Why Embrace Consumer Centricity?
In a marketplace saturated with companies vying for consumers’ attention, how does a business stand head and shoulders above the rest? That’s the age-old question; companies have spent countless dollars figuring it out, and business publications have spilled a proverbial ton of digital ink trying to answer it.
Some organizations tackle the question with aggressive marketing tactics. Others leverage an arsenal of sales tools to qualify leads. And yet others continually pump money into research and development.
None of these are wrong ideas, per se. But they largely de-emphasize the most critical element in the question: the consumers themselves. That’s where consumer centricity has them beat. This business concept is less about tactics and more about fundamentally reframing an organization’s point of view. This article offers a primer on consumer centricity and makes a strong case for why companies should embrace it.
What Is Consumer Centricity?
Consumer centricity – sometimes called “customer centricity” or “a customer-centric strategy” – is the process of foregrounding the consumer. That might seem trite, but you have to imagine the strategy playing out in total, actionable terms. It isn’t a gesture at emphasizing the consumer; it’s a wholesale reconfiguration of an organization with the consumer’s best interests in mind.
A consumer-centric approach anticipates consumers’ wants and needs. It offers them the choices and resources they need to be successful in their purchases. And it delivers them transparency and accountability at every step. Before any high-level KPI like net profit margin, acquisition ratio CAC payback, a consumer-centric organization places customer satisfaction.
Consumer Centricity in Business Practices, Design
A company can achieve consumer centricity in a couple of ways. By developing an app or web presence that accommodates consumer wants and needs, a company can design a consumer-centric experience. This might mean losing unpopular (though profitable) pop-ups and bots, and eliminating customer registration fields (despite its outbound marketing potential).
Perhaps more powerfully, a company can found itself on consumer-centric principles. Look at Nobul, the real estate digital marketplace created to help buyers and sellers find the right agent. The company routinely foregrounds the consumer, offering resources and free tools to empower real estate consumers. CEO Regan McGee sees this as a necessary disruption in an industry resistant to consumer-centric change.
Talking to Medium, McGee explained that “We’re finally giving consumers power in this industry. Real estate transactions have the single largest fees people pay and the average person pays those fees 11 times in their lifetime. For us to be disrupting this market is extremely exciting.” It’s a fantastic example of consumer centricity in action.
Why Embrace Consumer Centricity
Needless to say, Nobul (mentioned above) has done very well for itself, completing five billion dollars in sales recently and racking up countless awards. Their successes illustrate the underlying and obvious values of consumer centricity.
A consumer-centric business will always stand out, regardless of how aggressive or ostentatious its competitors are. By emphasizing customers’ best interests, the consumer-centric company gains an effective acquisition tool, a fast track to customer loyalty and a meaningful shot at brand ambassadorship – before spending a fortune on marketing. Few business strategies can claim an ROI like that.To summarize, a consumer-centric approach is a shrewd business strategy and a humanistic way of conducting business. Companies like Nobul that have embraced consumer centricity have gone on to build an incredible following. Could your business learn from that success?
