# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Designing Your World Around Your Customers' Experiences

Learning how to be more customer-centric sure sounds good. But if you're an established company with siloed data, lack of customer knowledge, and a rewards structure that prioritizes generating revenue over meeting the needs of your customers, then you have some work to do.

The list of potential opportunities to improve is a long one; this one isn't. That's because it's meant to get you thinking and developing your own solutions specific to your organization.

1. Listen to your customers. We're not simply talking about satisfaction surveys or asking "the ultimate question" to track a Net Promoter score-though this can be part of the equation. The issue with these solutions is that they don't point toward the problems or delights that drive those scores.

Listening to your customer means asking them what they think-and why. Then acting on it.

2. Remember: Customer perception is reality. The quality of your customer experience lives in one place: the mind of your customer. No matter how well you think you're doing, the gap between customer expectations of experience and their perceptions of actual experience is the reality you need to understand and address.

3. Make your customers part of the solution. Involving the customer in the design process--experiences, services, products, or physical environments--has been around for a long time. It boils down to this: Don't make decisions about what your customers might want or need without taking their point-of-view into account.

4. Map your customer's journey. A customer journey map allows you to "walk in your customers' shoes" by traveling with them as they interact with your company. Research-based and focused on desired outcomes from the customer's perspective, you'll see what their needs are at each interaction, how well you meet them, and where opportunities for improvement lie.

5. Monitor customer interactions. Customer listening is just that: listening. Monitoring is critical, as well, because only you know all your touchpoints. Pulsed, planned, or transactional surveys, call-center logs, complaint lines, Web feedback, and social media commentary-monitor your performance in all of these places, and more. Set KPIs based on customers expected and your planned experience, and monitor to see how well you do.

6. Get your data together. Most established companies keep customer data in silos across the enterprise: sales data in one bucket, marketing data in another; product and service somewhere else, and digital data another entirely. All of this customer data needs to be integrated and easily accessible across your organization, so employees can truly "see" the relationship between you and your customer, and make decisions as a result. This is one of the greatest challenges faced by big companies, and one of the most important to solve.

7. "See" your customers digitally. Every transaction between your company and your customers generates data about that transaction. Each online or mobile interaction generates "digital data trails" that can be stored and analyzed. Looking at your customers through the lens of your digital relationship will provide valuable insights into behavior that can help you radically improve customer experience.

8. Define your customer experience strategy. Customer experience strategy flows from your company's business and brand strategy. Just as brand strategy creates (and manages) customer expectations of a brand, your customer experience strategy is your plan to meet or exceed those expectations. With implications for virtually every aspect of your company, it's the vehicle through which you can turn customer expectations into reality.

9. Empower and reward your employees. In the quest to be more customer-centric, your employees are the frontline. They boast a wealth of insight about customers and internal operations, and can quickly improve customer experience through one-on-one interactions and behind-the-scenes decision-making. Yet many companies have reward structures tied only to revenue, versus meeting the needs of customers. They don't empower employees to make the decisions required to meet those customer needs.

Now that you've read this list, where can you take advantage of these opportunities in your own company? And what further ideas can you add to this list? Keep this in mind: The secret to customer-centricity is based on designing your world around an understanding of your customers' needs and a focus on actually meeting those needs.

This core idea relates to everything on this list-and should relate to everything in yours.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learning how to be more customer-centric sure sounds good. But if you're an established company with siloed data, lack of customer knowledge, and a rewards structure that prioritizes generating revenue over meeting the needs of your customers, then you have some work to do.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Customer centricity. Customer obsession. Customer focus.

These are not just boardroom buzzwords but rather essential principles for businesses today - from global enterprises to innovative upstarts. Over the last 10-15 years there has been a pivot from being price- and product-focused to centering everything around the customer. Starbucks, Nordstrom, Hilton, Amazon and other brands have created the blueprint for customer experience and customer relationship management (CRM), and have shaped customer expectations for brand interactions. In 2022, all companies need to take a radically customer centric approach.

In this post, we're answering questions like:

What is customer centricity?

Why is customer centricity important?

How to be customer centric

What are the top customer centricity examples?

What is Customer Centricity?

Customer centricity means you put the customer at the center of everything you do. Your products, in-store and digital experiences, and customer service are all designed with the goal of providing a consistently great experience and adding value. The entire company has a 'customer culture' and removes siloes to provide a cohesive, unified experience.

Customer centric companies remove friction, preemptively solve problems and meet customer needs in unique ways. These companies often leverage powerful technology like machine learning, predictive analytics and artificial intelligence, in addition to sophisticated CRM platforms to provide truly effortless interactions and hyper-personalization

Customer centricity can exist across a variety of dimensions of a business including Customer Support, Marketing, and Sales departments.

What is Customer Centric Selling?

In a nutshell, customer centric selling is a selling strategy that values building meaningful relationships with your customers as opposed to pushy sales tactics. Similarly, customer centric service also is about focusing on growing meaningful relationships, but in the context of the customer support role.
"Human-centric marketing is defined by brands that approach engaging their current and prospective customers via advertising and marketing tactics as whole human beings with hearts, minds, and spirits." - Philip Kotler

Why is Customer Centricity important?

Customers today expect more. And this comes at a time when customer experience (CX) is the primary differentiator in a sea of sameness. CX now dictates where people spend their money and develop loyalty. Companies need to obsess over providing positive experiences and adding value in order to create a positive view in people's minds. Every interaction matters. CX expert Shep Hyken says: "Customers notice almost everything. In fact, their brains are wired to make a note of anything they don't like ¹."

Adopting a customer centric mindset is crucial for many reasons:

Every interaction matters: One in three customers will leave a brand they love after one bad experience².

A customer centric philosophy can reduce customer acquisition costs: It's more expensive than ever to acquire new customers: it's 5X more expensive to acquire a new customer than keep an existing one.

Customer centricity unlocks revenue: 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience³. Personalization alone can increase overall consumer spending up to 500%⁴.

Customer centricity motivates people to recommend your brand: More than 65% of customers said that their experience on the website or app would be at least a "very important" factor in their willingness to recommend a brand.

How to be customer centric

The first step in becoming customer centric is understanding what your customers need and want. Take frequent pulses on pain points and identify and eliminate friction points: 96% of customers with a high-effort service interaction become more disloyal compared to 9% who have a low-effort experience ⁵. The key to creating such an experience is for the team to be intimately familiar with the customer's journey through your buying experience.

Customer centricity is also created by personalizing and contextualizing experiences, something that 75% of customers expect today ⁶. This involves surfacing the right products, experiences and information to specific customers at the exact moment of relevance. To do this, companies need to get away from silos and disconnected systems to connect all of the dots of the customer into one centralized view. According to Professor PhD Luigi-Nicolae DUMITRESCU, "You cannot departmentalize a customer centric approach. It must emanate from the very heart of the organization. All departments need to work in harmony, if not complete synchronicity in all communications with customers. ⁷ "

Customer centric brands also understand that you can't be everything to everyone. In his book, Customer Centricity, Wharton professor Peter Fader encourages companies to look at the "overall customer lifetime value and concentrate efforts on those customer segments that were most valuable and interesting to optimize profit ⁸." Segment your customers to identify the best ones and develop strategies to provide these segments with the best experience. Don't put resources into courting customers who don't pay off in LTV. The most efficient way to accomplish this is by using a customer relationship management platform.

Creating a customer centric mindset needs to be managed by an internal champion overseeing everything to do with the customer. In an indication of the shift away from price focus and product focus to customer focus, the role of the Chief Customer Officer has been one of the fastest-growing. In fact, 22% of Fortune 100 companies and 10% of Fortune 500 companies now have chief customer officers ⁹.

The top 5 customer centricity examples you haven't seen anywhere else

Companies like Starbucks, Amazon, Netflix and Walt Disney World are often cited for their customer centricity, as they should be. In this post, we wanted to find customer centricity examples that you may have never seen before.

1. Wayfair uses AI and data for hyper-personalization

Wayfair offers over eight million products, from furniture and décor to appliances and storage ¹⁰. It has 37,173 kinds of coffee mugs alone, and when you account for different colors, sizes or materials, there are over 70,000 options ¹¹. Without taking a customer centric approach, the user experience would be overwhelming and time-consuming.

The company uses predictive analytics and AI to create detailed buyer personas to show the most relevant products for customers, eliminating the need to scroll through pages and pages of products to find something they like. Wayfair "uses machine learning technology to work out which products complement one another and recommend them to customers. This makes sure that Wayfair isn't wasting its customers' time by recommending products that simply won't work with the items they already own ¹²."

According to Wayfair Cofounder Steve Conine: "On average, we capture and store four terabytes of data every day and over the course of a year, we track approximately 40 billion customer actions on our site.....Data has been democratized across the organization - it can be accessed and used regardless of whether an employee works in marketing, logistics, or engineering. Data has allowed the company to better execute on its strategy through improved personalization."

2. Stitch Fix removes the hassle of clothes shopping

Stitch Fix is one of the most fascinating customer centricity examples. The company gets to know customers through a personalized style quiz, and then after finding out clothing style and color preferences, favorite brands and styles, and budget, stylists curate pieces and outfits for the individual customer. There's no subscription, items can be easily returned and you only buy the products that you like. Points of friction have been identified and eliminated.

The company relies on AI and big data to power its operations. CEO Kristina Lake says, "Data science isn't woven into our culture; it is our culture ¹³." The company reviews style trends, preferences, sizing info, and inventory. Stitch Fixes AI algorithms and data experts determine what styles typically work for each type of customer. And this is paying off: Stitch Fix increases its client base by 17% each year and currently serves more than 3.5 million customers ¹⁴.

