn more about how EonX can help you become a customer-centric business.