4 reasons why you should be more customer centric

To stay ahead in the current age of retail being customer-centric is a must. In this blog post, we’ll share 4 reasons why you should focus on customer centricity and what you can do to shift your approach.

In the modern age of retail, your customers have more options than ever before. Competition is high, and to retain their business, you must create experiences that take their behaviors and needs into account—in other words: you must be customer-centric.

Customer centricity is a business approach that focuses on creating positive customer experiences. With so many retailers vying for your customers’ attention, crafting a highly personalized experience can help your business cut through the noise and be the brand of choice. By creating seamless and meaningful customer experiences, you can earn your customer’s satisfaction and, more importantly, their recurring business.

Why is customer centricity important?

Customer centricity is all about prioritizing your customers' needs to keep them satisfied throughout their purchasing experience. But to prioritize your customers' behaviors, you need to first understand them.

A customer-centric business will prioritize understanding their customers and create  the experiences that tailor to their needs.  In every step of your approach, your customer should be the main focus, and when you put the customer first your efforts will be greatly rewarded.

The 4 Benefits of Customer Centricity

Segmentation in retail enables marketers to customize their marketing efforts to different audience groups. Those marketing efforts can relate to both product development and communications. Here's how segmentation will help your brand-customer interactions:

1. Customer centricity increases retention rates

Customer acquisition may be a common goal for most modern retail businesses, when in fact customer retention should be the primary focus. After all, acquiring new customers is five times more costly than retaining existing ones.

Not only does it cost less to retain existing customers, but these existing customers tend to spend more than their one-time counterparts…approximately 67% more. When you focus on your experiences your customers will return to your business again and again. As a result of increased customer retention, your business can realize reduced marketing costs and improved profit margins.

2. Customer centricity increases word of mouth marketing

A satisfied customer is more likely to recommend your business to family and friends than one who had a mediocre experience. Loyal and satisfied customers are 4x times as likely to refer your brand than their counterparts. These guerilla marketers will promote your brand organically by word of mouth, and are reported to account for 13% of all consumer sales.

By being customer-centric you can turn your buyers into raving fans who can’t help but promote your brand and your products. Word-of-mouth marketing increases the credibility of your business without directly increasing marketing expenses—and this can all be achieved by taking a more customer-centric approach.

3. Identify new ways to win

When you take a more customer-centric approach you’ll identify new ways to drive revenue and win. By being more customer-centric you can discover new customer segments, marketing approaches, or even products that drive conversions and improve the lifetime value of your customers.

Being customer-centric means knowing your customers, and by knowing your customers you can discover new ways of driving satisfaction and retention.

4. Customer centricity facilitates business growth

By honing in on your customer experience you can identify and fill any gaps in your products or services. For example, a clothing retail business that takes a deep dive into the purchase history of their customers might find that their products lean more towards men than women. With this information, said clothing brand can create products that move to satisfy this underserved customer segment. Alternatively, that same business can focus their efforts on their male audience creating products and marketing with the goal of improving the overall lifetime value of that customer segment.

When you take a more customer-centric approach you’ll get a deeper understanding of what makes your customers tick, and the moves you can make to encourage retention.

How to take a more customer-centric approach

Customer centricity means listening to your customers, understanding their needs, and adapting your business based on these insights. When becoming customer-centric you should take a top-to-bottom approach, ensuring all of your processes and touchpoints put your customer first.

1. Listen to and communicate with your customers

Show your customers that you care about their concerns by listening to them. Follow up with your customers even after they’ve completed their purchase. Ask them to share their experience, or recommend products that might complement their previous purchase.

For instance, instead of dismissing a negative review, you can pivot the situation by offering a way to remedy their complaints. You should also interact with your customers on social media and follow through on every customer interaction whether that be in the comment section of an Instagram post or a negative email.

2. Empower and reward your team

Customer centricity should be central in all that you do, and that means your teams should be customer centric as well. Everyone must be on the same page with prioritizing the customer experience from the ecommerce customer service rep to the in-store manager.

Let everyone know the value of each customer and the best practices for handling various customer interactions. If possible, introduce a reward program to motivate your employees to continue offering great customer experiences.

3. Be Transparent

When it comes to creating a customer-centric business culture, transparency is everything. Customers want a brand they can trust, and this means being as open as possible.

Create accessible communications channels for customers to reach you with ease. And when you interact with your customers, ensure that each touchpoint is thoughtful and fully addresses their needs.

Taking Customer-Centricity to the Next Level with Lexer's CDP

The emergence of customer data tools such as CDPs (customer data platform) have given organizations the chance to know more about their customers, helping them adapt to be more customer-centric.

But to become customer-centric you must first understand who your customers are, the products and services that engage them, and the behaviors that drive their purchases. Lexer’s  CDP provides you with streamlined access to your customer data so that you can better understand their behaviors and create one-of-a-kind experiences all with the simple click.

If you would like to learn how you can use Lexer’s CDP to become customer-centric, use the calendar below to book a hands-on demo.