What does customer-centric mean? Five tips for your business

Brands that take extra measures to make customers feel heard and understood during every encounter (from their website design to emails to service interactions) foster a customer-centric approach throughout the customer journey. The more customer-centric an organization is, the more likely it is to establish a larger customer base with loyal customers who spread positive word of mouth and refer their friends and family to the products and services the business offers. 

What does it mean to be customer-centric?

Being customer-centric means placing the customer at the center of every business decision and interaction. It involves deeply understanding customer needs, preferences, and pain points, and consistently delivering products, services, and experiences that not only meet but exceed customer expectations. A customer-centric organization prioritizes customer satisfaction at every touchpoint, building long-term relationships and creating advocates who promote the business and refer new customers. By adopting a customer-centric approach, businesses can differentiate themselves from competitors, drive growth, and foster a culture of continuous improvement.

5 tips to make your business more customer-centric

The key to driving customer-centricity throughout your brand? Make it a habit to consider the impact decisions made across all departments will have on your customers. An organization that fails to think of its customers first is destined to fail as they will build the wrong products, invest in subpar resources, and fail to meet customer service standards. 

When team members across all departments listen to and consider customer needs, companies build products and services that meet or exceed customer expectations. The more you ingrain this mindset into your entire organization, the stronger customer experience you deliver. 

Here are five ways to ensure your business is delivering a customer-centric experience.

1. Build a customer-centric view into your core values

Like most things, starting from the inside makes ideas easier to implement and practice. Including a customer-focused core value in your mission statement helps your entire team remain focused on staying customer-obsessed. Preach this concept to your leadership, team, and customers so you can hold your business accountable for delivering. When deciding on a new feature or launching a partnership, ask if the decision is in the best interest of your customers. At Tethr, each of our core values speaks directly to the experience we strive to provide to our customers.

2. Be sure your marketing team is aligned on the concept

Are customers a part of a company's marketing message? They should be. Strategies such as inbound marketing, customer advocacy, and customer-first point-of-views in content help marketing teams deliver relevant content to prospects and clients so that they can more easily promote your business themselves. By closely collaborating with the product and sales teams, your marketing team can gain insights into customer needs, trends, and upcoming features, enabling them to create tailored and relevant content that resonates with your target audience.

3. Get your sales team on board

Sales representatives are on the front lines of customer interactions, and a customer-centric selling approach is instrumental in building trust and fostering long-term customer relationships. Encourage your sales team to actively share helpful content and demonstrations without waiting for customers to ask for them. Establish a close relationship between the sales and marketing teams, allowing sales reps to request specific content based on customer needs and providing marketing with valuable customer insights.

4. Predict customer needs

Anticipating customer needs and proactively providing solutions is critical for a customer-centric organization. Collaboration between departments is essential in this regard. By working together, departments within your organization can gather insights, analyze trends, and identify potential pain points, enabling you to develop products and services that meet current and future customer needs. Looking out for your customers in the long term shows that your organization does its research and that your team cares.

5. Collect customer feedback

Regular communication with your customers is an obvious but important aspect of gauging satisfaction. Surveys are a traditional approach for collecting customer feedback, but as average survey response rates dwindle to the single digits, they’re no longer the most effective method. Using a conversation intelligence platform like Tethr enables you to uncover CX insights based on what customers are saying in their conversations with your business, eliminating the need for post-interaction surveys.

Customer-centricity in the contact center and beyond

As frontline representatives for your business, your customer service and sales teams must maintain a customer-centric approach. But a customer-centric mindset should be embedded across your entire organization. From marketing materials to the buying process to the product itself, every part of your customer journey should be designed with the customers’ needs in mind. By embracing customer-centricity as the backbone of your business, you can outshine competitors, increase our customers’ lifetime value, and foster long-term customer loyalty.