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HOW TO CREATE A CUSTOMER-

CENTRIC STRATEGY FOR YOUR
BUSINESS
Last updated: 16 August, 2022 - 56 Comments

Post summary:

The customer is firmly in the driving seat and with it comes a required change in how you build and
nurture rela onships with poten al and exis ng customers.

Companies that put the customer at the heart of their organiza on are experiencing an increase in
customer life me value and a reduc on in churn. How? By being customer-centric.

Becoming a truly customer-centric organiza on takes me, but you can start small. We provide you
with 4 best prac ces to becoming a customer-centric company and share 3 ways to measure
success.

A customer-centric way of doing business is focused on providing a posi ve customer experience before
and a er the sale in order to drive repeat business, enhance customer loyalty and improve business
growth.

However, a customer-centric company requires more than offering good customer service.

Both Amazon and Zappos are prime examples of brands that are customer-centric and have spent years
crea ng a culture around the customer and their needs. Their commitment in delivering customer value
is genuine. In fact, Zappos is happy to fire employees if they do not fit within their customer-centric
culture!

But, how important is being customer-centric?

Some me ago, Econsultancy asked what the most important characteris c was in order to establish a
truly "digital-na ve" culture.

The answer to that ques on and leading the responses with 58% was to be customer-centric.

Yet, according to CMO Council, only 14% of marketers believe that customer-centricity is a hallmark of
their companies.

Here's the thing:

Execu ng a successful customer-centric strategy doesn't happen overnight.

Let’s explore ways to create a customer-centric strategy that connects your business to the unique needs
of your customers.

What is customer-centricity?
Customer-centricity is a business strategy that’s based on pu ng your customer first and at the core of
your business in order to provide a posi ve experience and build long-term rela onships.

When you put your customer at the core of your business, and combine it with Customer Rela onship
Management (CRM), you collect a wealth of data, which gives you a full 360 view of the customer. This
data can then be used to enhance your customer’s experience.

For example:

You can use customer data to understand buying behavior, interests and engagement
You can iden fy opportuni es to create products, services, and promo ons for your best customers
You can use customer life me value to segment customers based on top spenders

Research by Deloi e and Touche found that customer-centric companies were 60% more profitable
compared to companies that were not focused on the customer, and 64% of companies with a customer
focused CEO are more profitable than their compe tors.

Companies that focus on their customers are able to provide a posi ve customer experience through
their en re journey. To accomplish this, companies must undergo a massive shi in their organiza on’s
structure and culture.

The challenges of becoming a customer-centric organiza on

The power shi between brand and customer happened during the economic downturn in the late
nine es as customers became more selec ve in which brand they chose to spend their money with.

The winning brands were the ones who treated their customers with respect, offered great service, and
built a rela onship with them that s ll exists today.

During the same period, another game-changer took place - social media. Social media marke ng (and
with it social selling) changed the way customers interact with brands and became a major part of the
customer journey.

In a recent report by Global Web Index, 41% of social media users find out about new brands or products
via social media ads, recommenda ons, or updates on brands’ pages (up from 32% in 2017); 45% of
consumers use social networks to research brands (a 5 points increase since 2017).

Only in the US, 83% of online shoppers are influenced by their friends’ social media posts in their
purchase decisions.

Social media is just one of many digital channels that is changing the landscape between companies and
customers.

Research reveals that companies struggling to become a customer-centric organiza on are unable to
share customer informa on across departments and lack an aligned culture around the customer’s
needs.

Most companies do not have all of the components in place to claim they are customer-centric, but the
most important part to remember is this:

Customer-centricity starts by focusing on what customers need and how they want to interact with your
business - not your products, it’s features, or revenue model.

By designing your company from the customer’s perspec ve, your organiza on will be able to meet the
customer’s needs and deliver a posi ve experience.

4 Best prac ces to becoming a customer-centric company

Becoming a customer-centric business allows you to an cipate customers' needs and delight them with
products and services.

Consider the CEO of Apple, Tim Cook, who said, “Our whole role in life is to give you something you
didn't know you wanted. And then once you get it, you can't imagine your life without it.”

