09/11/2024 ⏱13 minutes
Shifting the Focus to the Customer: The Basics of Customer-Centric Marketing
The e-commerce market in 2024 is oversaturated with advertising. According to the latest research, the average Internet user sees from 6 to 10 thousand advertising banners every day. In such conditions, banner blindness inevitably develops, and advertising stops bringing results. At the same time, promotion budgets are growing, brands continue to fight for the customer's attention.
Changing the focus from the product to the buyer - customer jordan phone numbers centricity - will help you stand out from the competition. In this article, we will analyze in detail how it helps improve the company's image, increase customer loyalty and boost sales.
Gitnux Internet Advertising Report
Customer Centricity vs. Customer Focus: What's the Difference?
How Customer Centricity Can Help Business
Principles of Customer Centric Business
Conclusion
Customer Centricity vs. Customer Focus: What's the Difference?
Customer centricity is often confused with customer focus. But these are different things.
The concept of customer focus implies specific actions by which a business learns about the needs and desires of the audience and satisfies them.
Customer centricity is a broader concept. It is a strategy in which the focus shifts from the product to the client, to their needs and expectations.
With customer centricity, marketing is built around the benefit for the buyer. The company does not promise immediate benefits, but explains why it is beneficial for the client to stay with it. New products or changes to current ones are developed taking into account the interests of the audience and based on their feedback.
For example, T-Bank offers the client to choose categories of goods and services every month for which cashback will be accrued. In this case, the bank's mobile application selects categories based on card expenses for the previous month.
How to improve customer service in an online store
Cashback from T-Bank as an example of customer centricity
T-Bank consistently offers everyone the category “1% on all purchases” — for clients who cannot decide, but want to receive bonuses
Let's consider what is meant by customer focus and customer centricity, using specific examples:
Customer focus Customer centricity
The company's staff helps the client find the desired product and advises on alternatives. An online cosmetics store analyzes customer purchases and offers personalized recommendations.
The service center provides fast and high-quality replacement or repair of faulty devices under warranty. An electronics manufacturer is launching a program to exchange old devices for new ones based on an analysis of the gadget upgrade cycle of its customers.
The company offers prompt technical support and quickly resolves any problems that arise for customers so that they are satisfied with the service here and now. The pet supply store conducts regular customer surveys to discuss their experiences with the product.
High-quality service does not guarantee a customer-centric approach - to fully implement it, you need to interact with the client not only when placing an order, but also accompany him at all stages of interaction with the brand.
"Customer focus is, in simple terms, the moment when a company looks directly at the client: takes into account his standard requests, knows how to sell him its goods or services.
And customer centricity is when a company looks in the same direction as the client: knows his pains, understands his problems, thinks like him, takes into account his experience and offers the best solution that can cover as many of his needs as possible and make him happy."
Tatyana Dudnik
Tatyana Dudnik
Product Marketing Manager RetailCRM
RetailCRM Telegram ChannelSubscribeWe write about e-commerce, retail and show customer cases
How Customer Centricity Will Help Business
No matter how innovative a product is, it may not be interesting to the customer. To attract the buyer's attention, a business must know what exactly the buyer expects and what will motivate him to buy this product and not a competitor's product.
Read more about how to find out what the client wants in the article
When a business goes out of its way to meet the customer and takes their feedback into account, the customer remains satisfied and is more willing to return to the brand.
Customer-centric companies generate 60% more profit
"These are very difficult but interesting times - the market is oversaturated, there are fewer and fewer unique goods and services, people are fed up with products and there is a struggle for impressions and emotions. Therefore, from two identical offers, customers increasingly choose the one that gives them more sensitive service, convenience, speed, additional perks and care in small details. This is why the customer-centric approach is now at the peak of its popularity"
Tatyana Dudnik
Tatyana Dudnik
Product Marketing Manager RetailCRM
Here's how else a customer-centric approach can benefit business:
A regular customer is ready to pay more and buy a new product. The first purchase from a customer can be a trial, and this is a great opportunity for the company to prove itself: serve him at a high level, tell him about the loyalty program and offer to register, ask after the purchase whether everything was to his liking. If the product is of high quality and the experience is positive, most likely after some time the customer will return to replenish stocks or try something new from your assortment.
How a Loyalty Program Improves Customer Retention and Increases Repeat Sales
A satisfied customer turns into a brand advocate and becomes a "living advertisement". A dissatisfied customer will spread information about you faster than a satisfied one. Buyers can "scold" the company, drawing attention to the negative aspects of the product and service. At such moments, a loyal community can come to the defense, sharing positive interactions with the brand. This is especially effective for large companies that do not have time to track all mentions on social networks.
"Advocates" of the Dodo Pizza brand
Dodo Pizza has a very loyal community that defends its beloved brand on all social networks.
Loyalty grows, customer turnover decreases. Customers who feel that they are important to the company stay with the store for a long time. The Pareto principle works here: 20% of consumers bring 80% of the profit. Regular customers bring more profit, react more positively to changes, and participate in marketing activities with pleasure. Thus, customer loyalty increases, and the business can be sure that it will receive a guaranteed income from a certain part of it. This allows you to more accurately predict the company's development and form a more successful marketing strategy.
To successfully implement a customer-centric strategy, rely on the principles that we will discuss in the next section.
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To ensure a customer-centric approach, you need to know your buyer. This is where this approach is very closely related to CRM marketing. Much of what you need to interact with the buyer is already stored in the system: purchase history, average check, loyalty program data and analytics on marketing interactions.
Let's consider how you can apply the principles of customer centricity in your marketing strategy using various CRM system tools: customer cards, order history, triggers and other functions.
How a CRM system helps optimize business processes and earn more
Principles of customer centricity
These simple actions will show the customer that he is more important to you than the product and will increase his loyalty.
Take care of the customer after the purchase. The relationship with the customer should not end as soon as he receives the order. Remind him of yourself in a few days, but do not impose new products. It is better to ask how everything went, whether the customer is satisfied, ask for feedback. This can be done with the help of, for example, trigger letters - automatic notifications that are sent to the client when the order status changes to "Fulfilled".
Trigger letter from Golden Apple
The mailing from the Golden Apple arrives a week after the order is received: this period is usually enough for the client to try the product. The buyer is reminded of the order composition and asked to leave feedback on each of them
Another way to take care of the client is to remind him to replenish his favorite products in time. This can be done with the help of a trigger mailing or, for example, by setting up the marketing rule “Regularly consumed products” in RetailCRM.
If you have a blog, suggest that the client go to it and read articles on how to use your product. This way, you will form an idea of the company in the buyer’s mind not only with the help of the product, but also with the help of media.