How to Create a Customer-Centric Culture in Your Organization

How to Create a Customer-Centric Culture in Your Organization

To help businesses create a customer-centric culture, we asked fourteen industry leaders and founders to share their insights. From automating reporting for transparency to making data-driven changes based on behavior, these experts provide invaluable tips on putting the needs of your clients first. Their advice will guide you toward achieving success in your business.

• Automate Reporting for Transparency
• Practice Emotional Intelligence and Listen
• Include Client Empathy in Planning Sessions
• Encourage Client Research and Engagement
• Manage Expectations and Over-Deliver
• Personalize the Customer Experience
• Create Moments of Delight
• Understand and Use Your Product
• Support and Utilize Customer Feedback
• Focus On What’s Right for the Customer
• Treat Every Client as a High Priority
• Take Action After Gathering Client Feedback
• Offer Financial Accessibility and User Contributions
• Make Data-Driven Changes Based on Behavior

Automate Reporting for Transparency

In our digital agency, transparency is a cornerstone of our operations. This commitment has profoundly shaped our customer-centric culture. Being transparent means continuous, open reporting about what we are doing, how we are doing it, and, most importantly, why we are doing it.

Clients appreciate this honesty because it keeps them informed, fostering trust and building stronger relationships. They’re not left in the dark, wondering where their investments are going. Instead, they’re part of the journey, understanding each decision made on their behalf. This approach has led to higher client retention and satisfaction rates.

One tip for other businesses is to automate reporting wherever possible. Not only does this ensure consistent communication, but it also saves time and allows focus on delivering exceptional service, further enhancing a customer-centric culture.

Shane McEvoy, MD, Flycast Media

Practice Emotional Intelligence and Listen

As a certified psychology expert and life coach, my approach to creating a customer-centric culture is based on empathy and emotional intelligence. I believe that understanding our clients’ needs goes far beyond business transactions.

A simple tip to achieving this success? Practice active listening. This skill, common in counseling and therapy, can be transformative in a business context as well. When we truly listen to our clients, we understand their needs better, connect with them on an emotional level, respond more effectively, and build stronger connections and trust. 

In my practice, I’ve noticed clients are more likely to continue their sessions and refer others when they feel genuinely heard and understood.

Bayu Prihandito, Psychology Expert, Life Coach, and Founder, Life Architekture

Include Client Empathy in Planning Sessions

The biggest lesson that we’ve learned is to have empathy for our clients. When we first started, we thought the product that we built was going to be a surefire success. We met with potential buyers, we demoed, we met again, and we waited—and waited.

Thankfully, we had some great early adopters who told us that while they loved what we built, it didn’t actually solve their underlying problem. So we listened, we rebuilt, we met with potential clients again, and we demoed again, and—then we finally started to grow!

Now, the term “client empathy” is first and foremost in our planning sessions with each team. When our sales and success teams talk with our clients, they put themselves in their shoes. When our marketing team offers free resources, they ask, “Is this actually going to help our client?”

When we answer “yes,” we know we’re on the right track. And it all started with empathy for our clients!

Ashley Kelly, CEO and Co-Founder, CultureAlly

Encourage Client Research and Engagement

SupplyGem has created a customer-centric culture that prioritizes the needs of our clients, resulting in significant positive impacts on our business. A tip for achieving success in building a customer-centric culture is to operationalize customer empathy. 

Encouraging employees to research and understand customer needs has allowed us to gain valuable insights and make necessary product adjustments. We have also facilitated direct interaction with customers, allowing employees from all functions to engage with them. 

This approach has improved our products and services and has also strengthened customer relationships and loyalty, leading to increased customer satisfaction and business growth.

Samuel Fletcher, Co-Founder, SupplyGem

Manage Expectations and Over-Deliver

We always focus on managing expectations, especially in our first interactions with a client. We have to make sure that our customers stay grounded; otherwise, we can never live up to the physics-defying projects they want us to complete. 

By under-promising and over-delivering every time, we create relationships where we always do a great job in our customers’ eyes. And when something goes sideways, we do everything possible to make it right, and in a hurry. This is the only way I know of to create lifelong customers.

Rick Berres, Owner, Honey-Doers

Personalize the Customer Experience

Our work is all about shifting from an emphasis on business to making the utmost priority of our clients by offering the most customer-centric experience possible. Our business is all about improving the experience that people have when they seek maternity care and doing our part to counteract the disparities in maternal health outcomes. 

We seek to provide a personalized pregnancy experience so that every single one of our patients has the support they need to thrive before, during, and after birth. Through our work, we set a new standard for pregnancy with the goal of improving the experience for all parents and redefining our industry standards.

Joanne Demeireles, CXO, Oula Health

Create Moments of Delight

Creating a customer-centric culture that prioritizes clients’ needs is important for any successful business. To do this, values of quality and innovation were embedded into the team’s day-to-day operations. 