Apple’s en re strategy revolves around customer-centricity. Their product makes customers fall in love
and their Apple Centers provide world-class customer support to help them get set up and out the doors
with a smile on their face.

Thus, a customer-centric brand creates products, processes, policies and a culture that is designed to
support customers with a great experience from ini al discovery to point of purchase and beyond.

To achieve be er customer-centricity, here are four best prac ces to help your business stand out:

1. Hire for customer success. Employees are the front-facing workforce that will shape many of the
experiences with customers. Regardless of role, focus on hiring talent that can be aligned with
customer-centric thinking and the importance of customer experience at your business.
2. Put rela onships first. Customers are not numbers to be measured and analyzed in a revenue
performance report. They are people and benefit greatly when you establish a mutually beneficial
rela onship together.
3. Democra ze customer data. Adop ng a new customer-centric strategy requires centralized access to
customer data and insights. Having a CRM database can help facilitate a be er understanding of
customers to provide a unified front that delivers be er customer experiences.
4. Connect company culture to customer outcomes. Employees will be mo vated by a customer-
centricity strategy when ac ons can be linked to results. For example, strategies to reduce customer
wait mes or making transi ons easier for a customer can be captured in real- me to highlight
successful strategy implementa on.

3 ways to measure the success of a customer-centric company

Not every organiza on will have the same customer success metrics to measure customer-centricity.
However, the three most important customer-centric metrics that should be carefully monitored are
churn rate, Net Promoter Score and customer life me value (CLV).

1. Churn rate
Acquiring new customers is becoming more difficult. Therefore, more companies are inves ng in keeping
exis ng customers instead of trying to find new ones. Here’s why:

Acquiring new customers can cost up to 5x more than keeping exis ng customers
A 2% increase in customer reten on has the same effect on profits as cu ng costs by 10%
On average, companies lose approx. 10% of its customer base each year (also known as customer
churn)

Companies with a high reten on rate grow faster.

The key to improving reten on rates is to understand why people leave, and why people remain
customers.

Call Miner’s Churn Index Report reveals that $35.3 billion is associated with unplanned switching to a
different brand due to triggers that could have been avoided. For example, customers were more likely to
leave a brand if:

Knowledgeable customer support, or super agents, can address customer needs by empha cally
listening and addressing an issue then solving it promptly
Companies lacked automated self-service channels, such as a knowledge base, to solve issues on their
own
Customers not feeling rewarded for their loyalty while new customers receive onboarding benefits
and bonuses

Once known, you can calculate churn rate by measuring the number of customers who le in the last 12
months divided by the average number of total customers (during the same period).

2. Net Promoter Score

Are your customers happy? How do you measure customer happiness?

The answer is through NPS.

NPS, or Net Promoter Score, focuses on uncovering customer loyalty by asking only one, simple
ques on:

Each me a customer responds to this ques on, the answer is then segmented based on predefined
criteria:

Promoters (9-10): These people are in love with your product or service and are likely to refer you to
poten al buyers. The customers who rate you a 9 or 10 are repeat customers and will have a high
customer life me value.
Passives (7-8): These people who rate you a 7 or 8 are content with being a customer of your
business, but are the most likely to switch to a compe tor should they find a new or be er product.
Detractors (0-6): These people are not happy with your product or service and are likely to damage
your brand reputa on by sharing their nega ve experience with their friends, family and connec ons.

The more Promoters you have, the healthier your business. Simple, really?

And the fact that it’s simple to implement and measure makes the NPS a favorite with company boards
and execu ve commi ees.

3. Customer life me value (CLV)

For a customer-centric business, the most valuable "asset" is their customer base.

If you're inves ng in long-term rela onships, you can calculate the "health" of the rela onship with
customer life me value or CLV.

CLV measures the amount of revenue a customer contributes to your business for as long as they are a
paying customer. It starts with their first purchase and ends when they stop doing business with you.

To calculate CLV, add up the total revenue you have earned and mul ply that with the length of the
business rela onship. Then, deduct the ini al cost of acquiring them.

