Who calls the shots?

In an ever-changing world, where businesses either succeed or fail at rapid pace, it is critical to understand who decides their fate, ie who calls the shots. Whilst there are a range of factors that determine if a business flourishes or flounders, the one undeniable truth is — the fact that the biggest impact comes from someone who calls the shots and decides the fate of the business, and that is the customer!

That begets the question, how do customers influence a business? We’ll look at the following areas:

• Key products &/ services
• Business brand and reputation
• Marketing strategy
• Business outlook and direction

Key Products &/ Services

The success of a business in terms of sale of its products or services is directly linked to the support and buying behavior of its customers.

Customers help shape its product offering in different ways. Businesses can assess the demand for its products by examining website data such as Google Analytics. In today’s times there are various other metrics to assess customer preference and satisfaction with products or services, such as CSAT, NPS etc.

By listening to clients’ needs, they might highlight new areas for expansion. Business plans are pivoted to a large extent on customer base, customer segments, their business plans and overall growth strategies.

Business brand and reputation

It is a fundamental truth that a business needs to recognize, and that is — Customer service is crucial for building trust and a key ingredient for long term sustainability and growth. One would agree that it is not only more challenging but also more expensive to acquire a new customer as compared to retaining an existing customer. A big part of customer retention is providing an excellent customer experience that creates trust between the individual and the business.

Customer reviews on bad experiences or the poor resolution of issues can affect future sales. Majority of the customers today have access to relevant information and do their research before making a purchase.

It is therefore key that a business invests in ensuring the best possible customer experience to its target audience — whether it is in the business of selling cars or content (eg OTT).

A key component of this is to respond to customer feedback, both positive and negative, to demonstrate willingness to listen, and keenness to improve.

Marketing Strategy

To draw up an effective marketing strategy, a business needs to gather data about its target audience so that it can shape its marketing around them. It can gain this by accessing online tools such as YouGov or Google Analytics (to look at its existing audience). By allowing its audience insights to shape your marketing activity, the people it is aiming to reach will be more likely to see its advertising and then purchase from it.

Another point to consider is to leverage the right platform for different age groups; as an example for Gen Z customer segment, the business could leverage Instagram where most of the customer engagement is likely to happen for this age group.

Customers are also a business’ biggest advocates. Once you have built trust with an audience, they are likely to use social media and word of mouth within their own social circles and returning customers are a great advertisement for your business.

Business Outlook and Direction

Customer behaviors influence entire industries or sometimes even create new industries. The most successful businesses anticipate customer behaviour and provide a product or service just as the general public realise they want it. Use of Digital technology and data analytics can play a pivotal role in this aspect.

Think of Amazon, which started as a book directory and has adapted to accommodate every type of product sale you could imagine. Businesses like Ubereats and Just Eat also capitalised on the way that smartphone technology allowed consumers to research and have more choice with takeaway meals from the convenience of their homes.

Think of the transformation in retail business; shopping habits have created a vast difference between performance in ecommerce and brick-and-mortar stores. Fewer physical stores are opening, and more are closing in large metros across countries with a fairly young population, whose buying behaviors have been influenced by digital technology. Online stores that provide the option to virtually try out cosmetics are now commonplace, disrupting the formula for sales in its traditional avatar.

Given the fact that customers nowadays do a lot of research before embarking on their purchases, the need for an effective website has never been more important. On top of this, leveraging AI to analyze customer preferences and predict their purchases is paying off for the more innovative businesses that have been early adopters of digital and data to drive better business outcomes.

In the case of a company that doesn’t do business online, it may be worth investigating the target audience to see if digital is a valuable direction for the company to head in. The rule of thumb is ‘be where your customers are’ and if the industry is booming online and the business isn’t there yet, you should be.

To sum up, regardless of the fact that a business may have had decades of successful sales and financial performance, there is no guarantee that its future is secure, until and unless it puts its customer at the front and center of its business strategy.