How to become a customer-centric brand

Learning to read your customer’s mind

Customer experience matters. A lot. Companies who know this and act on it see an effect on their bottom line – a  Mckinsey study discovered that more than 85% of customers who described their experience as positive went on to buy more from the brand. Conversely, over 70% purchased less if their experience was negative, showing that being a customer centric brand pays off.

Listening to customers, wherever they are

Data gathered from multiple channels can give brands a huge amount of insight into a customer’s past behaviour, what they think of the brand and its products, how they feel when they interact with the brand, and what they think of its competitors. With deep, accurate analysis, brands can ‘listen’ to what customers are telling them.

But the way customers interact with a brand isn’t always straightforward. They might discover it while browsing the web on their laptop, then later search for a product on their mobile, perhaps even go to a store to physically feel the product, and then go on to download the app. Tracking this multi-device journey used to mean using multiple analytic tools until Google released its Apps + Web + offline analytics feature, allowing website and app data to be tracked and reported in one place. It makes it easier for brands to spot any flaws in the customer journey and make moves to fix it.

How does it feel? The power of sentiment analysis

Sentiment analysis, or data mining, is another AI-powered tool that helps improve customer experience, one that tells you how your customers actually feel.

It’s a tool that can be used in many different ways. Companies can track how customers feel about marketing events or campaigns, for example and adjust their strategies accordingly. Customer service teams can sort out negative reviews from the positive, then reach out to customers with negative opinions, and find out exactly which moments in the journey make customers happy. It’s a way of learning what works and what doesn’t, and it’s all done automatically.

Getting social with customers

Social media is now the most popular way for internet users to get customer support, with consumers favouring it over email or web chat – in fact, 37% of internet users in the US say they use social media for customer support. The advantage of social media is that conversations can take place almost in real-time, and speed matters to customers when it comes to getting support.

It’s also useful because on social media, customer support teams don’t have to wait until an unhappy customer comes to them. They can actively ‘listen’ to what customers are saying about the brand and deal with complaints before they become a problem. And that’s one of the most potent ways to build brand trust and win your customer’s loyalty for the long-term.

In conclusion, it's difficult to fully predict the customer's behaviour at all times. So instead of setting up channels and hoping that customers behave in a specific way, companies should be more proactive and take a customer centric approach, find out where each customer is in their unique purchase journey and listen to what they say and how they feel. That way, brands will be able to create tailored experiences, wherever their customers are, that will keep them engaged and lead to more conversions.