For example, if a customer spends $1,000 annually, and the average "life me" of a customer is 10 years,
then you mul ply $1,000 by 10 years ($10,000). Now, subtract the cost of acquisi on (in this case, we'll
es mate $1,000), and the CLV is $9,000.

Not bad, right?

Calcula ng CLV helps you understand why it makes sense to invest in keeping your customers.

But, rather than looking at CLV from purely from a revenue perspec ve, you should be looking at it from
a value perspec ve - which is why I love Dennis Shiao's take on Customer life me value.

Conclusion
The shi towards becoming a truly customer-centric organiza on is both complex and long but, do not
be put off by this as even the smallest changes to policy and processes can have a significant benefit for
both employee and your customer.

Being a customer-centric organiza on is the Holy Grail towards unlocking the true poten al of customer
value. Always put yourself in the shoes of the customer and minimize customer effort and maximize
customer value.

Do you consider yourself a customer-centric organiza on?

The best CRM so ware plays an important role in becoming customer-centric as this is where all of your
customer data is stored. See how SuperOffice CRM can help your business by signing up for a free demo.

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ABOUT
STEVEN MACDONALD
Steven Macdonald is a digital marketer based in Tallinn, Estonia. You can connect with
Steven on LinkedIn and Twi er.

View all ar cles by Steven MacDonald 

COMMENTS
Martyna
7 years ago

Steven it is an interes ng ar cle. I have a ques on to you. Amazon has the lowest prices and
great customer service. However, their employees don't earn much and work at Amazon
centres is hard. How can a brand build a long-term successful strategy, when it's employees
are unhappy? I compared it with Standard Oil. John D. Rockefeller made sure that his people
were paid well to avoid protests. Best wishes, Martyna

Steven MacDonald
7 years ago

That's a great point, Martyna! Happy employees are a hugely important factor for
when crea ng a successful strategy. In fact, Mark Taylor writes about employee
happiness and how important it is for customer service here:
h p://www.superoffice.com/blog/customer-service-mistakes/

Dr N.H.Mullick
7 years ago

Dear Steven A very nice ar cle and I want to add some of the por ons in my CRM book
which I am publishing in Oct'15 in Oxford Publishing House in India. I want to send a le er
for ge ng permission for that. So, please send me your e-mail id so that I can send you the
official mail for that. I have also sent a request to get connected with u in LinkedIn. Thanking
you Dr N.H.Mullick

Steven MacDonald
7 years ago

Thanks for the comment.

Nikhil Joseph
6 years ago

This ar cle is true, CRM can bring in customer centric strategy. I am using a CRM and it has
build more customers and also helped in constant follow-up of customers.

Steven MacDonald
6 years ago

Thanks for the comment, Nikhil!

Niyi Salau
6 years ago

I am a CRM blogger with about five years of exprience. I agreed completely to the content
of this ar cle. I would love to also be a contributor to this blog as well. Thanks so much
Steve for this ar cle.

Steven MacDonald
6 years ago

Thanks, Niyi! Glad you liked it.

Ashish
6 years ago

An interes ng ar cle. Organiza ons need to realize that focusing their ini a ves towards
building a customer centric culture is paramount. Building a customer centric culture
facilitates not just business offerings but also processes and policies that can help in
providing a great customer experience. Although, the ini a ve towards customer centricity
can be led by anyone in an organiza on, leadership must lead by example and inspire en re
workforce to shi their focus.

Allison
6 years ago

Great ar cle! An easy read and yet very impac ul. I'm faced with many of the customer
centric challenges the ar cle references. I plan to use some of the ps men oned.

Denis Vlasicek
6 years ago

Hey, Steven, cool ar cle and a fascina ng topic! I was wondering if you could provide a link
to the Deloi & Touche report you're referencing? I'm compiling a report for my
employer, and would greatly appreciate it. Best regards, Denis

Kevin
5 years ago

Great ar cle Steven. Hope you establish new customer-centric strategies in the future!

