Why is Being Customer-centred a Need?

A customer-centric approach has the customer at the centre of a business’s operations, processes and decisions. Being customer-centric touches every aspect of a business, including product development, design and service,? not just sales and marketing.

The goal of a customer-centred approach is to prioritise the needs and wants of your consumers and provide them with a sense of being valued at every step of their journey.? Customers would gladly continue with a business when they feel appreciated and cared for, which leads to increased revenue and long-term client loyalty.

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Customer satisfaction is ensured when the whole company collaborates to achieve a common goal of customer success. This creates a strong foundation for lasting customer relationships, continued business growth, and improved bottom line.?

Here are three strategies for becoming more customer-centred.

1. Leverage Technology For Customer Engagement and Feedback

Knowing your customers inside-out is a tried and tested customer-centric strategy. When you know who your customers are, what they like and don’t like, what excites them and what doesn’t and what makes them return to a business, you are in a better position to make the right decisions.

With the growing use of technology, we have the world at our fingertips, as a business you can leverage that to your advantage and use technology to engage with your customers and gather feedback. This is crucial for understanding customer needs and preferences.

As an SME you can leverage;

• Social Media

Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and TikTok allow SMEs to interact with their customers, promote their products and services and deal with any queries promptly.

• Online Surveys? and Feedback Forms

A simple way of getting to know your customers is through the use of surveys, collecting feedback from customers via surveys assists businesses to better understand their customer satisfaction levels and areas that need improvement.

Before you send out your surveys, however, it is important to know what kind of questions you will ask, for instance, you could ask questions around?

• The problems or challenges your customers usually face with your product or service
• What social media platforms do they frequently use
• What support channels do your customers prefer

Asking such questions may help you get into the mind of your customers and make the decisions that are in your customer's best interest.?

These tools enable businesses to gather customer data, gauge customer satisfaction levels, collect feedback on products and services, pinpoint areas for improvement, tailor the customer experience, monitor brand reputation, benchmark performance, empower the customer support team, close the feedback loop, and integrate seamlessly with CRM systems. By leveraging online surveys and feedback forms, businesses can enhance customer engagement, identify growth opportunities, and drive continuous improvement.

2. ?Monitor Your Online Reputation

Technology is not only being leveraged by businesses, customers are also leveraging online platforms to learn more about businesses and this could be a double-edged sword for your business if your online presence or reputation is not good.?

According to Deloitte, 81% of people read reviews and check online ratings of a company or business before interacting with a brand, this brings to light the need for businesses to keep up with their online reputation.

Also Read: Why You Should Invest More in Customer Service

3. Empower Your Customer Support Team

Whether your customers will have a good or bad experience while interacting with your business relies largely on your support team. Your customers interact with your customer support team directly especially when they have a problem, hence they play a major role in driving customer satisfaction and building brand loyalty.?

There are various ways you can employ to empower your team, you could, for instance, provide the following;

• Phone systems and computers,
• Help desk software, i.e ticketing systems that could be used as a resource for customer questions and troubleshooting problems on time
• Automation tools for streamlining tasks.
• You could also provide training opportunities for your customer service team.

Wrapping Up

Creating a customer-centred approach for your business may take a lot of time and work but it's worth it. Having an approach that focuses on your customers helps your business produce better products and services that meet customer expectations. When your customers are happy that means a better bottom line for your business.?