The commitment to clients has had measurable results: customer satisfaction ratings have increased dramatically over the last few years! For others aiming to replicate this success, one tip is to create “moments of delight,” such as personalized thank-you messages and surprise gifts when customers make purchases. 

Doing so sends a message that the company truly values its customers, giving them an excellent overall experience that will drive loyalty and increase sales.

Carly Hill, Operations Manager, Virtual Holiday Party

Understand and Use Your Product

At the heart of our business lies a commitment to customer-centricity, a philosophy rooted in our company values and reflected in every member’s behavior. We made it a priority to use our product daily, regardless of our role—be it sales, support, product, or marketing. This immersive approach allows us to understand our customers’ needs deeply.

We allocated two hours every week for each team member to respond to customer inquiries directly, thus fostering a stronger connection with our customers. Our company’s growth strategy was then meticulously linked to customer success, and we precisely defined what success looks like for our customers.

The outcome of this customer-centric culture has been highly beneficial. Our trial-to-conversion rate soared from 20% to 49%, and we saw a significant improvement in client retention.

Rafael Sarim Özdemir, Founder and CEO, Zendog Labs

Support and Utilize Customer Feedback

At CoinLedger, we’ve always put our clients at the center of our business model. This approach works in a simple, yet powerful way—we are constantly open to both free and paid users sending in questions or feature requests through varied channels, including our active Reddit community, support tickets, and even LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. 

We compile all these valuable insights and bring them to the table during our weekly product team briefings. This way, we ensure the most promising ideas get top priority and become a part of our roadmap. 

As a result, we’ve introduced several beneficial enhancements like a professional suite, a portfolio tracker, and an NFT tax tool—even an innovative NFT loss harvester.

David Kemmerer, Co-Founder and CEO, CoinLedger

Focus On What’s Right for the Customer

This approach has had a massive impact on our business. Our approach is that if we focus on what’s right for the customer, which doesn’t always mean what’s right for us, we have been able to create raving fans. 

Being in the cash house-buying industry, by utilizing this approach, we have been able to find additional ways to monetize leads such as through realtors, creative finance strategies, and more. 

Further, we have been able to get a lot of reviews from people we have genuinely been able to help, even if we haven’t been able to be the purchasers of their properties. This has resulted in an abundance of referrals. 

When people understand that your number one priority is to serve them to the highest degree, they will do everything they can to help your business. This is the value of a raving fan.

Sebastian Jania, Owner, Manitoba Property Buyers

Treat Every Client as a High Priority

At my company, we value every client. This isn’t just some meaningless platitude for us. We really treat every single client like they are our most important clients. That means we actively prioritize putting the customer first. 

It also means that clients have a direct line of communication with the owners. Truthfully, there are some downsides to this, especially when some customers take up more of my time than I’d like. 

But it’s worth doing. This level of customer focus has built significant loyalty among my clients, and it’s turned these satisfied customers into real promoters of the business.

Temmo Kinoshita, Co-Founder, Lindenwood Marketing

Take Action After Gathering Client Feedback

In the loans business, understanding the clients’ perspectives is crucial. We’ve forged a customer-centric culture at MaxCash by creating an effective feedback loop with our clients. 

We started by using Google Forms to conduct regular surveys, seeking clients’ opinions about our services. This feedback was invaluable, enabling us to adapt and tailor our offerings to meet our clients’ needs better.

For instance, when feedback showed that clients were finding our loan application process cumbersome, we simplified it, making it more user-friendly. The change led to an immediate increase in completed applications by 24% and overall client satisfaction by 33%. My tip to others is this: Listen to your customers and take action.

Fred Winchar, Founder and Certified HR Professional, MaxCash

Offer Financial Accessibility and User Contributions

Putting a client’s needs first means creating a product that’s financially accessible to people. For us, that meant allowing people to pay for our products with non-financial means instead. Students who use our study document database pay a monthly fee to access premium content, but we didn’t want those who couldn’t afford the subscription to miss out. 

We gave students two options to reach premium content: pay the fee or contribute their own study notes to the database. So, our users are always contributing back to making the product better for everyone, whether that be through their financial investment or by adding valuable content. 

When customers know you’re not in it simply for the money but to provide the highest value possible to as many people as possible, strong loyalty and relationships build naturally. Users understand our drive is always all about the customer.

Marnix Broer, Co-Founder and CEO, Studocu

Make Data-Driven Changes Based on Behavior

Even as a solopreneur, I do anything possible to build a customer-centric product and lay a foundation for a customer-centric culture in Steambase as it grows. Each week, I analyze video recordings and heatmaps from our customer session recording software. 

The data reveal users are drawn toward the total number of game players and player dynamics over time. I rearranged our layout to place this popular data front and center. The result? There are more engaged visitors, growing organic traffic, and ‌an increase in potential ad revenue. 

For other solopreneurs, my key tip is: Invest time to understand your customers’ needs directly from their interactions with your product. Make data-driven changes based on their behavior.

Lucas Wyland, Founder, Steambase

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