8 Tips for Becoming a Customer Centric Organization
Constructing and developing a customer-centric organization in today’s digital world is increasingly necessary yet difficult. As Bob Hooey have said, “If you are not taking care of your customer, your competitor will” and it accurately represents the magnitude to which customer centricity has become significant in any organization. Customer centricity builds customer loyalty and satisfaction which leads to referrals for more customers. Whenever a customer-centric business makes a decision, it deeply consider the effect the outcome will have on its customers. In fact, according to My Customer, companies that use customer journey maps experience a significant 81% improvement in customer satisfaction.
As Theodore Levitt said, “The purpose of a business is to create and keep customers”. So, if you desire to become a customer-centric organization, then your business needs to make a company-wide commitment to your customer’s success and here are 8 tips which would be helpful in the process!
1. Know your customer’s needs before they know it themselves.
We know it sounds impossible but it’s true. Customer centric businesses follow trends and through them they are able to anticipate what their customers want. In fact as of Microsoft, more than two-thirds of customers prefer brands that proactively connect and engage with customers. While many customers may be able precisely communicate on what their needs are, most customers rely on companies to do that work for them to anticipate their needs and make helpful suggestions accordingly.
2. Make sure you are accessible to your customer anytime, anywhere.
Well according to Emplifi, 52% of consumers expect a response from a brand within one hour. However, 39% report having to wait more than two hours for a reply. That’s not good enough for a company aspiring to be customer centric. You can start by making sure your ‘Contact Us’ page is highly visible and easy to access and that it answers common customer questions you see every now and them. Emplifi also says that 75% of consumers find it important to have a fully self-service customer care option available to them, so, make sure you are available for them but have resources through which they can help themselves as well.
3. Meet your customer offline (and online)
Nothing can meet good face to face interaction with customers. Direct contact has always been important in business until the pandemic happened. A great way to enhance the offline customer experience is to have great employee, in fact, gallup.com says that companies with engaged employees outperform the competition by 147%. Even according to American express research, 68% of customers say the service representative is key to a positive service experience.
4. Change with time and technology. Use the service tools technology.
It’s quite obvious that adopting the right customer service tools plays a major role in creating a customer-centric experience. Most customer’s want to enjoy the entire buying experience. Medium.com says that 90% of global executives who use data analytics report that they improved their ability to deliver a great customer experience. Using accurate service tools will help your service team to create a better experience. Even Mckinsey.com says that Companies that use tools like customer journey maps reduce their cost of service by 15-20%.
5. Make sure you provide your customer a above and beyond experience.
Even after a purchase you have to make efforts to make sure that there is another purchase by the same customer in the near future. Simple yet a great way to do is provide them with added benefits that extend beyond the point of purchase. In fact, an Epsilon research shows that 80% of customers say they are more likely to do business with a company if it offers personalized experiences.
6. Always be ready to take customer feedback and act on it.
Sounds classic and it is. Taking customer’s feedback and listening to them goes a long way. There are various ways you can do so as well, be it through emails or social media or your own site. Microsoft found that, 77% of consumers view brands more favorably if they seek out and apply customer feedback. In fact, Microsoft has also found that 53% of shoppers believe their feedback doesn’t go to anyone who can act on it. So, act on it.
7. Create a unique and creative onboarding process.
Your customers will be your regulars when they feel attached to you. A great way to do so is by optimizing your product’s value in the eyes of the customer is setting up a detailed onboarding process. The onboarding process can explain your product and service along with their uses in a creative way that can entice the customers. A Deloitte research shows that customers are likely to spend 140% more after a positive experience than customers who report negative experiences.
8. Always connect to your customers and keep your promises.
A McKinsey research states that 70% of the customer’s journey is dictated by how the customer feels they are being treated. Customers want to be heard, so in simple words, take your customers’ points-of-view into account before you start making decisions about what they might want or need. In fact, Companies with initiatives to improve their customer experience see employee engagement increase by 20% on average according to McKinsey.
As Maya Angelou said, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel” and your customers need to feel such an attachment to be committed to you. These 8 tips can be your guide to become a more successful organization by being customer centric!