A Guide to Improve Your Customer Focus

In an era of rapidly changing customer expectations and increased market competition, it’s more important than ever for businesses to have razor-sharp customer focus.

Customer focus requires businesses to have an obsessive knowledge of what their customers need and how to deliver. Let’s look at Hulu as an example. Before Hulu, fans of network TV shows like “Parks and Recreation” had to watch the shows when they aired or wait for full seasons to be released on DVD. After recognizing the need for an internet streaming service for network TV shows, a group of different media companies founded Hulu as a joint venture in 2007.

Giving fans on-demand access to shows represented a revolutionary level of customer focus. In the years since, multiple streaming services emerged to meet the varying needs of each customer — by offering multiple different subscription options, producing streaming-exclusive shows, and bringing legacy network shows like “Seinfeld” to streaming for the first time.

Through intense customer focus, video streaming services have changed the way we consume entertainment. Now, let’s talk about what you can achieve through customer focus.

Customer-focused businesses are built around customers’ needs. This means they focus on how every interaction helps the customer, rather than how interactions help their business.

Putting customer needs at the heart of everything you do positions you to strengthen customer relationships, help customers achieve their goals, and increase customer loyalty and satisfaction — all key benefits of a robust CRM. These are all accomplished through personalizing customer interactions and making relevant product offerings, which lead to business growth.

Leading cosmetics brand e.l.f. is built on customer focus. The makeup and skincare brand has always championed inclusivity, but in recent months, e.l.f. has been speaking up even more — using its platform to denounce widespread racial injustice across the U.S. As a Trailblazer, e.l.f. is using its digital expertise to bring about positive change and build meaningful connections with customers.

Bitty & Beau’s Coffee, a company of coffee shops run by employees with intellectual and developmental disabilities, is another Trailblazer focused on serving customers in unprecedented times. Four years ago, Amy and Ben Wright founded Bitty & Beau’s Coffee, which they describe as “a human rights movement disguised as a coffee shop.”

Now, Bitty & Beau’s is leading through change by pivoting the business to serve customers online from anywhere, and in person with a new focus on safety for customers and employees. By changing its business model to fit customers’ needs, this small business exemplifies what customer focus is all about.

The first step is to make sure you understand your customers and their needs. This starts with empathy. An often overlooked trait, empathy is all about putting yourself in another’s shoes and considering their unique perspective and challenges — and there are many ways to build empathy for your customers.

From a technical perspective, you can enable a customer-focused culture by collecting disconnected sources of customer data into a single, 360-degree view of your customer. Once the data is all in one place, you can put it into action to understand what customers want and deliver better experiences. With a single view of your customers, your teams can build stronger relationships with every single customer.

1. Listen to your customers.

To really get to know your customers, consider their unique needs and what drives their decisions. Think about how your products and services can help them achieve their goals. Then position your messaging around the things your customers care about.

To gain insights about what your customers really want, gather and analyze different types of data — such as web analytics, attrition rates, and product use patterns. Once you know how customers want to be engaged, you can also tailor your interactions based on the best time and type of content for them.

Surveys are a great way to find out what your customers really think about your business. You can also set up a customer advisory board to meet and discuss industry trends, business priorities, and strategy. Be sure to invite customers to provide feedback on every channel.

Social listening is another useful tool for focusing on customers. Customers use an average of nine channels to engage with companies, so monitoring what’s being said about your brand on social media can be a great source of insights.

Try these strategies for social listening:

• Check for direct mentions and hashtags featuring your brand and products — across every social media platform your brand uses. Don’t forget to search for common misspellings, too. You know how to spell your company or product name, but customers may not.
• Monitor hashtags your customers are actually using. The terms you use may not reflect how your customers discuss your company or industry. Follow any thought leaders, industry influencers, or companies who represent your ideal customer. See what hashtags they’re using.
• Track competitors’ activity. Do you know what customers are asking your rivals? If the same questions keep coming up, consider whether you should address them in your own blog or marketing content.
• Ask your audience. Want to know something specific? Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all have polling tools, or you can simply ask your followers an open-ended question.

2. Make space for ideas.

Once you’ve gained valuable customer insights, share them throughout your business. Though sales and customer service staff are usually the ones tasked with prioritizing customer interactions, a customer focus should be a companywide priority.

If possible, create opportunities for all levels of the business to focus on customers. Everyone from sales associates to your office assistant can benefit from handling service calls and learning about customers firsthand.

Many businesses have traditionally left idea generation up to a select group of individuals, but great ideas can come from anywhere. In fact, organizations such as Unilever and Ikea now actively involve customers in problem-solving and new product development through co-creation platforms and initiatives.

As organizational consultant Simon Sinek says, “The role of a leader is not to come up with all the great ideas. The role of a leader is to create an environment in which great ideas can happen.”

3. Break down internal barriers.

Silos, swim lanes, bubbles. Organizational experts may use different terms, but the core problem is the same: Customer data often lives in multiple systems owned by different departments, which results in disconnected experiences for customers dealing with your business.