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Today’s customers have high expectations. They want businesses to meet and exceed their needs at every stage of the journey. Just one bad experience is enough for them to leave a brand and switch over to a competitor. To avoid reaching that point, a business needs to be obsessed with customers and prioritize addressing needs before they arise.
But the question is – how does customer obsession help in meeting customer expectations?
Well, when a business is obsessed with customers, it creates a culture of fostering loyalty and advocacy. Such companies emphasize providing service and support specific to the requirements and preferences of the customers. Each step it takes, every decision it makes, is done keeping the customer at the focus of attention.
In this blog, we will learn about customer obsession, explore examples of companies that are obsessed with customers, and also discuss strategies on how to be customer focussed
Before moving further, let’s first get started with the definition…
Customer obsession is a business philosophy that puts hyperfocus on creating a better customer experience. It’s an approach that prioritizes customer needs, desires, and satisfaction above all.
Being obsessed with customers is a concept that goes well beyond meeting expectations. It encompasses many other things as well –
Customer obsession is not just a buzzword – it’s a strategic practice of taking steps towards a customer-centric culture. Being obsessed with customers is now a necessity to thrive in today’s dynamic and fast-evolving marketplace. It’s important for many reasons, including –
A customer-obsessed culture is the deliberate creation of a workplace environment that is fully committed to understanding, prioritizing, and exceeding customer needs and expectations. In this type of culture, every aspect of the organization is made to be customer-centric. Employees at all levels collaborate to achieve the shared vision of customer happiness.
Such a culture is built on the premise of delivering exceptional customer experiences and going above and beyond to delight customers. Having a culture of customer obsession means everyone in the organization works toward achieving customer satisfaction with a focus on driving loyalty and retention.
Customer obsession is a strategic approach that can manifest in various ways. Its main emphasis lies in creating a distinct organizational ethos centered on delivering amazing experiences. When a business is obsessed with customers, it means it’s committed to building lasting relationships.
Here is what customer obsession may look like:
Customer obsession is beneficial for businesses in many ways and on many levels. It’s an approach that can drive sustainable growth and success in the long run. Most importantly, when you focus more on customers, you can differentiate yourself in the marketplace and gain an edge.
Let’s look at how to build a culture of customer obsession:
Customer obsession is not just a fancy concept that you should be chasing. It’s a shift of the mindset in your organizational ethos and value for customers. Since it’s a big change, there has to be a clear vision for that. Make sure your vision has “customer-centricity” as the foundational step. It’s equally important to communicate the vision across the departments, and also make it a guide for decision-making at every level.
What next after the vision is defined? Well, the next step is to embody the values of customer obsession. Everybody in the organization – from executives to managers – now needs to drive their actions and decisions based on the shared goal of a customer-first mindset. The leadership needs to take the lead so that the rest follow suit.
Proactively and swiftly solving customer issues and problems is the cornerstone of a customer-driven approach. This goal however is best achieved when employees are properly trained and resourceful in performing their duties and roles. This is why the workforce needs to be empowered and encouraged to take ownership of customer experiences and make decisions independently.
Customers are served best when the service is proactive and quick. This however is not possible unless you know what problems and pain points customers have. Using customer feedback can help you find areas for improvement and do the needful.
Your business will need the support of lots of tools and advanced technology to better understand consumer behavior and preferences. They can also help you streamline processes and deliver more tailored experiences at each step of the customer journey. So, consider investing in customer relationship management (CRM) systems, analytics tools, and other technologies to deliver more value to your customers.
As a business obsessed with customers, you should start the practice of rewarding and celebrating customer-focused actions. This will show how you prioritize customer happiness above all else. Incentives, bonuses, and public acknowledgments are some of the ways you can reward such customer-first behaviors of your employees.
You need motivated employees to achieve the ultimate goal of customer satisfaction. Such employees are not hired; they are created, developed, and nurtured over time. Make sure you allow them the freedom to experiment, innovate, and learn from each other. Give more focus on team bonding and collaboration so that continuous learning and insights sharing become part of your organizational setup.
All the steps and actions you take to build a customer-obsessed culture need to be measured and tracked regularly. It will help you understand the progress made toward achieving your vision. You must establish key performance indicators (KPIs) and regularly monitor them so that customer-driven strategies can be adjusted in alignment with your long-term vision.
Is your business obsessed with customers? Well, most would answer this in the affirmative. But that does not make them what they claim. The right approach is to evaluate your business’ customer obsessiveness based on a series of key questions.
Here are some of the questions to check your business’ customer obsession level –
Surprises and delights are key weapons when you’re obsessed with customers. While most companies just pay lip service to surprising and delighting customers, Morton’s Steakhouse dared to walk the talk. Yes, it did when one of its customers tweeted in-flight how he would land in the town in the next two hours and how he wished to enjoy the steak.
Here is the tweet :
The step Morton’s took shows how much obsessed it’s with customers. It duly sent a server with a full meal, free of charge, to delight the customer.
Southwest Airlines, the American Airlines company, sets the standards for maintaining an excellent work culture which is the key reason behind its happy employees. It also adds a new paradigm to customer service excellence by being considerate of their customers.
Among many instances of customer obsession, one stands out involving a man who was scheduled to catch a flight to Denver to see his grandson for the last time. This man got delayed due to heavy traffic and reached the airport a good 12 minutes after the scheduled departure time. But to his surprise, the pilot of the plane waited for the man before taking off.
Losing a pet dog can be tough. It can accompany heartache and a deep sense of void for some. While empathizing in this situation is an easy way out, the harder thing is to feel the pain of the bereaved. This is what Chewy.com, a pet retailer, did when one of its customers – who had recently lost its pet dog – approached it with a request to return an unopened bag of dog food.
Here’s a tweet from the customer, and the response is also clearly mentioned there –
From the response, we can see how the company showed a big heart, which is a key trait of customer obsession.
Mahindra Group is a leading automobile brand in India and its chairman Anand Mahindra is quite famous for gifting vehicles to people randomly. This practice of his can be seen as a manifestation of customer obsession of another level altogether. While customers may not directly be Mahindra’s own, the act of surprising individuals with such high-worth gifts creates positive experiences for them and builds emotional connections.
Becoming a customer-obsessed business is easier said than done. Why so? Because it involves a complete shift in the mindset and approach towards customer happiness and success. But yes, with a strategic approach, your company can also learn how to be obsessed with customers.
Let’s look at the four ways to become obsessed with customers –
Customers are the real kings. So, they should be pampered and made to feel royal. This can’t happen unless you foster a culture prioritizing customer satisfaction. In this type of culture, every employee, from top to bottom, needs to understand the value of keeping customers first in every decision.
How can your organization be obsessed with customers without understanding them better? To understand customers better, you need to leverage data analytics and insights. The more customer-centric data you gather, the better your knowledge will be regarding what customer needs and prefers.
Customer needs and market demands are dynamic concepts. They keep changing over time. It’s therefore important to adopt a mindset of continuous improvement. This will help you stay true to what customers expect and what is standard delivery in the industry.
Only a trained and capable staff can help a business realize the vision of customer happiness. The better your employees are trained on customer issues and needs, the more improved performance they will deliver. So, make sure you emphasize employee training so that can have the tricks to delight customers.
Delivering exceptional customer experiences has always been a huge differentiator for brands across industries. However, such experiences can only be delivered when a business knows the art of engagement.
At REVE Chat, we know how engagement and interactions lay the foundation of great experiences for customers. That’s why we bring a variety of tools to engage and interact with customers better.
With us, you can sign up and check how our tools can help you engage better with your target audience.
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