3. Ikea's In-Store and Digital Experience Elevate the CX

The customer centricity at IKEA runs deep. According to Maja Bricevic, a Communications Specialist with IKEA Canada, "IKEA's vision is to create a better everyday life for the many, and is committed to meeting the needs of its customers by creating a great customer experience, whenever and wherever [customers] want to meet us."

The Swedish home retailer is recognized for its immersive in-store customer experience. Customers shop carefully furnished and curated spaces, visit a food court and snack on famous meatballs and even take advantage of complimentary childcare.

Apart from the in-store experience, IKEA's digital experience is also very customer centric. One way the customer delivers this is through its IKEA Place app. Shopping for home furniture can be challenging to imagine how an item will look in your space. The app gives customers the ability to virtually place true-to-scale 3D models in their own space, furnish a whole room in one tap or find the perfect product by searching with your camera.

4. L'Oreal mixes up makeup on demand

Unlike products like toys or books, which are the same for everyone, makeup looks different on every customer. To help customers find the exact right shade, the company launched L'Oréal Perso, an AI-powered smart device that creates custom formulas for lipstick, foundation, and skincare. A customer uploads a picture to the Preso app "which will use AI to identify skin conditions like dark spots, large pores, or wrinkles." The app layers in real-time contextual data to account for environmental concerns that affect the skin, including pollution, pollen, and UV index. All of this is used to create a custom formula that is dispensed in a perfectly portioned, single-dose.

The company aims to give consumers more control over their makeup and skincare, according to Guive Balooch, global vice president of L'Oréal Technology Incubator ¹⁵. "Consumers have been asking to be part of the process of their beauty and have a stronger relationship with how well it's working. [With Perso], you become part of the process of your cosmetics," he says.

5. Hilton treats every loyalty member like a true VIP

Hilton is one of the biggest hotel brands in the world, boasting 6,110 properties with more than 971,000 rooms in 119 countries and territories. Annually, 178 million guests stay at its properties. Even with these extraordinary numbers, the brand has implemented strategies to be truly customer centric. The driving force behind this is the Hilton Honors guest loyalty program, which has over 115 million members ¹⁶.

With the free Hilton Honors mobile app, guests can book their stay, select the exact room they want, order meals, check-in and out, unlock their door and elevators with a Digital Key, all from their smartphone ¹⁷. The honors program and app provide a truly frictionless experience from booking and pre-stay to on-site. Because of these digital interactions and building rich customer profiles, "front desk staff can focus on more valuable face-to-face interactions, while guests avoid worrying about losing hotel room keys."

Final Thoughts: Customer centricity is here to stay

Keeping the customer at the center of everything you do is a must for companies to compete, build loyalty and generate revenue. Customer centricity needs to be a fabric of every modern organization, with siloes eliminated and departments working together with the same goal: create positive customer interactions that deliver value across the entire customer lifecycle.
Are you interested in making one of these customer-centricity lists? Let's discuss how AI can transform your company into a customer-centric powerhouse.
For more information, visit:

References

1. https://www.forbes.com/sites/shephyken/2021/07/11/three-facets-of-customer-experience-youre-overlooking/

2. https://www.pwc.com/us/en/services/consulting/library/consumer-intelligence-series/future-of-customer-experience.html

3. https://www.superoffice.com/blog/customer-experience-statistics/

4. https://www.forbes.com/sites/blakemorgan/2019/04/29/does-it-still-cost-5x-more-to-create-a-new-customer-than-retain-an-old-one/?sh=706ef3b83516

5. https://www.ttec.com/sites/default/files/eb-cx-trends-the-2021-edition.pdf

6. https://www.zendesk.com/blog/digital-tipping-point-mid-large/

7. http://www.mnmk.ro/documents/2007/2007-7.pdf

8. https://www.i-scoop.eu/understanding-customer-life-cycle-calculating-value/

9. http://www.ccocouncil.org/site/cco-study.aspx

10. https://www.wayfair.com/shop-the-look/dsp/wayfair+catalog-d7033755

11. https://www.wsj.com/articles/retailers-use-ai-to-improve-online-recommendations-for-shoppers-11604330308

12. https://etaileast.wbresearch.com/blog/wayfair-using-artificial-intelligence-augmented-reality-to-become-ecommerce-challenger

13. https://hbr.org/2018/05/stitch-fixs-ceo-on-selling-personal-style-to-the-mass-market

14. https://sharpencx.com/blog/customer-experience-improvement-program-tips-from-stitch-fix/

15. https://www.allure.com/story/loreal-perso-customized-skin-care-makeup-device

16. https://newsroom.hilton.com/hilton-honors/news/hilton-reaches-100-million-hilton-honors-members-milestone

17. https://hiltonhonors3.hilton.com/rs/hilton-honors-mobile-app/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Top 5 Customer Centricity Examples From 5 Aspirational Brands | Netomi

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
These are not just boardroom buzzwords but rather essential principles for businesses today - from global enterprises to innovative upstarts. Over the last 10-15 years there has been a pivot from being price- and product-focused to centering everything around the customer.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Come 2022, the retail landscape may look remarkably different - 2019 was worlds apart from our standing in 2020, and again this year we have been faced with new, unique challenges. In a recent B2B survey for online retailers in the UK conducted by Scurri and CensusWide, the results showed cautious optimism amongst retailers surveyed - 86% of online retailers state they are concerned over labour shortage and supply chain issues affecting them beyond early 2022, however 84% also said they were optimistic about what lies ahead in 2022. What can we expect to see this coming year and what lessons have we learnt that we can use moving forward?

What will the retail landscape bring?

Convenience will be king, as we have seen over the course of the pandemic and as customer needs shift. While the demand for online shopping soared with physical store closures, since the reopening of the high street in April 2021, we have seen a gradual decline in online retail revenue month on month. Delivery staff shortages and other wider supply chain issues may have had an impact on this, and these issues do not look to be ceasing in the early months of next year. Coming into 2022 it is important for both channels to realize that the wants and expectations of the consumer are now for products at their fingertips, with services to match. This extends to the post-purchase process, where retailers should seek out delivery partners that offer a wide range of shipment and delivery choices for the consumer, illustrating how they know that there is no longer a 'one size fits all' approach in modern commerce and moving into that future.

Multichannel retail experiences may be the way forward and answer to the question of comprehensive customer convenience. But more than just the multichannel approach it is the one step further that will set retailers apart from one another - the creation of a connected ecosystem of all provided services that allows customers to interact through a fully rounded experience. The adoption of this business model is the clearest way to say to your customer that you are listening, you hear them and you can provide them with, not just one, but all their needs under one roof.

We can also expect to see a continuation of growth in M&As in online retail in the next year. We have seen this over the last 18 months and the trend is only increasing. This shift is a result of more than COVID-19, though maybe it is rooted in it. Consumer preferences and attitudes are continuously shifting, and as more and more customers have moved to the online marketplace, investors have had no choice but to notice this. The retail environment is never stagnant and we are all stakeholders in this - it would be a disservice for investors not to make this switch accordingly.

As a result of the issues and changes this past retail year, many retailers have altered their key growth markets moving forward. Scurri's survey found that 88% of the surveyed retailers had made a change to their key growth markets, with the most popular areas now being Germany (38%), followed by France (30%), Belgium (29%), The Netherlands (28%) and Ireland (27%). For those retailers who did not alter their key markets, the most popular regions that they continue to focus on are much the same as retailers who refocused, including Germany (33%), Switzerland (33%), The Netherlands (29%), France (29%) and Ireland (26%).

In addition to changing markets, priorities for the retailer have changed for 2022 and beyond. Results by Scurri found that 46% of online retailers said advancing their sustainability agenda to reduce impact on the planet is their priority. The majority of British consumers pay attention to the sustainability and environmental efforts of retail brands, with customers searching for more sustainable retail brands online. Other top priorities include investing in digital retail technology (46%), cross border expansion (44%), Covid-19 recovery and return to pre-covid levels of business (42%), as well as winning new business (41%).

Technology will have an increasing and evolving role in the coming year in the retail space. In particular, we can expect to see a surge in the use of AI for online shopping experiences. We have already seen the use of AI chatbots to aid customer service, and the improvements are coming at a rapid pace. AI has additionally been used to enable personalised online experiences, through the virtual visualisation of products, particularly in the fashion and clothing sector. With retailers seeing the use of AI and the ease this provides customers, it is fair to expect an increased uptake as well as additional uses being made using the same technology.

Looking to the future, perhaps the most important lesson we have learnt over the last few years is to be prepared on all levels. All aspects of the purchase and sale process should be examined, with viable back-up strategies in place. In advance of issues arising, online retailers should have dedicated time and resources to ensuring the shipment and delivery partnerships selected can manage their needs. All necessary equipment should be available in excess, including labour. At a time where the retail scene has proven itself to be ever evolving, the only constant should be preparation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Ever-Evolving Retail Landscape - What Will 2022 Bring?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Come 2022, the retail landscape may look remarkably different - 2019 was worlds apart from our standing in 2020, and again this year we have been faced with new, unique challenges.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Everything we do starts with the consumer," CEO Mark Parker told investors during an earnings call in 2015. "It's our obsession with serving the consumer that sharpens our focus and drives our growth."

During a recent conversation with outgoing President Direct-to-Consumer at Nike Christiana Shi, it became clear that this sentiment permeates the entire organization. To wit, when I asked her about Nike's product development process and the role the customer plays in their decision making, Shi stated, "The art and science of choice is to find out what the customer values."

Customer value is the difference between what a customer gets from a product and what he or she has to give in order to get it.

Take a look at the Nike+ website. Here is a place where runners can upload data about their recent runs and see the history of their runs on maps. They can share them with their friends, get tips and post information about upcoming events.