Sonam
5 years ago

Great blog, good informa on is given about customer centric strategies.It was worth
reading.Thanks for pos ng the blog.

Brian Pa erson
5 years ago

Thanks Steven for this ar cle. You’re absolutely right. Today’s customers have lots of
requirements. I thinks a customer centric strategy is the best way.

Kira
5 years ago

Hi Steven, Can you direct me to the Deloi e research that shows that customer centric
companies are 60% more profitable? Thanks.

Steven MacDonald
5 years ago

Hi Kira. Here's a link to the report:

h ps://www2.deloi e.com/content/dam/Deloi e/de/Documents/WM%20Digitalisierung.pdf

Del
5 years ago

Hi Steven - Great ar cle!! The link to Deloi e does not work :-( - Thank you

Steven MacDonald
5 years ago

Hi Del. This link should work:

h ps://www2.deloi e.com/content/dam/Deloi e/de/Documents/WM%20Digitalisierung.pdf

John Trent
5 years ago

Well Said Steven! "By being customer centric, you will want to an cipate customers’ needs
and delight them with products and services they may not have thought of, but will
immediately fall in love with."

Darrel
5 years ago

Hi Steven, are you able to indicate source of research that led to graphic on challenges faced
in becoming truly customer centric?

Steven MacDonald
5 years ago

Hi Darrel. Sure, here's the link to the Econsultancy research (download link):
h ps://econsultancy.com/reports/effec ve-leadership-in-the-digital-age/

John Lee
5 years ago

I really like your blog! Steven. Customer-centric is an approach to doing business that
focuses on providing a posi ve customer experience both at the point of sale and a er the
sale in order to drive profit and gain compe ve advantage. This ar cle is a good
informa ons about customer centric strategies.

Steven MacDonald
5 years ago

Thanks, John. Appreciate your kind words!

Jess O.
5 years ago

I really learn a lot from your ar cle. Good job !

Padung Pong
4 years ago

Thanks Steven for this ar cle. It's great!

Hardik porwal
4 years ago

Hi Steven Macdonald! This is a very amazing and informa ve blog post. This post must be
read by everyone who has an SMB business or who has just started their own business.
Personally I have gained a lot from this blog. Thank you.

Kelvin Omeri
4 years ago

Being customer centric is a way of living into the future by an cipa ng customer needs and
crea ng value through products that meet those needs. It is not just good for business but
makes good business sense. I wish companies always keep this philosophy in mind. Thanks,
great job.

Moin Mirza
4 years ago

Steven, Thank you for sharing this informa ve post on customer centricity and I love reading
this. You have covered some unique areas, some that experts don't usually share with
others, so I will definitely share your post with my network.

James Painter
4 years ago

Hello Steven, thanks for sharing this informa ve post. This is a great guide to understand a
Customer Centric Strategy. Great use of images and diagrams. Really, appreciable covered
all the necessary areas of being customer centric.

George
3 years ago

Thanks for the ar cle very interes ng points, I am currently studying for an exam so your
ar cle helped me understand be er the defini on customer centric philosophy

Steven MacDonald
3 years ago

Thank you, George. Good luck with your exam of customer centricity.

natalie sharp
3 years ago

Really good ar cle, thank you for sharing. I will certainly be sharing with my customers!

Leonard Tambala
3 years ago

Hey Steve why have you been hiding this gem. Man this is great. Thank you Bro

Nihal Singh
3 years ago

Really good ar cle, thank you for sharing. I will certainly be sharing with my friends!

Steven MacDonald
3 years ago

Thanks Nihal!

Swa Bhavsar
3 years ago

It was a really important and helpful ar cle for me, thank you very much Steven for sharing.
Found some interes ng prac ce to become a customer centric company. I agree that
company should produce the products which are demanded by their customers and also on
the note that produc on of such product which is not known by customers but a er you
launch that product customers are fall for that. Some effec ve ideas you have provided.

Philani
3 years ago

Great ar cle, thanks Steven.

