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All businesses need customers to survive, whether it’s a B2B or B2C. Some businesses operate on a product-centric approach, putting less care into their customers. However, having a customer-centric business brings advantages that other types of businesses don’t have.
What is a Customer-Centric Business?
A customer-centric business puts its focus on the customer’s experience, thus building brand loyalty. As its name suggests, customers come first in this style of business. This however doesn’t mean that the customer is always right, it means listening to them is a crucial part of setting up good customer relationships. Sometimes, the improvements customers ask for will be unreasonable but the underlying message of their requests will still yield good ideas. Businesses do this to create meaningful connections with their customers and improve their customers’ experience.Advantages
The whole philosophy of business changes when it becomes customer-centric. With these changes come benefits for the company as a whole. These advantages include qualities such as being data-driven, building brand trust, as well as, having customers boost the presence or brand awareness.Data-Driven Decisions
Understanding customer psychology helps a great deal in analyzing data. This data can be taken from surveys or any platform where your company interacts with your customers. Different ways data can be collected:- Surveys
- Focus groups
- Website analytics
- Market analysis
- Social media monitoring
Brand Trust
The Journal of Global Strategic Management defines brand trust as “the willingness of the average consumer to rely on the ability of the brand to perform its stated function.” Putting it simply, it’s the ability for someone to trust that a brand will live up to its name. For example, Nike’s purpose is “to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete,” and they deliver on this promise, not just by their sports apparel, but also by the content and contributions to the sporting community. Nike has built brand trust so they are now synonymous with high-quality sports apparel. When fostered, brand trust leads to brand loyalty, which according to Investopedia is “the positive association consumers attach to a particular product or brand.” Brand loyalty can be seen when one of your customers repeatedly chooses your brand over the alternatives. Going back to the Nike example, brand loyalty is seen when someone has repeatedly bought Nike over any other athletic shoe brands such as Adidas or Under Armor. How does this tie in with a customer-centric business? Essentially, customer-centric businesses have an easier time building relationships with their customers. Relationships require communication and that is what they do best.Increased Presence and Brand Awareness
Brand awareness, as defined by Investopedia, is “the degree of consumer recognition of a product by its name.” If you think of a product or service such as soda or insurance, what names come to mind? Chances are you’ll think of names that you’ve seen in some form of advertising or that you heard about. Only counting the human element, there are 4 main ways to increase brand awareness.- Brand Ambassadors
- Influencers
- Affiliates
- Customer