Nike has given their customers a reason to want to come back to their website every day and engage - engage with Nike, engage with their friends. Everyone gets added value: the customers get something that helps them with their fitness regime and helps them interact with friends, while Nike gets valuable information about how customers are using its products.

By creating a two-way conversation with consumers, Nike gains actionable insight into their needs and as the results show, they don't just listen, they react. "It used to be just focus groups and then monitoring our sales and that was it. Now it's a dialogue," Shi said.

Explaining further, she added, "For example, the customer didn't say, 'I want a waffle shoe.' They said they wanted durability, a certain type of performance, etc." Putting all this customer input together, and coming up with a product that meets their needs, enables Nike to deliver innovation consistent with what the consumer wants. This year the Roshe Raffle Racer makes its debut as an updated version of the 70's Nike Waffle Racer.

Finding out what the customer values isn't easy. "We stay close to the needs of the professional athlete. We put sensors on their bodies and monitor how they perform with our product."

Indeed, it is not easy. According to a study by MarketingTech Blog, less than 10% of top tier retailers say they're highly effective at segmentation and personalization. In addition, 85% of brands agree their segmentation is based on broad segments and simple clustering. Clearly, there is much room for improvement when it comes to truly understanding the customer.

Shi continued: "One of the benefits of direct-to-consumer business is that we can try things and get more direct, immediate feedback from our customers." One example is the treadmills they have in Nike stores. Store employees run analyses as people test out shoes. They are then able to make specific shoe recommendations for the customer based on the data collected, like pronation, rotation and how the runner's foot hits the ground.

Not every company has the type of access Nike has with its customers. However, when you can't go to where your customer is physically, you can go there digitally. Brands must combine people, processes and, most importantly, technology, to achieve the scalability they need to reach and connect with consumers globally. Whether it is a direct-to-consumer model or wholesale, technology can enable two-way conversations that generate actionable data, regardless of borders and cultural differences.

Clearly, Nike is on a good course and in the lead. But taking the lead is one thing, maintaining the lead is another. What can you do differently to maintain that position?

As any world class athlete knows maintaining a title or the lead takes humility, perseverance and trying new approaches.

The secret to smarter segmentation and real personalization lies in understanding buyer behavior across channels and devices, and surfacing insights on each customer's true affinity and preferences.

Nike still has a ways to go and as many of their loyal customers will attest, the race is never over.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Nike Just Does It - Keeping An Eye On The Customer

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Everything we do starts with the consumer," CEO Mark Parker told investors during an earnings call in 2015. "It's our obsession with serving the consumer that sharpens our focus and drives our growth." During a recent conversation with outgoing President Direct-to-Consumer at Nike Christiana Shi, it became clear that this sentiment permeates the entire organization.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Today, more than ever, customers are in the driver's seat. Research continues to show the impact that customer experience has on the bottom line. As a result, the concept of customer-centricity has never been more important.

In fact, 81% of marketers expect to compete mostly (or completely) on the basis of customer experience. In an attempt to adapt, $641B will be spent on CX technologies in 2022. That's $130B more than 2019 investments.

So what exactly does being customer-centric mean as we step into 2021?

What is customer-centricity?

In short, customer-centricity is about putting the customer at the center of everything you do. Going into 2021, customer-centricity is more than just a good business practice -- it's key to survival.

The concept of customer centricity is transforming. Customer experience (CX) is the new competitive battlefront. And winning? Well, that requires a whole new level of dedication to customer-centric business models.

Prioritizing customers' needs might sound simple on paper. But, in reality, it requires coordination, technology, and commitment. The entire organization must be in lock-step and ready to collaborate in new ways.

Let's take a look at some of the most common barriers to customer centricity and how to overcome them.

The barriers to customer centricity and solutions for change

Below are five of the most common barriers to customer-centricity.

1. Organizational silos prevent customer data sharing

Organizational silos are the most common challenge in achieving customer-centricity. 52% of businesses say that they have functional silos that prevent data sharing, and in turn, prevent them from being customer-centric.

While data silos have long been the enemy of all organizations and their marketing teams, businesses today face a new set of challenges. Today, the lines between marketing, sales, and customer support teams are less clear.

Customer insights and data are no longer just the marketing teams' concern. Customer centricity requires these teams to share data between teams to get a 360-degree view of the customer experience.

The solution: Consolidate data management systems

The first step is to consolidate data management systems. And, most businesses start with the systems that they use to manage customer communications.

Customer conversations are a trove of information. Understanding them at scale is fundamental to customer-centric business models.

Brands are embracing customer communication platforms that aggregate conversations (and data). APIs and open-source frameworks mean that even companies with legacy systems can transform their customer communications.

For example, at Hubtype, we provide businesses with the framework they need to aggregate communications and get important insights. Our conversational applications are used to acquire, engage, and support customers in a meaningful way.

2. Employees are not empowered to focus on high-value experiences

Imagine if employees could provide personalized, meaningful support to customers at all times. That type of 1:1 service would receive an A+ in customer-centricity.

But, the reality is, customer service employees are often inundated with repetitive and mundane work. This prevents them from handling more complex issues and delivering memorable customer support.

The solution: Embrace automation to free up human resources

At Hubtype, we find that most of our clients can automate 80% of their customer inquiries. We help brands combine proactive, self-serve, and human support capabilities to make their workflows more efficient.

As a result, human agents have more time to focus on understanding customer needs and providing experiences that matter. They are able to take more time to help customers in deeper ways.

3. Technology isn't flexible enough to make quick changes

Technology is fundamental to customer-centric business models. But, at the enterprise level, complex systems can make it difficult to make quick changes or launch pilot services.

To be successful, brands need to test customer experiences and apply their learnings quickly. Responding to customer challenges in a timely manner is key to achieving sustainable growth.

The solution: Develop a case for modernization efforts

The decision to modernize IT stems from a number of factors. But, one should be consistent: to deliver value. You can start by developing a substantial case for the modernization effort, showing expected ROI.

Specifically, if your systems were more agile, how would it benefit end customers? This could be through better experiences, cost reduction, or higher product quality.

4. Products and services are not designed with data collection in mind

To deliver personalized, customer-centric experiences, brands need access to customer information. However, services and activities need to be designed to collect this information on the front-end.

Sephora is a good example of a brand that does this well. Sephora's app has many features to help customers select products that address their particular beauty concerns.

These features include product quizzes, virtual try-on, insider club points, and more. This content serves two purposes. First, it helps shoppers select the right products. But, more than that, Sephora is able to collect valuable data to enable future personalization.

The solution: Design the input to get the output

Brands need to do two things to create personalized digital experiences. First, they need to find innovative ways to collect customer data - and use that data to fuel relevant brand interactions.

Rather than trying to piece the puzzle together after products and services are launched, design them with the desired output in mind.

5. Customers are not understood as individuals

Too often, customer research is confused with market research. But, they are not the same. Market research groups customers into large categories, whereas customer research aims to understand customers as individuals.

This lack of understanding is a roadblock to customer-centricity. Businesses run the risk of overlooking individual customers, niche audiences, or customers who require more to take the next step.

The solution: Detailed customer journey mapping

Detailed customer journey mapping will help create a clear picture of your consumers. It helps you avoid the impulse to categorize your customers in general terms without paying attention to individual variations.

Conclusion

Customer centricity is central to growth in 2021. Getting it right will require brands to make technological and cultural changes.

At Hubtype, we've helped brands all over the world to adopt customer-centric solutions. Our framework gives enterprises the flexibility they need to meet customers when and how they prefer.

More than that, our technology helps brands collect the insights they need to make meaningful decisions. It improves operational efficiency and breaks down barriers to customer-centric change. Connect with us to learn if Hubtype is a fit for your business.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
5 Barriers to Customer-Centricity (And How to Overcome Them)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Today, more than ever, customers are in the driver's seat. Research continues to show the impact that customer experience has on the bottom line. As a result, the concept of customer-centricity has never been more important. In fact, 81% of marketers expect to compete mostly (or completely) on the basis of customer experience.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Twice a month, I receive a message at the top of my Inbox from Gusto with the headline: "🎉 Hooray! Ben, you got paid today."

It's a simple product feature, but regardless, it brings a smile to my face. The HR software is demonstrating a customer-centric framework by celebrating what is normally an insignificant moment for companies, but a meaningful day in the lives of employees.

Gusto understands that when employees are happy, companies (Gusto's customers) are happy. By going the extra mile, a core value of their brand, they are able to build experiences that please time and time again. Brands that take the steps to please the customer in every encounter - from in-app copy to email drips and phone calls - understand the importance of customer centricity.

And today, being acutely aware of service is more important than ever. So as a leader, how do you build and maintain an organization that not only emphasizes customer service but fosters a customer-oriented outlook at every possible moment? By building customer-centricity into the DNA of your business.

Building a customer-centric organization in today's digital world is increasingly complicated. While new technologies have allowed companies to roll out changes quickly, there's now an expectation from customers for greater attention.

Why Customer Centricity Is Important

There's a whole host of reasons that motivate entrepreneurs to create new enterprises - passion, money, fame, glory, independence. But regardless of the motivation behind the establishment of a company, there's one tenant that's common to all enterprises:

If you don't acquire and retain customers, you won't survive.

And from this simple statement, you can understand the importance of a customer-centric approach to business. An organization that forgets about customers is destined to fail. They'll build the wrong products, invest in the wrong resources, and lose goodwill with customers.

A customer-centric brand proves quite the opposite case. Every team member listens to customers and is aligned on that goal. In turn, the company builds products that meet customer needs, anticipates customer wants, and they provide a level of service that keeps customers coming through the door and advocating for the brand.

