A mindset that prevails in most businesses is that the customer is king. “Customer is always right” is another phrase that emphasizes the customers’ role in the business. The customer has become the center of every business stemming from when customers run after the business; the reverse is now the case.
Customers today have many choices. Businesses are emphasizing providing excellent customer service because of increased competition and globalization. Amazon has grown into a multinational eCommerce powerhouse that is fixated on the happiness of its customers.
Businesses that want to expand in today’s digital age need to anticipate their customers’ demands and build the capacity to supply new goods and services tailored to meet clients’ requirements.
Who is a Customer? Definition & Meaning
Definition: A customer is a person who purchases a product, service, or goods from a business.
The customer receives a good or service, product, or idea from a seller, vendor, or supplier via an exchange for money or other valuable commodities.
Customers can be internal or external.
- Internal Customers: These customers are within an organization, e.g., employees. Organizations can develop a quality culture where employees see customers in their peers, especially during interactions.
- External Customers: These customers are outside the organization and receive goods, services, products, or ideas in exchange for a commodity, e.g., money. They are the business drivers and include walk-in customers, clients, patients, fee-paying individuals, etc.
Internal customers work with the business, and the business work for the external customer.
Customer and Market Segment
An organization’s strategy comprises actions to take and inactions to avoid. Customer and market segmentation are helpful tools that enable a company to strategically map out its strengths to fulfill the requirements of specific customer segments. Both technological advancement and improved product performance are insufficient.
If a company fails to grasp what its consumers want and modify their products and services to meet those requirements, it risks seeing its customers defect to a competitor. A key distinction is the ability to identify market segments and carve out a niche for oneself.
The business model canvass (BMC) answers some of these needs. It has nine segments. The first four (1-4) relates to the offering, and the last four (6-9) dwell on the inputs or process. The outcome is in the middle, i.e., no 5.
Business Model Canvas (BMC) Template
The Business Model Canvas helps visualize all the building blocks while starting a business. It includes customers, route to market, value proposition, and finance.
Each segment entails hypotheses that must be tested as the business grows. The BMC sketching is not cast in stone; it is iteratively and updated till the company arrives at a business model that best serves the company and the customers.
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
This encompasses all the methods, ideas, and technologies a company implements to manage its interactions with current and prospective clients. Customers are the driving force behind any successful enterprise. As a result, there is a need for efficient and novel approaches to maintaining a connection with customers, discovering and satisfying their requirements, and gaining knowledge from their comments.
The CRM allows businesses to store customer contact, capture their needs, identify sales opportunities, record service issues, etc. Users can measure the longevity of their customer relationships with the help of a CRM tool.
Customer retention is important, but customer loyalty is the key. For instance, Smith has three bank accounts; A, B, and C, but 80% of his transactions are with bank B. His loyalty is more to B than A and C, though he has three bank accounts. Business owners should be more concerned with customer loyalty.
CRM tool helps measure customer acquisition. This is the rate at which a business attracts or wins a customer. This is a result of effective marketing and consistent, high-quality delivery. Customers who feel that the service or product they received was above and beyond can help the business by recommending it to others.
The level of customer satisfaction is the final indicator that may be improved with the assistance of a CRM solution. Feedback is used to evaluate this. Feedback is essential for businesses to get to evaluate their performance. Customers who are delighted with their purchases are a sign that the company is performing exceptionally well and that the client will likely make additional purchases in the future.
At its most basic form, a CRM is for managing customers, going the extra mile for them, understanding and resolving their pain points, and giving them a voice in using products or services. It is about not just fulfilling but also exceeding the customers’ expectations. It provides the customer with an outstanding experience, which results in the customer returning again and again—transitioning from dealing with customers to providing them with experiences.
Customer Experience
Here, businesses want to optimize value delivery, every touchpoint of the customer a remarkable experience. They observe the customer experience from beginning to end with the product or service. 
A line from Starbucks, which underscores the shift to customer experience story, reads thus,
“His (Starbucks’ CEO) goal was to make Starbucks stores an experience, not just a place to get a quick coffee.”
Customer experience is not accidental; it must be staged like an art performance. The business creates ambiance, environment, and an experience so that customers can have a memorable interaction with the product and service and want to return to it.
Customer Vs Consumer
There is a difference between customers and consumers, although in most cases, they are the same.
A person who purchases a product is referred to as the customer, while an individual who utilizes the product is referred to as the consumer. Both are typically the same; nevertheless, they are not required to be the same in every circumstance.
For instance, parents typically spend money on clothing for their children. Here, parents are customers, but the kids are consumers, and both are different.
Conclusion
The world has moved, and times have changed. Customers are more valuable than they’ve ever been before. They have options; businesses have competitors. As a result, companies must anticipate their client’s needs to keep them happy and loyal to the company.