There's no doubt about one thing: you can't stand still. To stay in the market, you need to actively evolve on several fronts! And to get on the right track, it's essential to focus on your current customers and make decisions with them in mind. In other words, you need to develop a customer-centric strategy . I imagine you're wondering:
“And how do I create a customer-centric strategy that is truly effective?
Well, it's simpler than it seems! And this content will help you with this challenge. In it, you'll find an explanation of the concept, how to use data, and the main steps for practical application.
Let's start with an essential question:
What is a customer-centric strategy?
A customer-centric strategy is exactly what it sounds like: a market strategy that puts the customer at the center of decision-making .
A customer-centric company not only offers the best service, but also strives to create an unforgettable customer experience from the first moment they interact with the brand. And of course, this unique experience extends to after-sales service, encompassing the entire customer journey.
You don't need to be an expert in consumer behavior to understand how impactful it is to give customers this prominent position within a company. In fact, a study by Deloitte and Touche found that customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable than companies that don't have the same focus. Just imagine!
Using data in a customer-centric strategy
Putting the customer first requires considerable maturity from any company. While it can be done organically, relying on the team's intuition, there's a more effective way to do this: using data.
But where will this data come from?
Your CRM will be your primary source of data about your customer behavior. With it, you can understand aspects such as:
- Purchasing behavior;
- Moments of greatest interest or engagement;
- Extra service opportunities for engaged customers; and
- When and to which customers to offer customizations.
These are just some of the aspects you can explore with the help of your CRM and a customer-first mindset
How to have a customer-centric strategy (in practice!)
The first thing you should know when implementing a customer-centric strategy is that it will be implemented indefinitely within your company. From the moment you begin applying this concept, you'll notice that doors will begin to open and more and more ideas for improvements will emerge. At this stage, it's crucial to document all these areas for improvement, both from a product and service perspective.
Anyway, I decided to outline the four main steps to boosting your customer-centric strategy! Check it out:
1) Understand the entire Customer Journey
If you haven't yet studied and documented the customer journey, you might want to do so first and then come back to this article. This will be the foundation for implementing a strong customer-centric strategy. Watch our webinar on the customer journey
2) Anticipate customer needs
If you offer an incredible product or service to the market and acquire customers every month through an acquisition strategy that considers the entire customer journey, congratulations! You're doing it right. Now is the time to take the next step and identify opportunities to act!
This is probably the most important step in becoming a customer-centric company! After all, once you understand exactly how your customer behaves, you have the chance to further strengthen your relationship with them. This means you can support them in their moments of doubt or celebrate with them in their moments of happiness.
Some opportunities you may identify at this time are:
- Develop support materials to address common questions and include sending them at the exact times each question typically arises;
- Improve your emails so that they convey exactly the message your customer needs to receive at that moment, according to their stage;
- Review your entire sales process from this new perspective;
- Create moments of delight during the implementation or monitoring stages of your customers.
These are just a few ideas, but you can go even further and bring your team together to brainstorm !
3) Use social media appropriately
Use each social network to its fullest, considering the point in the customer journey at which they engage with that channel. For example, your customer may only start following you on Instagram after becoming a current customer.
So, you can leverage this channel to further deepen your relationship, share industry facts, and inform about brand news. However, trying to incentivize sales may no longer make much sense, after all, the customer has already made the decision to buy your product. With this in mind, you can better balance the content you publish and align the best tone of voice.
4) Take a look at your Churn rate (or customer loss)
You and your acquisition team know how difficult it is to acquire new customers! That's why more and more companies are focusing on retaining existing customers rather than seeking new ones. The biggest reason for this decision is cost. Did you know that, according to Super Office , acquiring a new customer can cost on average 5x more than investing in retaining an existing one ?
Want to know why we're so focused on retaining customers? While it may seem natural, this isn't always the case. It's not uncommon to find companies that only focus on new customers and forget about current and former customers. This type of behavior is responsible for the loss of an average of 10% of customers every year. The good part about identifying this gap is that you can act on it and delight these customers before they leave you!
Besides actively addressing this common problem, you can also learn a lot about your customers by paying attention to churning customers. After all, what's driving them away? Perhaps talking to a dissatisfied customer at this point will be key to identifying other important points to consider in your customer-centric strategy.
Conclusion
This is how entrepreneurship or working on growing a company works: you start with the basics and then improve every detail. And the details never stop emerging, right? There's always one more factor that can be improved to impact your business's growth!
By the way, have you ever thought about what your company will look like in five years? And in ten or even twenty years? It's hard to imagine exactly how your product or service will evolve in the market, isn't it?
But one thing is certain: your customer will come first. Because if they don't, you'll likely struggle to survive in a market so determined to do so.
So, get started now and feel free to leave questions and share your results with us here in the comments.