So, how do you keep up with this modern workplace challenge? Create a customer-centric culture.
Click here to download free customer survey, email, and profile templates.
The Value of a Customer-Centric Culture

If your goal is to become a customer-centric organization, there's one sure fire way to make the value spread like wildfire through your organization: Make it a core value. By including a customer-focused core value, you'll have a vision that the whole team can get behind. Literally putting your value up on the wall and your website commits the concept to your leadership, your entire team, and your customers.

At Proof one of the core values is "be customer obsessed." Everyone knows the value by heart, and we can use it as a reference point every day at work. If we're deciding on a feature to launch or whether to pursue a partnership, we can ask "Does this help our customers?" If the answer is no, we generally stay away from it. That guiding question has helped us build a customer-centric culture on our marketing, sales, and customer service teams.

The Customer-Centric Strategy

Having a solid strategy for customer centricity is key to executing it properly. The two primary ways you can center the customer within your business include customer-centric marketing and customer-centric selling.

Customer-centricity doesn't stop with your marketing efforts, though. Your sales team can also get on board with this strategy.

And when someone does something that benefits our customers, we celebrate that victory as a team - because a win for our customers is a win for our team.

If you're looking to develop the same approach for your business, take a look at the next section for the steps your team can take to become customer-centric.

How to Become a Customer-Centric Company

As we mentioned in the last section, customer-centricity begins with your company's culture. If your goal is to learn how to be customer-centric, then your business needs to make a company-wide commitment to your customer's success. The steps below explain what your organization can do to make that commitment to your customers and examples of how top brands put customers at the center of everything they do.

1. Anticipate Customer Needs

There's a great quote from Henry Ford that says:

"If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."

You may be wondering why I am bringing this up when it seems counter-intuitive to the concept of customer-centricity. But hear me out:

Ford is saying that if he had only listened to what customers thought he could build, he wouldn't have produced a car. He was thinking light-years ahead of his competition, and for that reason he created a product that anticipated the market's future needs. Ford knew what the customer wanted before the customer knew they even wanted it - that's a game-changing business move.

We can see similar styles of future-forecasting in Steve Jobs and Elon Musk. These visionary CEOs pushed the envelopes on what people would want in the future, giving the world the iPhone, iPad and the Model X - and companies with valuations of $1.08 trillion and $48 billion, respectively.

While most customers are able to accurately provide an account of what they want today, gauging what they want on a longer time horizon is extremely difficult for most people. They rely on companies to do that work for them to anticipate their needs - and make helpful suggestions accordingly.

2. Collect Customer Feedback

It may seem obvious, but to create a great, customer-centric company, you need to communicate both frequently and regularly with your customers.

In today's digital world, there are countless encounters where you can collect feedback. Here are a few touchpoints that you might already use to communicate with customers:

Chat

Email

SMS

Phone calls

In-app messages

FB Messenger

Message boards

Today, valuable communication can occur on so many different platforms.

Every department should be using all of the communication channels at their disposal to learn about customers - and the sheer volume of quantitative insight you receive from these messages can help you greatly as you adjust your product roadmap.

But there's also a level of qualitative feedback that you need to be proactive about collecting. While the aforementioned communication is likely already occurring at your company, user research is something you might be ignoring.

Here are three customer research techniques to consider if you're not already:

Conduct a Survey

By telling your customers that you're not perfect, you can gain insight and track your performance. The most successful companies in the world already know the value of surveys, and by conducting a regular customer satisfaction survey or product survey, you can provide an avenue for great feedback.

Launch User Testing

Ask any designer or PM the value of user testing, and they'll sing their praises. Modern digital marketing tools such as Usertesting.com and Hotjar provide a simple framework to collect feedback from real people about your product. In the quest to build a customer-centric organization, this can help validate your hunches and guide your work towards the highest-impact projects.

Make Direct Calls

Have a friend that always insists on talking over the phone rather than text? I'd take a gander that that friend is one of your closer confidants. There's something more personal about a conversation outside of the digital realm - by simply picking up the phone, you're able to get a more robust form of feedback from customers.

And an added plus? You can adjust your line of questioning in real-time to adapt to each situation.

Our CTO J.P. Morgan practices this technique weekly - and he swears by the feedback he collects from his customer calls:

"Talking to customers is probably the most important thing I do all week. While there's a level of product development that requires you to take a stance and anticipate needs - it's impossible to do that without an understanding of your customer's current situation."

3. Be Easily Accessible

We all know the concept: make it difficult to contact support, and you'll spend less time servicing those difficult customers.

There's a huge financial and time expenditure used in servicing customers, so many brands (especially digitally-built businesses) hide their support behind many layers of pages.

For instance, try to find a phone number on Facebook's Help Page. It's nearly impossible. They'd rather communicate through help articles and live chat before giving out their number.

On the other spectrum, there's Zappos, the online shoe retailer with a completely opposite approach to customer success.

Zappos identifies that when a customer wants to talk to them, they should make it as easy as possible. Note how they include their phone number prominently on the top bar of every page with the note "Available 24/7."

Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, describes his rationale for that decision as:

"A lot of people may think it's strange that an internet company would be so focused on the telephone, when only about 5% of our sales happen by phone. But we've found that on average, our customers telephone us at least once at some point, and if we handle the call well, we have an opportunity to create an emotional impact and a lasting memory ... Our philosophy has been that most of the money we might ordinarily have spent on advertising should be invested in customer service, so that our customers will do the marketing for us through word of mouth."

Make sure your 'Contact Us' page is highly visible and easy to access - and that it actually answers common customer questions you see crop up time and time again.

4. Meet With Customers In-Person

One of the biggest epidemics facing modern organizations is the loss of feedback from in-person meetings. Looking back 50 years, before the advent of the Internet and our diversified global economy, it was far easier for a business to interact with an end customer.

Direct, human contact happened on a daily basis simply because it was a necessary part of commerce. If you wanted an item, you went to a store, talked to a salesperson, and bought it in-person. That feedback could be used by a business to improve the consumer experience.

Today, in most businesses, this is not the case. Don't get me wrong, the other advances from the digital economy have provided great benefits. While your potential touchpoints for feedback are far greater due to technology, there is less in-depth contact.

How do you combat this? By bringing back the in-person experience.

It may seem old school, but hosting in-person events can be beneficial in your quest to customer centrism. By hosting an event, you provide value to two parties: the customers and the brand.

For instance, consider Sofi's initiative to host community events across the country. While it's likely a substantial expense, there's a positive externality. And they don't hide it. They claim the benefits of a direct channel to interact with and get feedback from their members, as well as a way to build brand affinity. Not to mention, it's lots of fun, too.

5. Provide Proactive Customer Service

One of the best ways to differentiate your business from its competitors is to provide your customers with added value that extends beyond the point of purchase. This shows them that you're truly invested in creating a delightful customer experience and will go above-and-beyond to deliver it to them.

One way to provide added value is to include proactive customer service features. Proactive customer service gives your customers resources that help them solve problems on their own, without having to reach out to your business for support. This way they can resolve simple issues and avoid waiting on hold for your customer service team.

WashCard Systems is one company that has profited immensely from adopting proactive customer service. They used HubSpot to create a pricing page so customers wouldn't have to reach out to a live rep to see how much its products cost. This accelerated the company's sales process as customers knew immediately whether or not WashCard Systems would fit their budget.

A pricing page may seem like a simple addition, but it completely changed WashCard Systems' lead generation process. In 2018, the pricing page became the website's most visited page and was responsible for nearly two-thirds of the company's online conversions. Rather than dissuading customers, the pricing page encouraged them to reach out to WashCard Systems and learn more about what the business had to offer. This type of proactive customer service demonstrated the business's customer-centric approach to improving the buying experience.

6. Adopt Customer Service Tools

The customer's experience with your brand is just as important as the product or service you're providing. Customers don't just want a sale, they want to enjoy the entire buying experience. Even if your product is great, you'll lose customers to competitors who are able to make their customer interactions enjoyable and productive.

Adopting the right customer service tools plays a major role in creating a customer-centric experience. These tools help customer service teams create seamless, omni-channel support systems that provide customers with immediate solutions to their problems. By doing so, customers are more satisfied because the business is investing in their short- and long-term success.

One company that does an excellent job of utilizing customer service tools is the insurance company, Lemonade. Lemonade recognized that one of its most difficult challenges was changing the customer's perception of its industry. Most people loathe speaking with insurance companies because the customer experience is typically dull and frustrating. So, Lemonade invested in chatbots to help change that experience for its customers.

Lemonade's chatbot, "Mia," creates a light-hearted and friendly conversation with its users. Mia provides customers with clear and concise answers and advises them on plans that will best fit their budgets.

In an interview with HubSpot's The Growth Show, the company's CEO, Daniel Schreiber, highlighted that this chatbot has made their customer service experience more "playful and instantaneous." Additionally, Lemonade has been able to cut costs and reduce prices for customers as a result of added automation.

7. Look Beyond the Purchase

At the end of the day, your business's goal is to get customers to purchase your product or service. However, when customers buy once, you'll want to ensure they buy again. After all, studies show that it costs nearly five times more to attain a new customer than to retain an existing one.

But, how do you motivate your current customers to purchase from you again? Well, the best way is to provide them with added benefits that extend beyond the point of purchase. These benefits should help customers achieve their goals and create a more memorable customer experience. By doing so, customers will begin to affiliate their success with your company's products and services.

One example of this can be seen with the industrial clothing company, Rocky Mountain Industrial Supply, or RMI. RMI sells flame-resistant clothing to labor crews operating in industrial worksites like oilfields and mines.

In addition to its clothing, RMI creates added value for its customers by providing them with free safety certification courses. Customers take these courses to receive credible certifications that will qualify them to operate a product or piece of machinery. This not only helps customers avoid costly mistakes but also gives them the tools needed to excel in their careers. As they take more courses and enhance their skill set, customers begin to rely on RMI to assist with their long-term goals.

