Greatest hits of Customer 360: Definition, benefits, examples
We're getting closer to the CX holy grail. Learn about Customer 360, the benefits of a unified comprehensive profile for brands, and the role of CDP in achieving it.
In today’s increasingly digital world, offering personalized services and a customer-centric business model isn’t just a “nice to have” — it’s fundamental for success.
A McKinsey study found that 71% of consumers expect personalized services and 76% get frustrated when they don’t receive it.
These expectations aren’t limited to B2C interactions; they’re applicable to every industry. Forrester notes that prioritizing the customer experience is now considered table stakes in B2B, with 52% of B2B marketing leaders committed to increase spend on content marketing and personalization technology.
This is increasingly important as digital native generations fill the workforce, with expectations shaped by online experiences that cater to their unique wants and needs.
Prioritizing the customer experience to maximize customer satisfaction is the heart of the customer-centric business model.
Establishing and supporting a customer-centric culture is essential not only for engaging with customers how they expect to be treated, it’s key for generating value, improving internal operations and — of course — driving revenue.
What being customer-centric looks like
A customer-centric business model tends to have three core characteristics:
- Put the customer at the heart of everything
- Develop a deep understanding of each customer’s most important needs
- Leverage those insights to provide services or products that will help them achieve success
We call these pillars because they need to be part of a comprehensive, organization-wide business strategy. You can’t save it for the last part of the sales pitch or leave it all to your customer service reps.
Everything has to start with putting the customer first. It’s relatively simple to say — almost every company claims to do it — but putting it into practice takes time, effort, and investment.
Overall, the elements that establish a company as being customer centric include:
- A lead-by-example approach from top executives and managers
- Constant consideration throughout the entire organization of how decisions will impact customers
- Dedication to understanding customer pain points, addressing customer needs, and providing customer-focused solutions
- Positioning and branding that places the company as a partner to its customers
There’s also an important strategic element to customer centricity. Some customers may have difficult or even impossible demands, while others may only be interested in limited services or a short-term partnership.
Employees at every level need to be able to identify the most valuable customers and focus on building relationships that will provide the best lifetime value for the company.
What is customer centricity: The importance of CX in the age of data
Customer centricity is the act of putting your customers at the heart of everything an organization does. To be customer-centric, brands should consider a customer data platform - here’s why.
7 benefits of a customer-centric business model
Investment into a customer-first business model pays off in multiple ways:
- More sales and increased revenue. Fundamentally, being customer-centric means being able to improve customer satisfaction, which makes it easier to attract and retain customers. Both are fundamental to arguably the most important business benefit: increased revenue.
- Improved operational efficiency. The closer you work with customers, the more data points you’re able to identify and gather. These data points not only provide more insight into customer needs, but also how they use a product or service and any issues or complications that can arise. Identifying these patterns can inform strategies for improving efficiency.
- Reduced costs. Part of those gathered insights include seeing how customers set up and make use of a product or service. Modern applications can be complex and best practices aren’t always readily apparent. Seeing what’s tripping customers up, or identifying features and practices that are underutilized can help reduce the cost to serve, increasing customer satisfaction.
- Build loyalty as a trusted partner. Offering support and addressing needs that go beyond the sale of product or service helps build loyalty and positions the company as a trusted, reliable partner. Building a long-term relationship that can translate into long-term revenue may require proactive outreach to respond to changes in a customer’s situation. That approach takes training and practice, but provides unparalleled value.
- Growth opportunities. A closer and more proactive customer relationship makes it easier to identify any unfulfilled customer needs. This can inform any potential upsell or cross-sell opportunities.
- Happier, more engaged workers. Providing the training and support that a workforce needs to be customer-centric builds their professional skills and shows that the company is invested in their success. Employees who feel valued are more likely to be more engaged, creative, and committed to success.
- Unique customer experience. Your company can offer a unique set of services and support for customers, allowing you to stay a step ahead of the competition. If you aren’t aiming to be customer-centric, you risk being left behind.
Four habits of highly customer-centric organizations
Benefitting both the bottom line and consumers, customer-centric organizations build their businesses around solving challenges for their customers,
Customer centricity: Tips for getting started
There are many ways to adopt a customer-centric business model. For the sake of brevity, here are three fundamental approaches:
- Drive customer insights through data. More data points allow for more insights into your customers. Sales opportunities aren’t always apparent through traditional methods of surveys and sales history. Look for ways to combine data on customer behavior and product data with relevant external information, which could be anything from seasonal changes and holidays to impending supply chain disruptions.
- Solicit and act on customer feedback. Of course, you always want to engage with customers through direct channels. However, don’t overlook the information gleaned from social media or third-party review sites. Using data mining and similar search tools can collect comments and feedback that you might otherwise overlook.
- Provide employees with tools and training they need to succeed. Being customer-centric requires a single customer view. Every employee needs to have the digital tools that allow them to review all aspects of a customer relationship, from history and activity to interactions across all channels. This requires not just the tools, but also the training to use them and effectively engage with clients and with co-workers.
From the top of the organization on down, every employee should understand how your customers want to be treated and how to meet their needs. Don’t put the responsibility entirely on one department.
Every employee can benefit from a mastery of active listening skills, the ability to adapt and be flexible, and the confidence to ask questions that dig deeper into a customer’s needs or concerns.
