How can you build a customer-obsessed business that values customer experience?

One of the reasons that several organisations are not customer-centric is that only salespeople are in regular touch with customers. There has to be a mechanism where 100% of the organisation, including engineers, and accountants, and finance folk, and everyone, interact with customers. While this may not get them customer obsessed, but will get the journey started.

A HARSH TRUTH: As entrepreneurs, we only try to understand our customers, after we have built our product. The earlier we understand that it works the other way around, the better it will be. AIRBNB is a prime example of understanding customers before product development. Its founders started by renting out air mattresses but quickly realised the need to understand both hosts and guests. They discovered that travellers are looking for unique experiences and hosts wanted to monetise their spare space. This insight led to the development of Airbnb, revolutionising the travel industry.

Study the ones who have done it right. Study Zappos. Study Chewy. Study Pluto Pillow etc. Most brands approach it in a halfhearted way. Customers can see right through that. Value your customers. Engage with them. View their pain points as problems to be solved, not distractions.

At the core of a customer-obsessed culture is a simple rule: listen more than you speak. By integrating direct feedback channels and encouraging all employees to engage with teams in customer service, social media and data insights, you can avoid the trap of assumptions and align strategies with actual customer needs to provide the best experience.

To understand your customers: 1 - Be in the shoes of the customer 2 - Follow their routine without judgment. 3 - Try to understand what they do and why they do it? 4 - Map the journey and personas 5 - Ensure that all employees understand the challenges of the customers and how the organization is working on resolving the same. The more the employees understand the customer, the more likely you will have an organization working towards delivering customer needs.

?? Tailor solutions to directly address customer challenges and desires. ?? Highlight unique benefits and features that meet their specific needs. ?? Iterate your offerings based on customer feedback and behaviors. ??? Communicate value propositions clearly and persuasively. ?? Continuously validate solutions to ensure they remain relevant and desired. ?? Foster a culture of problem-solving that prioritizes customer satisfaction.

Once you know what your customers need and want, the next step is to come up with ways to help them out. This means figuring out what makes your stuff special and how it can make their lives better. You have to make sure you explain it in a way that they'll understand and be convinced by. Then, you have to try it out with them and see if it really works like you hoped. You just have to tweak things based on what they tell you until you hit the nail on the head. This way, you'll end up with products or services that your customers really dig and find super helpful.

Focus on solving your customers' problems rather than just selling products or services. Use customer feedback and market research to identify pain points and develop solutions that address their needs effectively. Prioritize customer satisfaction and strive to exceed their expectations with innovative and user-friendly solutions. By demonstrating a genuine commitment to solving their problems, you can build trust and loyalty, fostering a customer-obsessed culture within your business.

Leveraging deep customer insights to sculpt value propositions that genuinely solve problems marks the essence of customer-centric innovation. It’s about translating understanding into tangible solutions that not only meet needs but also fulfill desires. Articulating these benefits clearly ensures our message resonates. Yet, the key lies in an iterative approach—testing, learning, and refining based on real feedback. This cycle of validation and adaptation ensures our offerings remain not just relevant, but indispensable to our customers.

Basis step 1 you should have your customer journey and personas. Now is the time to brainstorm for solutions and have some prototypes in place so that the users can validate the same. This is the time for ideation. This should be across various departments so as to ensure that the approach is going to work end to end. The key thing to focus is are you being disruptive or are you optimizing a current process. Both have their benefits and challenges

Your customers/clients are YOUR people, show them love in all interactions. Ensure consistency, seamlessness, and personalization throughout the customer journey. Utilize tools like UI/UX design, customer service, and loyalty programs to exceed expectations and boost satisfaction and retention.

Moreover, in addition to comprehending the pain points, it is imperative to strategically align your product roadmap to address and surpass the identified challenges. Proactively enhancing your offerings in line with your overarching vision can foster long-term client satisfaction and reduce churn rates.

?? Craft seamless, personalized interactions across the customer journey. ? Utilize UI/UX design to ensure consistent and engaging experiences. ?? Elevate customer service to exceed expectations at every opportunity. ?? Implement loyalty programs that reward and recognize customer commitment. ?? Apply personalization techniques to make every customer feel unique. ?? Focus on creating memorable impressions to boost satisfaction and loyalty.