8. Create an Onboarding Process

If you want to create a customer-centric culture, your team can't abandon customers after you make a sale. Instead, make sure your customers get the most from your product and services. That way they'll be more inclined to return to your business when they're ready for an additional purchase.

One of the best methods for optimizing your product's value in the eyes of the customer is setting up a detailed onboarding process. An onboarding process introduces your products and services to the customer and explains how to use them to fulfill their specific needs. Each customer's needs will be unique, so your team should personalize this process to ensure every customer is properly set up for success.

One company that has profited from adopting an onboarding service is the SaaS business, Chargebacks 911. Chargebacks 911 used HubSpot's flywheel concept to analyze different pain points in the customer's journey. After assessing their sales and marketing tactics, Chargebacks 911 realized a major flaw in its customer experience: new customers were churning during the setup process.

To remedy this, the company decided to enact a new policy where the customer's sales rep would assist during the onboarding process. The benefit of this was that the sales reps could reference customer needs outlined during previous interactions. Then, the onboarding rep could identify products and features that would help the customer fulfill those needs. This ensured Chargebacks 911's customers were deriving the most value possible from their purchases.

Measuring the Success of Customer-Centricity

Many of the benefits of a customer-centric strategy come in the form of anecdotal evidence or from brand recognition, but there are tangible ways to determine whether your customer-focused efforts are working.

Loyalty programs are a great way to understand customer behavior which makes them prime for measuring the effectiveness of a customer-centric strategy. You can compare customer behaviors like purchase amounts or time-to-close before and after you've implemented the strategy to assess how well it's working.

It's inevitable that customers will experience a problem at some point, but the way those problems are solved can be a tell-tale sign of how well your customer centric efforts are going. If you find that customer service reps are spending less time per call or are receiving fewer calls overall, that's a good sign.

See what your new and existing customers think about your company with a net promoter score survey. This survey not only tells you how much they like doing business with you, it tells you how likely they are to advocate for your business to their friends and colleagues.

More Customer-Centric Company Examples

1. Chick-Fil-A

Chick-Fil-A's dedication to the customer experience is what makes them an example of a customer-centric company worth studying. The customer is prioritized from the moment they place their order on the app, at the drive-thru, or in-store by personalizing their order with their name. From there, the order is hand-delivered to the customer (no bags sitting on the counter here!) before they're wished a heartfelt farewell. Occasionally for app users, managers that the customers most frequented location will offer rewards that keeps them coming back for another great experience.

You can implement a cheerful customer-centric like Chick-Fil-A by paying close attention to a few things:

Attentiveness: Whether your customer is a party of one or a large corporate entity, show attention at every stage of the customer journey. Use personalized direct mail and proactive phone calls to show clients your undivided attention.

Speed: Consider the time it takes your customer to make a purchase or solve a problem with a past purchase. If there are any redundancies or unnecessary steps, work with your team to eliminate them.

Generosity: Although you're in the business of making money, you could stand to gain more customer loyalty and advocacy when you share the wealth. You could choose to give meaningful rewards to your customers, or even donate to a charity of their choosing.

2. Spotify

Whether you use it to download the latest My First Million podcast episode or listen to the latest hits, you can be sure Spotify's algorithm is working overtime to curate a playlist that's unique to your tastes. The day-to-day experience isn't the only way Spotify displays customer-centricity, it pushes the envelope on customer advocacy in a unique way with Spotify Wrapped. This end-of-the-year compilation of your favorite audio is presented in an engaging format that's easy to share on social media which makes it a fun community experience that furthers Spotify's customer loyalty and growth.

If you want to generate customer advocacy as a result of the customer-centric strategy, try these tactics:

Build Community: Your customers don't have to feel alone after they've made a purchase. You can start a moderated Slack channel or Reddit thread for community support which can lead to new innovations in your product or service.

Encourage Customer Advocacy: If your organization doesn't have user-specific data that can be shared in a fun and engaging way like Spotify, you can still encourage customer advocacy by asking them to write reviews on public platforms like Yelp, Google Play, or Facebook.

Build a Culture that Values the Customer

The customer-centricity framework can help the smallest and largest companies attract, engage, and delight their customers. When your team is aligned with the customer's needs, you'll reap the rewards of loyal customers who become advocates for your brand. Use this guide to inform your next strategic planning session.
Editor's note: This post was originally published in May 2019 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
8 Tips for Becoming a Customer-Centric Organization

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How can you champion the customer experience the way Chick-Fil-A and Spotify do? By building customer-centricity into the DNA of your business-here's how to do it.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Today, a customer is no longer just a number or a name on a receipt. Instead, they are empowered, connected, and engaged consumer who has a voice in the company's direction.

Customer centricity is the way - the only way - to compete and win in today's global economy.

It's about doing business differently. It's about embracing a new approach to customer engagement. It's about creating long term relationships with customers rather than trying to sell them one-off products.

It's about putting your customers first.

Here's a guide explaining customer centricity, its importance, benefits and examples of successful customer-centric companies.

What is Customer Centricity?

Customer centricity is the art and science of delivering a compelling value proposition that addresses the ever-changing needs of the customers aiming for customer relationships that build loyalty and trust.

Customer-centric companies focus their business model on customer needs rather than competitor offerings. By doing so, they gain a competitive advantage by delivering superior value to customers that other companies can't or won't provide.

The definition of customer-centricity can be divided into four parts

Customer centricity is the art and science: It is not a mere strategy. It is a comprehensive and scientific approach to understanding customers' wants, needs, and value.

Delivering a compelling value proposition addressing the customer's ever-changing needs: The customer-centric company must identify what the customer wants and craft a unique offering that appeals to their needs.

Aiming for customer relationships: The goal of customer-centric companies is to turn "customers" into "relationships." This means creating a connection with customers that goes beyond the simple purchase of a product or service.

Building loyalty and trust: Customer centricity strives to create customer relationships that are based on trust and loyalty. This means that customers feel comfortable doing business with the company, repeatedly buy its products and recommend it to others.

Importance Of Customer Centricity

Customer centricity has become an essential business strategy. In fact, research by Gupta and Zeithmal in 2006 shows that with every 1 percent increase in customer satisfaction, ROI increases by 2.37 percent, while a 1 percent decrease in customer satisfaction results in a 5.08 percent decrease in the return on investment.

Besides this, some other reasons that demonstrate the importance of customer centricity are given below:

It is important to retain customers: Customers come back only if they are happy with the offering and the brand experience. Customer centricity helps keep customers satisfied and, as a result, reduces customer churn rates.

It helps reduce customer acquisition costs: Acquiring new customers is expensive and time-consuming. Focusing on customer centricity can help companies generate leads and referrals from current customers, which can lower the cost and increase the speed of acquiring new customers.

It helps increase customers' lifetime value: A company that keeps customers happy can significantly increase the customer's lifetime value. According to a study, loyal customers are worth up to 10 times as much as their first purchase.

It helps business in the long term: The long-term relationship helps the company understand customer needs and wants and develop a deep understanding of what they value. This helps the company create a better offering, serve customers better, and keep customers satisfied.

Characteristics Of Customer Centric Companies

Customer centricity is the core of every successful business, both old and new.

However, there are certain characteristics that differentiate customer-centric companies from the rest. Some characteristics are explained below:

Customer-focused leadership: The top management gets involved in all decisions related to customers, which makes them accountable for all customer-related results. The management ensures that they are customer-centric in their thinking and actions.

A customer-centric culture: All employees, right from the frontline to the top management, are focused on understanding and meeting customer needs. Employees are encouraged to think innovatively and challenge the status quo to develop better solutions for customers.

Customer data is used effectively: The company gathers data about customers and analyses it to draw insights. These insights are used to improve the value proposition, strengthen the brand, understand customer needs and create strategies for retaining customers.

Customer-friendly technology: The company uses modern technologies like social networking, big data analytics, mobility, cloud, etc., that can help them to better engage with customers.

Customer-friendly funnel: The company focuses on the steps in the purchase process, like reducing customer friction, increasing customer touchpoints, making purchase flow easy and simple, etc., to make the customer journey better.

Customer communication: Firms make sure that they are available to interact with customers via different communication channels. They take feedback seriously and use it to improve their customer service.

Customer-centric companies continuously monitor their performance, look for customer feedback and thoughts across all touchpoints, and improve on them. This is achieved through various ways like involving the entire workforce in understanding customer needs, offering personalised service to customers, collecting data and conducting research to understand customers, etc.

Benefits Of Customer Centricity

Focusing on customer centricity is beneficial in the long run. Some of the benefits are:

Helps in company's growth: It helps create loyal customers and makes them come back for more. They keep coming back if they find that you understand their needs and meet their expectations consistently.

Creates differentiated value: Focusing on customer centricity help differentiate the company from its competitors and make it stand out.

Better customer retention: Satisfied customers are less likely to switch to a competitor, which reduces the chances of losing them.

Lowers marketing expenses: Word-of-mouth is the most powerful and cost-effective form of marketing. Satisfied customers will talk positively about the company and recommend it to others, which helps in word-of-mouth marketing and leads to lesser marketing expenses.

Manages risks: The biggest risk that a business can face is losing customers. It takes years for a business to acquire customers and only a few minutes for them to switch over to your competitor. Satisfied customers also help in dispute resolution with customers.

Customers spend more: When satisfied customers feel that they get better service from a company, they tend to spend more on it. This helps in increasing revenues.

Challenges To Becoming A Customer-Centric Company

It isn't easy to become a customer-centric company. There are various challenges that need to be overcome:

Lack of long term vision: A company should have a long-term vision to remain customer-centric. It is not easy to make changes in the organisation and keep up with customers' changing needs if there is no long-term plan in place.

Lack of leadership commitment: A customer-centric company is one where the top management is fully committed to it. If the leadership is not committed, it will be difficult for the company to achieve success.