Barry
3 years ago

Steven, I was wondering where you got your figures for the 'Churn Rate'sec on. I'd like to
read more about it. Thanks

Steven MacDonald
3 years ago

Hi Barry! Here's a great piece we have on customer churn

h ps://www.superoffice.com/blog/reduce-customer-churn/

Moritz
3 years ago

Hi Steven, Thanks for the enlightening ar cle. I was wondering one thing though: I have
found numerous websites (and even one scien fic public on) that cite the 60% higher
profitability of customer centric companies. However, when looking into the actual paper
from Deloi e, I cannot find any number, let alone an explicit statement suppor ng this 60%
claim. I have been researching the number some me now and every author men oning it,
either refers to the same paper that you refer to as well or to another website/ar cle
providing the link to it. As I am trying to provide my clients with numbers that are actually
backed by evidence, I would be very grea ul, if you could tell me the exact paragraph/page
in the Deloi e paper, as I am apparently incapable of finding it... :-D Thanks a lot in advance
Moritz

Steven MacDonald
3 years ago

Hi Moritz, Absolutely! Here is the exact Deloi e paper where the reference is found. The link
is below and the quote can be found on page 5 (just search "60%"):
h ps://www2.deloi e.com/content/dam/Deloi e/de/Documents/WM%20Digitalisierung.pdf.
I've now updated the blog post to include the link/ exact quote.

Tori
3 years ago

Steven, thanks for such a detailed and useful ar cle, I was just looking for informa on about
the online business, how to a ract new customers.

Steven MacDonald
3 years ago

Thanks Tori!

Emma
3 years ago

A very nice ar cle and I want to add some of the por ons in my CRM book which I am
publishing in Oct'15 in Oxford Publishing House in India. I want to send a le er for ge ng
permission for that. How can I reach you?

Steven MacDonald
3 years ago

No problem. You are welcome to use any por ons you like for your CRM book. Best of
luck!

Aira Pulido
2 years ago

Great ps you have shared here to increase customers to our business. Good Strategy.

Neha Sehgal
2 years ago

Hey Steven, For customer centric strategy just want to add "Use brand advocacy as an
acquisi on strategy". Research shows that customers are four mes more likely to buy when
referred by a friend. Be sure to foster a sense of community within your customer loyalty
program and transform it into a social space like-minded individuals can engage with one
another. Once a customer feels like they belong, they’ll be more likely to tell others about
your brand. Really excellent read. Keep pos ng such ar cle steven.

Steven MacDonald
2 years ago

Thanks Neha! I really appreciate that. I love your comment, too.

Abhay Pisolkar
2 years ago

Good read, Steven. A customer first approach is a way to deal & giving a posi ve client
experience both at the retail loca on and a er the deal so as to drive benefit and increase
upper hand. This ar cle is a great way to explain the customer first approach mind set.

Harpreet Singh
2 years ago

Hey Steven, Excellent ar cle on Customer Centricity!

Logan Torres
2 years ago

Thanks for sharing these wonderful details about customer-centricity.

Anna F.
one year ago

Thank you for your inspiring post on customer-centricity. I appreciate it

Heema
one year ago

Great ar cle on customer centricity! Thank you.

Carlos Herrera
one year ago

Being a customer-centric organiza on is the much-needed approach to unlock customer

value's true poten al as you said in the above ar cle. Indeed, we always have to put
ourselves in the customer's shoes and see that we minimize customer effort and increase
customer value. A CRM so ware will surely play an important role in becoming customer-
centered as we can store all our customer data in CRM so ware. Thank you for sharing this
informa on with us, I will surely like to read more such ar cles like this from you in the
future also.

Stanley Thomas
one year ago

It is important that you must take care of your customers and strategies for them. , this post
basically talks about what it means to be a customer-centric organiza on and what is the
strategy to develop it for your business. In short, this is your customer who is running the
show.

Elijah Aaron
one year ago

Customer centricity is an approach to doing business that focuses on providing a posi ve

customer experience in order to drive profit and gain compe ve . A customer-centric
strategy aims to put customers at the core of business to create posi ve experiences,
thereby building long-term.

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