Are You Ready to Focus on the Customer?
BY BROOKE NIEMIEC – CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER
The phrase “customer centricity” is getting lots of play these days, and the number of proposed solutions to get you there are boundless. In our client conversations, nobody is opposed to the general principle of becoming more customer-centric. What does prevent companies from acting upon that desire, however, is that they simply aren’t ready to accept, learn, and make the change. If you’re considering or developing a customer centricity roadmap, these five questions can help you determine if you’re ready to commit to a deeper focus on the customer.
1. DOES EVERYONE WANT TO CREATE A SINGLE SOURCE OF CUSTOMER TRUTH?
Today you may have multiple stakeholders in your organization, all of whom have a different perspective on who customers are, how they behave, and which customers matter the most. Accordingly, you may be receiving different answers to the same question depending on whom you ask. If these stakeholders are willing to partner together and work toward a consolidated view of the customer, you’ll know exactly whom you’re trying to serve and have a strong foundation upon which to build a customer centricity strategy.
2. IS YOUR COMPANY WILLING TO ASK WHY, NOT JUST WHAT?
You may have the biggest pile of “big data” that ever existed. However, if it’s just behavioral data, you’re missing a key element that will truly enable you to be customer-centric. Without knowing customers’ motivations, it is hard to know the underlying drivers of current successes, and just as hard to uncover the pain points that are preventing you from building deeper customer relationships. When you’re willing and able to combine the “what” and the “why,” you’re ready to get to the heart of what matters to customers.
3. DO YOU KNOW HOW TO INCORPORATE INSIGHT INTO THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS?
It’s easy to make decisions based on past experience or gut, but it’s a different process to make decisions based directly on customer insight. Although the process won’t be slow, per se, it will definitely be slower. The trick is to give yourself time in strategy development to allow for the right questions to be asked and answered before you make a final decision. Without planning for this in advance, you’re bound to find yourself without data.
4. ARE YOU WILLING TO SHIFT RESOURCES ACROSS THE CUSTOMER LIFECYCLE?
One of the most common starting points in developing a customer centricity roadmap is to set a baseline understanding of how the customer lifecycle is performing today—across acquisition, activation, retention, and re-activation. Building a roadmap is pointless unless you’re willing to shift resources to any identified weak spots across the lifecycle. A single owner, or a partnership across various lifecycle owners will guarantee that customer truth can actually drive change.
5. DO YOU FEEL STRONGLY THAT MEASUREMENT IS A MANDATE?
Being customer-centric means more than just acting with the customers’ best interests at heart. It means monitoring directly so you can prove when you are and make adjustments where you aren’t. Measurement comes in many forms—product purchases, retention rates, campaign performance, customer satisfaction surveys, ratings and reviews, and more. Setting up a measurement plan up front is the final step in indicating that you’re fully committed to your customer centricity plan.
So, how’d you do? If you can honestly say “yes” to each of these five questions, you’re ready to take your customer centricity to the next level!
Are You Ready to Focus on the Customer?
BY BROOKE NIEMIEC – CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER
The phrase “customer centricity” is getting lots of play these days, and the number of proposed solutions to get you there are boundless. In our client conversations, nobody is opposed to the general principle of becoming more customer-centric. What does prevent companies from acting upon that desire, however, is that they simply aren’t ready to accept, learn, and make the change. If you’re considering or developing a customer centricity roadmap, these five questions can help you determine if you’re ready to commit to a deeper focus on the customer.
1. DOES EVERYONE WANT TO CREATE A SINGLE SOURCE OF CUSTOMER TRUTH?
Today you may have multiple stakeholders in your organization, all of whom have a different perspective on who customers are, how they behave, and which customers matter the most. Accordingly, you may be receiving different answers to the same question depending on whom you ask. If these stakeholders are willing to partner together and work toward a consolidated view of the customer, you’ll know exactly whom you’re trying to serve and have a strong foundation upon which to build a customer centricity strategy.
2. IS YOUR COMPANY WILLING TO ASK WHY, NOT JUST WHAT?
You may have the biggest pile of “big data” that ever existed. However, if it’s just behavioral data, you’re missing a key element that will truly enable you to be customer-centric. Without knowing customers’ motivations, it is hard to know the underlying drivers of current successes, and just as hard to uncover the pain points that are preventing you from building deeper customer relationships. When you’re willing and able to combine the “what” and the “why,” you’re ready to get to the heart of what matters to customers.
3. DO YOU KNOW HOW TO INCORPORATE INSIGHT INTO THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS?
It’s easy to make decisions based on past experience or gut, but it’s a different process to make decisions based directly on customer insight. Although the process won’t be slow, per se, it will definitely be slower. The trick is to give yourself time in strategy development to allow for the right questions to be asked and answered before you make a final decision. Without planning for this in advance, you’re bound to find yourself without data.
4. ARE YOU WILLING TO SHIFT RESOURCES ACROSS THE CUSTOMER LIFECYCLE?
One of the most common starting points in developing a customer centricity roadmap is to set a baseline understanding of how the customer lifecycle is performing today—across acquisition, activation, retention, and re-activation. Building a roadmap is pointless unless you’re willing to shift resources to any identified weak spots across the lifecycle. A single owner, or a partnership across various lifecycle owners will guarantee that customer truth can actually drive change.
5. DO YOU FEEL STRONGLY THAT MEASUREMENT IS A MANDATE?
Being customer-centric means more than just acting with the customers’ best interests at heart. It means monitoring directly so you can prove when you are and make adjustments where you aren’t. Measurement comes in many forms—product purchases, retention rates, campaign performance, customer satisfaction surveys, ratings and reviews, and more. Setting up a measurement plan up front is the final step in indicating that you’re fully committed to your customer centricity plan.
So, how’d you do? If you can honestly say “yes” to each of these five questions, you’re ready to take your customer centricity to the next level!
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