Lack of customer data: A company needs to gather data about its customers and analyse it to understand their needs. Without this data, it will be difficult to create strategies to satisfy them.

Lack of integration of customer feedback: The company should constantly look for customer feedback and use it to improve products and services. If the feedback is not integrated in a way that benefits the customer in some manner, there is no point in collecting it.

Lack of communication between various departments: There should be close coordination among different departments for customer-centricity to succeed.

Real-life Examples Of Customer Centricity

Some real-life examples of customer centricity are given below:

Apple focuses on creating great customer experiences. Its products are designed to make users happy and its customer service is known for its quality. As a result, Apple enjoys high customer loyalty and satisfaction rates.

Apple is also known for its user-friendly technology and has an exemplary customer support infrastructure in place.

Ever since its inception, Amazon has focused on providing an excellent customer experience. It invests in the digital and physical spaces to offer better shopping, delivery and support experiences to its customers.

It realises that convenience is critical for customers while shopping online, so it invests heavily in technology like AI (artificial intelligence), Machine Learning, chatbots etc., which helps make shopping easy and convenient for them.

Netflix is known for its easy-to-use streaming service and its focus on customer experience has helped it become the leading video streaming service in the world.

It continuously monitors customer feedback and tries to improve its service by introducing new features and improving the existing ones. For example, it recently introduced a feature that allows users to download TV shows and movies for offline viewing.

Starbucks is another company that is known for its customer-centric approach. It has a well-defined strategy for customer development and retention and uses various channels like social media, email marketing, etc., to communicate with its customers.

It also offers unique experiences like Starbucks Rewards, which has added a new customer segment for the company.

It engages its customers in different ways to increase their loyalty and satisfaction levels.

Nike focuses on delivering premium products to facilitate superior performances, emphasising quality manufacturing, research & development, product innovation etc., before working on branding.

It believes that a satisfied customer will keep coming back for more, which has helped it become one of the most successful brands in the world.

The company also invests in technology to better understand its customers and to provide them with a personalised shopping experience.

Bottom-Line?

So, what is customer-centricity? In a nutshell, it can be defined as a company's focus on the customer and their needs, across all touchpoints. It is a strategic decision to put the customer first and to make them the central focus of all business operations.

Customer centricity is important because it helps companies build better relationships with their customers, which can help them increase sales and revenue. It also helps to bring down operational costs as the company focuses on improving customer satisfaction.

Companies that follow a customer-centric approach are more likely to succeed in creating better, long-lasting relationships with their customers, because they are always working towards delivering what the customer wants and needs by understanding them completely.

In order to be successful, one must focus on all aspects of customer experience, from product design to post-purchase support.

Go On, Tell Us What You Think!

Did we miss something? Come on! Tell us what you think of this article on customer centricity in the comment section.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What is Customer Centricity? - Importance, Benefits, & Examples

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Today, a customer is no longer just a number or a name on a receipt. Instead, they are empowered, connected, and engaged consumer who has a voice in the company's direction. Customer centricity is the way - the only way - to compete and win in today's global economy.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Entrepreneurs put a significant amount of effort into planning their ventures such as writing business plans that include detailed descriptions of the company's mission, the products and services it plans to offer, and how it plans to achieve profitability. Businesses sometimes become too focused on their own inner workings and ignore the wants and needs of customers. "Customer-centricity" is a business strategy that involves looking at a company from the perspective of customers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Benefits of Customer Centricity. Entrepreneurs put a significant amount of effort into planning their ventures such as writing business plans that include detailed descriptions of the company's mission, the products and services it plans to offer, and how it plans to achieve profitability. Businesses sometimes ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
What is customer centricity?

Customer-centricity means putting the customer first and at the center of everything that you do. You might think to yourself, that's easy. I can do that. But is it really that simple?

Being customer-centric entails more than just saying the customer is top of mind. It is about truly understanding the customer, so you can anticipate their wants, needs and communication preferences, create meaningful experiences, and build lasting relationships with them. And that is easier said than done.

Customer-centric organizations take steps to understand the customer and act on that understanding by creating a culture that empowers employees to make the best decisions for both the customer and the company in parallel. They take into account how each business decision, process change, and customer touchpoint affect the experience.

All in all, customer-centricity is as much a strategy as a culture. It has to be ingrained in an organization in order to be recognized by the final decision maker: the customer. Successful organizations realize higher retention rates, more referrals, price premiums, and ultimately greater revenue.

Why is customer-centricity important to your business and brand?

If customers aren't happy, they won't stay with your brand. If you don't have customers, you don't have a business.

Consider your own experiences interacting with your favorite brands. They make it easy to do business with them, they communicate with you via your preferred method, and they may even present offers at the exact time you plan to purchase. Now consider the ones that get it wrong. In the Marie Kondo era of cleaning out, tidying up, and simplifying, how often do you stick with brands that fail to spark joy? Consumers today have an easy path to walk away from brands they love, and they are not afraid to do so. In fact, according PWC, one in three customers will leave a brand they love, after one bad experience.

Across the customer journey, from awareness to purchase to advocacy, each interaction and stage benefits from a customer-centric approach. In today's digital environment which focuses on personalization, organizations are being built on their commitment to do what's right for their customers. It is the definitive competitive differentiator.

For example, Nordstrom has always been synonymous with exceptional customer service. In order to pivot with buyers' demands, they have taken the in-store experience they are known for and replicated it in the digital shopping experience with an innovative mobile app as well as new services such as buy online/pickup in store.

The ultimate reward of creating customer-centric processes is loyalty and retention. As the old saying goes, it is easier and more cost-effective to keep a customer than acquire a new one. In 2014, Harvard Business Review underscored the fact that acquiring a new customer is anywhere from five to 25 times more expensive than retaining an existing one. This concept is not new. So why aren't more companies prioritizing retention over acquisition?

Customer-centricity done right results in your customers trusting they will not only get what they want and need from your company, but will also experience enjoyable and frictionless service, including: boxless returns, order online/pickup in store, immediate refunds, fast delivery of online orders (sometimes same-day or even 2-hour). These experiences delight and build trust that helps to retain customers for the long haul.

3 common challenges businesses face getting to customer-centricity

It's important enough to repeat: Being a customer-centric organization is easier said than done.

What sounds like a simple concept in theory presents challenges in reality. Everything from culture to organizational structure to data and technology within an organization need to be reoriented around the customer - from the back office to the front line - to fully recognize the benefits.
Customer-centricity challenge 1: Getting buy-in and building a culture
The most difficult challenges to overcome are the least tangible. Creating a customer-centric culture is a good example of that. Culture is not something that is forced or easily changed. It doesn't necessarily translate directly from plan to action. It requires everyone from executives on down to embrace the change that customer-centricity brings. Everyone has to want to believe, execute and succeed. At times, it may require taking a leap of faith (albeit a guided leap) centered on a longer-term vision and focusing on more than just the bottom line.

What's the one thing customer-centric organizations have in common? Customer-centricity is a core value. Every employee is focused on the customer and puts the customer first in their thinking and decision-making. For example, at Informatica, we are guided by our " We DATA " values of which one of them is "Think Customer First." It is called out at every all-company meeting, woven into annual performance reviews, and celebrated through recognition of employees who embody the value. Empowering employees to think about what's right and do the right things puts the customer front and center.

One way to create a culture that values customer-centricity is to encourage teams to answer questions to determine if a decision is customer-centric or not:

How will this new product introduction benefit the customer?

How will this new back-office system create an easier, more intelligent way to interact with the customer?

How will this new process remove unnecessary friction experienced by our customers?

If the answer to any of these questions is no or inadequately defined, you may want to rethink your decision. When employees are empowered to think in this way and challenge any decision that is not customer-centric, good things will happen. When employees feel supported and empowered, they go above and beyond for the customers they serve, resulting in high satisfaction and stronger relationships.
Customer-centricity challenge 2: Shifting from product-centric to customer-centric
In his book, Customer Centricity, Wharton School of Business professor Peter Fader gives examples of how brands like Starbucks and Nordstrom successfully pivoted from product- to customer-centric models over the past decade. This shift is due to a change in customer behavior, better access to information, and the ability to scale understanding of and delivery on customer wants and needs. The precision gained with better insights replaces the need to cast a wide net in hopes of getting a bite.

A shift from product-centricity to customer-centricity applies to both consumer and non-consumer-based industries. Think of your bank or insurance agency. In the past, you would have an account number for each account owned, interacting with different representatives for each one. This product-centric approach didn't stop there. Systems recognized a customer by account or policy number, not by name. Processes and experiences were siloed and choppy as a result. You'd often need to share your information multiple times or receive offers for products you already own.

The inefficiencies and poor customer experiences were a result of traditional organizational structures based on the products they sold. Many businesses focused on selling as many products to as many people or organizations as they possibly could. This strategy is 100% product-centric and doesn't take into account customer preferences. In marketing, it results in "spray and pray" campaign strategies where product-focused messages are blasted out to anyone and everyone.

This approach wastes valuable time, money and mindshare because the message most likely misses the target the majority of the time. In addition, a product-centric business model creates silos of teams and silos of data - often resulting in misaligned or competing goals as well as duplicate, inconsistent, and fragmented information across an organization.

Creating strategies and processes focused on customer over product is a critical step in overcoming challenges around customer-centricity.
Customer-centricity challenge 3: Overcoming data silos and technology
Digital transformation means a successful data management strategy to support customer-centricity is even more important. As customers flock to the growing number of digital channels, interactions with your brand have potentially increased in frequency. Consumers and business buyers alike are making purchase decisions prior to engaging with a salesperson due to the availability of information.

