A great product or service is no longer is key differentiator for businesses. Today’s customers are well aware of the choices available to them and the value proposition each brings to the table. They expect brands to offer a compelling reason for them to choose one over the other.  Brands must approach every customer interaction as an opportunity to deliver a customer-centric experience that builds confidence and long-term loyalty. According to research conducted by Salesforce, 81% of consumers indicated that the experience a business provides is just as important as the products and services it is selling. It's a well-understood fact that to stay current businesses must deliver exceptional customer experiences. 

What does being customer-centric mean?

In simple terms being customer-centric means putting the customer first. It involves delivering an exceptional interaction experience before and after every transaction. Customer-centric businesses deliver connected experiences and a high degree of personalization across multiple interaction channels such as the web, social media, apps, and more. 

Why should brands be customer-centric? 

The quality of a customer experience determines whether or not a customer will return to you again. Across a survey of 15,000 global consumers and business buyers, Salesforce research discovered that 92% of customers said that they are more likely to make another purchase with a brand if they have a good customer service experience.  

The benefits of being customer-centric

Being customer-centric is not a new idea. Having said that, today’s available technologies such as smartphones, social media, and artificial intelligence (AI) allow businesses to personalize interactions with consumers in a whole new way.

Being customer-centric means offering personalized recommendations to customers based on their purchasing history as they browse your website or app and then following up with an email offering a discount or an upgrade. 

A hospitality group, for instance, can leverage guest information to personalize their stay at one of their properties, and then anticipate their needs for their next stay. From tailored bed linen and furnishings to information on fitness trainers or aerobics classes, guests can have access to real-time services based on their preferences and interests. An online retailer can serve up similar products to what the customer has shown interest in earlier, as well as provide product comparisons. The opportunities to tailor customer experiences are virtually limitless, and each interaction can augment your ability to deliver best-in-class interactions every single time  

What does a customer-centric organization look like? 

Customer-centric companies start by visualizing the customer experience first and then work backward to build the technology. The retail industry presents a classic example. Up until a few years ago, retailers lacked the technology to connect sales, marketing, and customer service to have access to a 360-degree view of the customer. Today with personalised engagement technology, retailers are able to come good on the promise of putting the customer at the heart of everything they do. Customers are willing to share personal preferences in exchange for personalized recommendations and frictionless experiences.   

Build an organization-wide customer-centric mindset 

To be truly customer-centric, you need to provide a connected experience to customers across your entire organization. 

According to Salesforce research, 70% of customers indicated that the key to acquiring their business is providing connected, contextual experiences across channels and departments. Almost 2 out of 3 customers said that they expect businesses to recognize them wherever they interact with them. Almost 70% of them said that knowledge of marketing campaigns they’ve seen and past service interactions is very important to them,  Almost half of them said they have no patience for disconnected experiences.

The need of the hour is to deliver a personalized experience in every interaction whether it’s a marketing campaign, a customer service interaction, a shipment delivery, or a post-sales feedback call. One of the major hurdles businesses face in connectivity across the organization is siloed data. Companies must unify all their data in a single place to unlock its value. 

Businesses also must ensure that everyone in the organization has a unified and comprehensive view of the customer and understands the role of customer experience. Business leaders need to encourage employees to prioritize the customer experience. Asking simple questions such as “Did we help them solve their problem?” or “How do they feel about the last interaction” go a long way towards building a truly customer-centric culture.

Steps toward a customer-centric future

Business leaders around the globe today recognize that providing tailored customer experiences is not a value-add anymore. It's a necessity to stay competitive. Customers expect every interaction to be relevant, timely, and personalized. 

With a razor-sharp focus on the customer experience, a customer-centric business can provide seamless, connected, tailored, and meaningful journeys that compel customers to come back to them. Again and again. And when businesses combine the power of AI with their data, they can unlock insights into customer behavior, anticipate customer needs better, and provide tailored digital assistance in real-time. 

Visualize the use case of Adam - a business traveler. The moment he walks into a hotel room, he is greeted by his favorite music playing, photos of his family in digital frames, and a message on his favorite messaging app suggesting what to order for dinner based on the history of his past room service orders. AI can suggest new episodes of his favorite shows or upcoming sports broadcasts of the sports he follows.  

Applying AI to customer data can be far more powerful than any tailored marketing campaign. It's personal, relevant, real-time, and learning continuously with every interaction. 

Deliver experiences that your customers expect from you

Girikon has been a Salesforce Consulting Partner for over a decade helping businesses across the globe transform to becoming customer-centric businesses, automate processes, streamline operations, and provide tailored customer experiences. Our experts understand that by connecting all your data, deploying the right technologies, and implementing the right processes can transform your business from being product-centric to being customer-centric.  

Want to learn more about how to build a customer-centric experience across every interaction? Contact our expert today.

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