Customer Service Glossary
What Is Customer-Centricity?
By definition, customer-centricity, or client-centricity, is a business approach that puts the customer first. Customer-centric brands make customer satisfaction, communication, interactions, and long-term relationships the final decision-making factors.
In addition, customer-centric businesses work to understand their customers better through meaningful feedback and data analysis. Then, client-centric companies develop standard operating procedures, personalized marketing efforts, and customer service policies that benefit both the patron and the company and result in a partnership between shoppers and retailers instead of solely focusing on making more money.
In a customer-centric business environment, the entire organization understands that each outcome, evolution, merger, and update impacts its customers. Further, they know that customers can choose from countless competitors, which places substantial power into the consumers’ hands. With this in mind, brands consider their customers and determine how to maintain a competitive advantage over other businesses in their industry while ensuring that their clients are satisfied every step of the way.
Customer-centricity is a business strategy, but it’s also a concept, mindset, and culture that must be developed, ingrained, and exemplified by leadership to succeed in the long run. When done correctly, companies can enjoy benefits such as premium pricing, increased sales, boosted revenue, word-of-mouth referrals, and soaring customer satisfaction rates.
Why Is Customer-Centricity Important for Customer Service?
Customer-centricity influences virtually every aspect of an organization, from sales to marketing to IT support. However, customer-centric policies are perhaps most evident in customer service departments.
Customer service agents communicate directly with potential and existing customers each day. As a result, they have the opportunity to enhance or detract from a company’s customer-centric policies. When implemented correctly, customer-centric approaches can improve customer support offerings in several ways, including:
1. Improved Customer Experience (CX)
As the definition of the concept implies, customer-centric organizations take a customer-first approach to support. Because of their customer-focused policies, customer support departments can prioritize customer satisfaction during every interaction.
Customer service agents may provide enhanced personalization using information captured in a customer relationship management tool or through market research. They resolve customer complaints quickly and satisfactorily or offer an omnichannel communication strategy for timely assistance. Alternatively, your company may dedicate some agents to social media channels or website forums to ensure that your followers receive prompt assistance.
Regardless of the methods, customer-centric methodology improves CX, boosts overall satisfaction, and encourages brand loyalty.
2. Increased Customer Retention
30% of shoppers will abandon a company after one negative interaction. With customer acquisition costs rising as much as 25 times higher than customer retention costs, it pays to nurture client-company relationships.
Customer-centricity considers the long-term effect of each customer interaction, with the ultimate goal of preserving the relationship and retaining the customer through advocacy and seamless onboarding that make each shopper feel valued and appreciated.
3. Better Understanding of the Customer Journey
Finally, customer-centricity yields greater insight into the user journey. Customer service agents understand the steps that each shopper goes through before making a purchasing decision.
As such, client-centricity empowers agents to incorporate personalization into the support process. Agents can recommendations, assistance, and guidance while solving problems, soothing concerns, and converting leads into paying clients.
How to Develop A Customer-Centric Business Strategy
Customer-centricity doesn’t happen on accident, nor does it occur overnight. Instead, executives, management, and employees must work together to build a client-focused methodology and organizational culture that places the consumer at the forefront of marketing, conversion, and support strategies.
To begin, consider the three following steps.
1. Creating Company-Wide Goals
In some regards, customer-centricity is an all-or-nothing goal. Even if most employees adopt a customer-focused attitude, a single interaction with a non-customer-centric employee can mean the loss of a customer. To eliminate the risk of a lapse in focus, develop organizational goals and find ways to reward high performers.
2. Focusing On the Customers
Making the shift from product-focused to people-focused can present a stumbling block for many companies. Even so, shifting the focus to customers enables companies to evolve and develop a competitive advantage in an increasingly digital marketplace, while simultaneously encouraging brand loyalty and patron satisfaction.
3. Investing in Long-Term Relationships
Ultimately, companies establish customer-centric strategies to develop long-term, positive relationships with clients, resulting in more conversions and increased revenue. Prioritizing relationship management instead of acquisition, listening to customers, and building trust with your audience are vital steps toward client-centricity.
Increasing Customer-Centricity in Customer Service Departments
Customer-centricity represents a critical step for modern businesses. With changes in customer behavior and expectations driving the evolution, a customer-centric approach to business may be one of the few ways companies can differentiate themselves.
When paired with exemplary customer support operations and positive experiences, companies can leverage customer-centric policies to expand their market share, retain more patrons, and boost sales.