Web chats, online product reviews, and social media create additional channels for customers to learn about and experience brands. And for brands to learn about and understand their customers if they manage the data correctly. With more channels at play and more applications in the mix, technology must be an enabler, not a detraction.

Data is often the biggest challenge when it comes to knowing who your customers are and understanding what they want. In many companies, data is unorganized, siloed, duplicated and, frankly, a mess. This may be due to how a company has grown over time, for example through merger or acquisition, where multiple sets of customer data exist, but have not been unified. It may also be because systems are set up by business unit, product, or department, creating silos and duplicates.

No matter how messy it is, data holds the key to understanding your customers, anticipating their wants and needs, and interacting with them in an authentic, relevant manner. It can help marketers, sellers and customer service reps personalize communications and empathize with the customer.

Breaking down silos and getting control of data - centralizing it, cleaning it, enriching it, governing it - and making it actionable go a long way in delivering customer-centricity. And it doesn't stop with customer data. Customer experience involves product, finance, supplier, employee, and other data, including attributes inferred from social media, chats, and other unstructured data sources. Making the data challenge both more difficult and more rewarding when done right.

How to overcome the barriers to customer-centricity

The first step to becoming customer-centric is getting everyone on board - leadership, marketing, sales, service, support, finance - encompassing both customer-facing as well as back-office roles.

All teams need to recognize the impact of first impressions during the awareness and consideration phases. When customers are at the beginning of their journey, it's critical to ensure marketing hits the mark and doesn't alienate customers. You may not have all the data you need right from the start. But, over time, as data is added and connected with the customer's profile, it guides future decisions and helps build hyper-targeted and more personalized campaigns.

As their journey continues and prospects become customers, customer-centric processes must be in place for a smooth and frictionless onboarding process. Conversations and outreach to customers must add ongoing value to ensure repeat business and loyalty - not to mention brand advocacy.

Here are some customer-centric best practices to help you achieve your vision:

Build a customer-centric culture. Ensureevery employee, from the CEO to the frontline worker, lives and breathes the customer. Build it into your mission, values, and vision.

Improve your data. Improve data quality, consistency and availability to help everyone in the organization identify and understand the customer at every stage of the journey. Too often, data is an underutilized asset because of the erosion of quality and the difficulty using it. With AI, data can be automatically connected to resolve identities and reveal insights that improve personalization and next best offer initiatives.

Capture customer feedback. Gain a better understanding of your customers by really listening to what they want and need. Look for patterns in the feedback. Not every customer is always right, but it pays to listen to many customers who provide the same feedback - whether explicitly stated or expressed by their behavior.

Reward employees. Tie employee compensation, recognition and reward structures directly to meeting the needs of the customer. Build trust within your employee base and empower them to think customer first.

Think long-term. A long-lasting customer is more valuable over time than a single transaction. By creating frictional experiences, having empathy and making a customer feel known, those long-term relationships with your customers will result in loyalty and retention - and ultimately greater revenue. This is truly where CX has an impact on the bottom line.

Measuring the benefits of customer-centricity

Another key step to building a customer-centric strategy and culture is agreeing on the key performance indicators (KPIs) and metrics that you will measure to determine what is working and what needs to be tweaked to ensure success.

What gets measured gets managed. Using customer metrics such as retention rate, propensity to churn, customer satisfaction (CSAT), customer effort score (CES), and wallet share will keep your efforts on track. Customer-centric marketing, sales and service efforts must align with measurable KPIs. In addition to tracking metrics such as revenue by product or channel, you must also capture and measure customer behavior, sentiment, value and other important customer-centric metrics.

For example, most chief marketing officers are laser-focused on increasing customer lifetime value (CLV), which measures the value of a customer over the entire relationship. It is a critical indicator of how well marketing and other tactics are working to establish long-term, highly profitable customer relationships. By tracking CLV, you can spot early signs that a customer might churn, for example if spending subsides below what is typical for that customer. You can also use CLV data to perform customer segmentation for targeted promotions and other offers.

Another key metric is Net Promoter Score (NPS). NPS is widely used, especially by consumer-facing brands and simply asks: "How likely is it that you would recommend [brand] to a friend or colleague?" It is a common predictor of growth and measures overall perception of the brand. Complement NPS with additional metrics and insights to derive actionable insights that will improve customer experience.

Go forth and be customer-centric

People buy from people they trust. And people do business with a company, not departments within a company. This is why customer-centricity must be promoted at the executive level across an organization. The payoff for customer-centric organizations is that loyal customers spend more over time. They are also more forgiving of minor trespasses (a poorly timed offer, an out-of-stock item, a wrong item delivered) because there is a sense of trust that the organization will take care of the customer in the long run. But betray that trust on the bigger items without quick resolution, and you risk losing that customer forever.

Retaining customers and growing wallet share requires having the right culture, data and technology that drive customer-centric sales, marketing, and customer service. The foundation for a successful customer-centric business practice requires technologies that streamline processes and reduce the cost of data management and makes trustworthy data accessible across your enterprise.

By creating a customer-centric strategy, your organization will have the right information at the right time to stay ahead of your competition, manage healthy customer relationships and maximize value for your stakeholders.

Want to learn more? Download A Marketer's Guide to Customer Experience ebook to get actionable CX tips and guidance on long-term strategies now.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What Is Customer Centricity and Why Is It Important

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Customer-centricity means putting the customer first and at the center of everything that you do. You might think to yourself, that's easy. I can do that. But is it really that simple? Being customer-centric entails more than just saying the customer is top of mind.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Most businesses, riding the new wave of digital revolution, are gearing up to become a digital-first enterprise in the next five years. An interesting question that should make us pause is - what exactly is becoming digital all about? A majority (87 percent) of companies worldwide see digital transformation more as a competitive opportunity and less as a customer facing requirement. This may be so perceived because technology and outcomes take prime places in most digital transformations.

Yet, in all transformational processes, customer experience has been a key driver. Today, we live in a hyper-connected world, where information is the commodity, Internet is the supply chain and Cloud is the warehouse. The move to digital actually involves a paradigm shift from the traditional product-centric strategy to one that focuses more on the customer. It stands to reason that digitization will bring in an era of highly evolved methods to innovate, engage and provide extra value to the customer.

Product-Centricity vs. Customer-Centricity

Till now, many companies have defined themselves by the products they make or the services they offer, while not so much by the problems they solve for their customers. A product-centric firm essentially concerns itself with product superiority - an approach that is driven more by research and technology.

A customer-centric company, on the other hand, focuses on the diagnostics of business problems and provides value through customized solutions. It is an 'outside in' approach driven by innovative service delivery experience to fulfil the customer's emotional needs. The primary goal here is long term relationship, and it aims for the mind share of customers rather than market share. In terms of strategy, therefore, customer-centricity adopts a buyer-driven pull approach as against a sales-driven push approach. Mass media tools like TV, OOH billboards and print (to generate awareness about the product) thus give way to new age digital media tools such as influencers, experiential marketing and personalized customer journeys to generate user engagement. Apple is a great example of a product-centric company. In Steve Jobs' words - "Customers don't know what they want until you show it to them". This idea is at the core of Apple's organizational and market structure that allows for the most effective and profitable delivery of their highly innovative products to their customers. There is lesser emphasis on individual customer feedback, and the same product features are available to all who can pay.

Amazon is at the opposite end of this spectrum. Jeff Bezos aptly summarizes the e-commerce giant's philosophy - "If you're competitor-focused, you have to wait until there is a competitor doing something. Being customer-focused allows you to be more pioneering." Everything that Amazon does revolves around customer delight. One can argue that they do not have a product to sell, but they have championed customer-centricity through their unique service delivery platform.

Place Your Customer at the Center

It is challenging to create a competitive edge in a saturated market that is brimming with multiple products and services. And so enters the importance of creating unique differentiators in competing for profits, and vying for volume and value share. Those that have a higher understanding of customer needs and problems will hold the competitive advantage.

This calls for listening to customers, responding to them and ensuring their engagement, especially in the early stages. Monetization of any effort too soon into the customer experience journey can bring it to a premature end. Neither can businesses bucket all customers into one catch-all segment, and have the same broad-based communication, engagement, sales and CRM strategy for all of them.

As the Pareto principle implies, it is likely that 80 percent of a company's revenues come from 20 percent of the customers. It will not be fair to treat such high-value segments in the same manner as the casual, wandering or impulse buyers. Digital transformation makes it possible to attribute all factors on a customer's path-to-purchase - awareness, leads, referrals and final purchase - to a channel or customer segment.

To this end, customer lifetime value is an effective and critical measure of business sustainability. Paying attention to the cost of acquiring and retaining customers, and focusing on up-selling and cross-selling to them could bolster customer revenues and retention at optimized costs.
Mapping the Customer Journey
The digital customer journey begins with answers to a simple set of questions.

What defines my customers?

In their customer journey, what are their touch points? How do they use them?

What do they value and expect?

Who or what influences them? Whom do they influence?

While it is true that technology does not define digital transformation, it is a sure means to better customer experiences. When technology and customer behavior come together, relevance to the customer is created. And this happens when business looks at the customer journey solely from the customer's perspective.

This is what Starbucks has done so well. It looks at the customer journey from the customer's perspective. This has led them to discover nine different areas of work stream that are connected because of the customer's journey. Starbucks modifed their inter-departmental workflow and collaboration processes accordingly.

Understanding How Digital Enables Customer-centricity

Digital transformation, at its very core, is really about customers and their experiences. And the key to digital transformation is out there for all to leverage. Rich customer data is isolated and hidden in different silos across the organization. Tapping into this and integrating it for insights and contextual action can place customer experience in the center to make every touch point a relevant one. Let us look at the many ways of doing this.

