Whether you own a digital marketing agency, B2B company, eCommerce store, or any other enterprise at that, it is important to have a customer-centric approach in your business environment. Aside from developing new strategies and staying on top of new technologies that will grow your business, constantly improving the customer experience should also be included in your equation for success.

But what is the customer-centric approach and why is it important for your business? This article will tackle everything you need to know and will give further insight on why you should adopt this approach today.

What is Customer-Centric?

Customer-centric, also referred to as partner-centric, is both a strategy and a business culture. It focuses on creating and providing the best customer experience that builds brand loyalty. The approach puts the customer at the center of the business philosophy, operations, and ideas.

Businesses that embrace the customer-centric approach believe that their partners are the primary reason they exist and do their best to keep their customers satisfied. According to Deloitte and Touche, customer-centric companies were 60% more profitable compared to businesses that didn’t focus on the customer.

Having a customer-centric mindset in your business environment helps you personalize your offers, provide an excellent customer experience, make your customers feel extra special, and most importantly, nurture strong, long-term relationships and partnerships. Thinking in terms of customer centricity helps you empathize with your customers, understand their pain points, build trust, and in turn have happy and satisfied customers.

Take a look at this infographic that shows what customer centricity brings to your business:

You can assess customer-centricity in your business environment and operations by answering these questions:

• Do you know your customers?     Do you truly know who they are? Do you know what they want or don’t want? Why do they avail of your product or service? Would you know if they purchased from your competitors?
• Do you include your customers in your business development process?     In your business process, do you regularly ask your customers for their feedback on the products and services you offer? Are they included in your research activities?
• When you make decisions, do you include your customers’ points of view?     What are your customers’ pain points? What problems do they need to be solved and how?

Getting answers to these questions will help you navigate through opportunities of creating relevant strategies to drive more sales and hasten business growth.

Why is it important to have a customer-centric approach to your business?

The customer-centric approach benefits the interactions between you and your customers in every stage of the customer journey. From awareness, to purchase, to advocacy, personalization of services is done through customer-centricity. Organizations that build on their commitment to providing the best services to their customers is a competitive differentiator.

According to PWC, experience is everything in business. The study shows that one in three customers choose to leave a brand they love after one bad experience. Bad experiences drive customers away, faster than we might think. But when a business environment is strong in the area of customer-centricity, negative experiences can be avoided. Why? Because with the customer-centric approach, your business can create an environment for great customer experiences. This includes providing services with speed, consistency, convenience, friendliness, all with the human touch.

Human touch here means “creating real connections by making technology feel more human and giving employees what they need to create better customer experiences,” which is what the customer-centric approach brings forward.

The reward of having a customer-centric approach in your business is retention and loyalty. It’s more cost-effective to keep a customer rather than acquiring a new one. The Harvard Business Review explains that it is 5 to 25 times more expensive to acquire a new customer. Companies should then be prioritizing customer retention through customer-centricity.

The Customer-Centric Approach Builds Strong Partnerships

The customer-centric approach should be perceived as a mission and not just a concept. When you commit to putting your customers first by understanding their problems and investing resources in improving the quality of your customer experience and support, they will recognize your company and brand as valuable and reliable. In turn, you’ll grow loyalty and build stronger partnerships with your customers.

At eFlexervices, customer centricity is ingrained into our system because we value partnerships with our customers. We always think about long-term gains as we keep leveling up our customer service teamwork. We recognize the impact of our customers’ impressions at every phase of the customer journey, which is why customer-centric processes are in place for a smooth and frictionless onboarding experience.

We strive to provide world-class customer experiences through our overall business strategy. The customer-centric approach leads to better-informed decisions that help us manage healthy customer relationships and maximize value with all stakeholders.