Once you've figured out what your customers need, you have to make sure every time they interact with you, whether it's on your website, over the phone, or in person, it's smooth sailing. You want to go above and beyond what they expect, giving them a personalized experience that makes them feel special. To pull this off, you might need to tweak things like how your website looks and feels, how you handle customer service, or even offer some cool perks to keep them coming back. The goal here is to leave them with a smile on their face, making them more likely to stick around and recommend you to their friends.

As an entrepreneur, I go out of my way to ensure that customers and followers have an outstanding experience at every touchpoint. How do I do that? I go the extra mile. I do more than all of my competitors. I don't rely on bots to make content -- that's for starters.

Our business deals with customers who are extremely stressed out. This is very difficult to manage. One way I have found that provides some comfort is going above and beyond to communicate to provide next steps and progress updates. This can remove any guesswork and lessen the stress of uncertainty and the unknown. I am also of the opinion that many folks merely skim emails and sometimes reply without even reading the full email. Therefore, it could be worth implementing redundancies to ensure they are updated when they least expect it.

Listening to your customers is one of the simplest and most effective strategies to grow your business. Try to listen to their struggles and aspirations. See how you can modify your products/services to address that. Keep doing this often and you'll land yourself a business that is loved by your customers.

Being regularly in touch with your clients ensures they feel comfortable coming to you ahead of a problem arising to a level that could cause your client to churn. The feedback loop is imperative for a successful product roadmap.

?? Embrace a culture where customer feedback drives innovation and improvement. ?? Actively seek reviews, testimonials, and referrals to understand customer perceptions. ?? Monitor customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy to gauge business health. ?? Create a continuous feedback loop, showing customers their opinions matter. ?? Use feedback to pinpoint areas for product, service, and experience enhancements. ?? Demonstrate commitment to meeting and exceeding customer needs and expectations.

Test all the time. Test your assumptions with a Google form, test users as they interact with your POC, track the data, ask as many people as you can, from as many different fields as possible what they think about the product... Testing is not simply a mark of humility but the right approach if you truly want to build a product that fits users' needs.

?? Involve customers in product development and innovation for co-created value. ?? Encourage customers to share their stories and experiences broadly. ?? Reward loyalty and support, turning customers into passionate advocates. ??? Foster a sense of partnership, making customers feel like a vital part of your journey. ?? Build a community where customer voices lead to meaningful connections and growth. ?? Create engaging platforms for customers to contribute, share, and celebrate together.

?? Empower customers by actively listening to their feedback and insights. ?? Utilize customer data to tailor experiences based on their preferences. ?? Create personalized journeys that resonate with each individual. ?? Deliver outstanding service to consistently exceed their expectations. ?? Implement loyalty initiatives to appreciate and retain loyal customers. ?? Cultivate memorable interactions to enhance satisfaction and loyalty.

Customer's problems keep changing. Only if you have an excellent rapport with them will you get an understanding of the same. Once you understand, you must cycle back the entire process to identify solutions. This will allow you to innovate and be ahead of your competition. Thus empowering the customer is essential for your growth.

Empowering customers to be active participants in our journey shifts the dynamic from a transactional relationship to a partnership. Involving them in product development and innovation not only enriches our offerings but also fosters a sense of ownership and loyalty. Encouraging them to share their experiences turns satisfied customers into vocal advocates, organically expanding our reach. By rewarding their support, we cultivate a community bound by enthusiasm for our brand, transforming customers into a powerful force for growth.

One of the aspects, which most companies do not do is that every experience throughout the organisation counts. Every touch point from complains to assistent to sales to receptionist to carpark, every experience counts. Example a client comes on your carpark and the directors have their own spot next to entrance and you as a client have to go all the way to the back to park, how is your impression....

Co-creation takes customer centricity to a whole new level! It transforms customers from passive recipients to active collaborators in your business journey. Host workshops where customers collaborate on product development. Brainstorm ideas, test prototypes, or conduct user interviews (think online whiteboards like Miro). This isn't just about feedback; it's about integrating customers into innovation. You gain valuable insights, build loyalty, and develop solutions that truly resonate with their needs. Imagine co-creating a new feature! Their involvement fosters excitement and a sense of ownership, ensuring the final product hits the mark.

Muitas vezes o cliente vai deixar oculta a verdadeira insatifa??o que teve. Sempre que entregar a sua solu??o, fa?a um NPS e envie um formulário de pesquisa para o seu cliente. Ele tende a responder de forma mais sincera.