Content Optimization and Channel Activation

In the modern day marketing world, content is king. For the millennial or Gen Z consumer, optimizing content becomes all the more important. The 'digital native' has very little time to process advertisements and is mostly hooked to one or more digital devices. Highly qualified leads can be generated by rendering ads in a format that is native to the user's device or with content of specific interest to this segment. Understanding the user's online behavior holds the key.

Facebook curates content on the newsfeed by considering your past activity to maintain relevance. Click-stream analysis on news websites allows dynamic rendering of articles that are of interest to the user. Brands utilize users' online behavior data through re-marketing platforms to position targeted ads to have a higher click-through rate. Platforms with vast amount of user data, like Twitter, are able to share information with a variety of tools and software through a structured request-response 'data pipes' called APIs. Digital and social media platforms have certainly the ability to track and share user behavior extensively for better content and channel activation strategy.

Kraft's symbiotic partnership with Pinterest is another successful instance of content optimization. Kraft joined Pinterest as early as 2012 as they found that the service reached their desired audience with significant scale. With recipes being one of the most popular interests on Pinterest, it served Kraft's objective of making it easy for people to discover and share everyday, achievable meals. Today Pinterest is a powerful tool for Kraft to gather real-time insights, mine data, and influence content creation and curation to drive customer experience.

Insights and Analytics

An obvious advantage of digital transformation is the wide range of data that businesses can have access to. Analyzing website visit data through hypothesis testing provides valuable insights into making your site content and navigation better. Similarly, most e-commerce companies enhance their visibility on purchase funnel performance, check-outs and transactions where data is updated on a real-time basis. This facilitates tactical decision-making and reduces thought-to-market time.

The US outdoor clothing, equipment and footwear company, The North Face, leverages artificial intelligence technology, to help online shoppers to find the right jacket choices among the thousands of SKUs on its website. This online experience allows customers to engage in a question-and-answer conversation to find the right jacket. They have created an experience close to one interacting with a human sales associate.

Crowd-sourcing initiatives involve customer opinion at every stage and facilitates product development. The US-based automobile company, Local Motors, is reinventing the way automobiles are designed and engineered. They source valuable insights from their online customer community.

Digitization thus enables a 360 degree unified view from multiple data sources (online, retail, sales, consumer brand tracking surveys and attitudinal studies) to arrive at well-defined customer segments and customize targeting strategies.

Social media not only provides data on awareness and engagement levels of your content but also gives an opportunity to listen to the voice of the consumer in an unrestricted environment. Of course, it comes with its own set of challenges such as content irrelevance, spam and ambiguous tonality. Highly evolved tools that process social media data through complex text mining algorithms can contextualize and assign sentiments (positive, negative or neutral) to the conversations. This opens pathways for scalable early warning systems, influencer outreach and customer response management.

WNS's proprietary social media analytics platform, SocioSEER, enables clients' brand to surpass its goals around brand equity, customer-centricity and topline revenue. Its NoSQL backend architecture and summarization engines allow scalability and speed. Leveraging advanced analytics and machine learning framework to achieve content classification and indexing, SocioSEER provides graphics-rich visualization at the frontend and makes it easy for brand marketers to accurately classify relevant social conversations and impressions. It helps gather data, information and social conversation around a brand and provides deeper split on what they actually mean.

Bringing Human Stories to the Fore

Riding on an increased global internet penetration and mobile usage, digital transformation has undeniably paved the way for a business strategy focused on providing enhanced value to the customer's experience. It is a paradigm shift for sure - one that has enabled people to have a say and influence strategic decisions.

The truth is, digital transformation is not just a shift in technology investment. Around the world, we see businesses adopting digital roadmaps with the technology and resources that are available in the respective country-specific conditions. Ultimately, relevance is the all-critical qualifier for transformation, and this rests on

Appreciation of how the digital consumer is evolving

Clarity to visualize changing markets

Leadership to seize the opportunities of evolving consumers and markets to lead a customer-centric change

Customer-centricity is the new normal of competitive advantage. Not costs. Not product differentiation. Customer intimacy helps organizations rise above the noise and clutter of competition. With digital and social having irretrievably disrupted the business landscape, the customer is the only route to success. Whether product-centric firms will continue to hold their own against a more powerful voice of customer, or will they move to a digitally-oriented customer-centric approach, is something that remains to be seen.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Most businesses, riding the new wave of digital revolution, are gearing up to become a digital-first enterprise in the next five years. An interesting question that should make us pause is - what exactly is becoming digital all about? A majority (87 percent) of companies worldwide see digital transformation more as a competitive opportunity and less as a customer facing requirement.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Many companies aim to be customer-focused but struggle to know what it actually looks like and how to truly make customers the center of their businesses.

Customer experience is continually evolving as technology and customer demands change. Just because a company was once customer-centric doesn't mean it still is in 2021.

What does it mean to be customer-centric in 2021? Consider these six factors of customer-centric companies:
Led By Customer-Centric Leaders
True customer-centricity starts at the top. The most customer-centric leaders set the example to ingrain a customer focus into the culture and make customers central to every decision the company makes.

Truly customer-centric leaders systemize customer-focused leadership and development in their organizations to train the next generation of leaders how to serve and connect with customers. When training is an organized part of the company, customer-centricity becomes a long-term hallmark for the company instead of something fleeting that fades when a customer-centric leader leaves.

Tricia Griffith is a customer-focused leader as CEO of Progressive Insurance. She sets the tone within the company by continually listening to customers and employees and taking risks to try new things to best serve customers. Her creative thinking around customers has created a culture where employees are encouraged and empowered to take big risks for customers. And her leadership makes a difference-Progressive is regularly included in lists of satisfied customers, and the company has a 94% employee satisfaction score. Clearly, customer-focused leaders make a difference.
Focus on Personalization
Modern customers have experienced hyper-personalization from big companies like Spotify, Amazon and Netflix and now expect every company, big and small, to offer high levels of personalization. In 2021, companies can't afford to not prioritize personalization.

Personalization is at the heart of customer-centricity. When a company is wholly focused on customers, it wants to deliver unique experiences to each person instead of one-size-fits-all solutions. Customer-centric companies know that simply plugging a customer's name into a mass email isn't enough-they need to create a unique experience tailored to each customer.

Tesla focuses on personalization throughout the entire customer experience, but especially through its driver profiles. Tesla cars remember each driver's preference for seat, steering wheel and mirror location, as well as suspension, braking, radio presets and even driving style. The seamless integration of driver profiles into the Tesla experience makes the car an extension of the driver and allows each person to drive the car in the way they want and that is most comfortable to them.

Personalization comes in multiple forms, from AI-powered apps to recommendations and products designed specifically for each customer.
Make Customers' Lives Easier, Even If They Have To Work Harder
One of the main things customers are looking for in 2021 is convenience. They want to be able to get the information and service they need on their schedules, not on the schedules of the brands they do business with. Customer-centric companies realize the importance of convenience and go out of their way to make customers' lives easier, even if that means they have to work harder.

It's easier for companies to make customers call a contact center between certain hours to get help. But limited availability means customers are stuck to only getting assistance between certain hours and often having to sort through a difficult phone tree or explain their situation multiple times. A customer-centric alternative is a self-service option where customers can chat with a bot at any time of day or night and then be seamlessly transferred to a human agent if they need extra assistance. Self-service options may be more difficult for companies and require more time and resources, but they make customers' lives easier.
Undergo a Digital Transformation
To succeed in the era of customer empowerment, companies must undergo a continual digital transformation to create digital solutions for their internal and external customers, tear down silos and use technology to solve everyday problems. When done well, digital transformation creates an agile and technology-driven company that can best meet customers' needs. Companies shouldn't undergo digital transformation simply to say they've done it or to adopt the flashiest technology; real digital transformation is rooted in solving customer problems and delivering a consistently high-quality experience.

GE's digital transformation included a radical restructuring of the company that created a new market and consolidated business units to report digital information on a straight path to the CEO. The radical transformation allowed the company to help customers with a digital-first approach and made digital the focus of the company.

A customer-focused digital transformation shifts the mindset of the entire company to solve problems with digital solutions. In today's world of technology, companies have to continually transform to stay relevant.
Proactively Use Data
There has never been more customer data available than there is today, and customer-centric companies use that data to paint an accurate picture of their customers. Some organizations may scratch the surface of data, but truly customer-centric brands use it to proactively serve customers. Predictive analytics can pinpoint when a customer is most in need of a product or service or when they might require changes or additional service. It's at these moments that the best companies step in to offer support before customers even realize they need it. Customer-centric companies aren't just focused on putting out fires or addressing concerns customers have with their products-they proactively aim to create positive experiences, recommend products and solve problems before they become larger issues.

Sephora is as much a data company as it is a beauty company. With its wealth of customer data, Sephora uses its app to predict when customers will need to purchase new products and when they may be looking for something new. Other companies prioritize customers by predicting major life events that may trigger customers needing new products or advice.
Innovate and Pivot
If 2020 taught us anything, it's the importance of agility. Customer trends and needs change at a rapid pace, and customer-centric companies can swiftly change direction to meet those needs, often even before customers realize the need for something new.

Customer-centric companies aren't afraid to take risks and innovate. No matter their size, they don't get bogged down with red tape and bureaucracy and instead operate with a startup mentality to move and be agile. Companies that are truly focused on customers aim for continual innovation to bring the best products and services to customers.

Customer-centricity is vital for companies in 2021. When a company is truly customer-centric, every decision and action is done with customers in mind. It's the customer-centric companies that set the tone and lead the charge with loyal, satisfied customers.
Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker and the author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. Sign up for her weekly newsletter here.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
What Does It Mean To Be Customer-Centric In 2021?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Customer experience is continually evolving as technology and customer demands change. Just because a company was once customer-centric doesn't mean it still is in 2021. What does it mean to be customer-centric in 2021? Consider these six factors of customer-centric companies.