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6 min read
Mariona Campmany, CMO at Zinklar, has more than 15 years of experience in the industry. She has worked with some of the most relevant national and international brands, which makes her the best person to talk about consumer-centric marketing.
Efficient decision making is key to maximizing marketing ROI and improving market share. It is not something that can be underestimated, as the decisions made by the team can have a significant impact on overall business performance.
Customer-centric strategies, focused on consumer insights, emerges as key for B2C marketing managers as they face challenges such as aligning strategies to corporate objectives, maximizing ROI, adapting to the dynamic marketplace, managing limited budgets and distinguishing themselves from the competition. This method prioritizes deep understanding of consumer needs, facilitating rapid experimentation and iteration, which is crucial to effectively measure ROI, backed by studies that highlight its importance for 99% of marketers.
What is a Customer Centric Strategy?
A customer-centric strategy focuses on analyzing and prioritizing consumer data to guide every business decision. With what objective? Consumers no longer prioritize not only the product but their shopping experience, so companies must know their preferences and needs in order to create strategies that adapt to them. In fact, 67% of U.S. consumers look for brands that fit their lifestyle, according to Zinklar’s brand loyalty study, and 58% are willing to pay more for their preferred brand.
By adopting a customer-centric strategy, companies can refine their communication to resonate with their audience, increase consumer satisfaction through enriching shopping experiences, introduce products aligned with target audience interests, develop marketing campaigns that generate effective conversions, and establish a solid competitive advantage over their competitors.
But to achieve this, it is essential to be in continuous contact with the customer. According to Zinklar data, 47% of organizations obtain consumer insights on a weekly basis and 91% of marketers say that consumer insights have a significant impact on their decision making.
Some of the actions that organizations can implement to focus on the consumer and be able to boost their results are:
- Customer segmentation: identify buyer personas, understanding their problems, interests and preferences to create personalized strategies.
- Social listening: monitor the digital environment to know what your target is thinking, if there is something that concerns them, how they interact with your brand and the perception they have of it and your competition.
- Alignment between departments: foster interdepartmental collaboration with a deep understanding of the customer for a unified strategy.
- Define the customer journey: adapt actions, content and communication at each stage.
- Facilitate interaction to allow the audience to easily communicate with the brand and respond to their concerns.
- Conduct research to anticipate trends and changes in consumer behavior that will help you stand out from your competition.
How Customer Centric Strategies Drive Business Success
Customer-centric marketing strategies are those that prioritize the consumer and develop their actions around their preferences and needs. For example, with content of their interest, personalized communication or tailored products.
Today, creating a customer-centric marketing strategy is a must for any brand that wants to grow and build customer loyalty. According to McKinsey & Company, 71% of consumers expect companies to offer personalized interactions, and 76% are frustrated when this does not happen.
This customer-centric approach is not only a necessity, but a competitive advantage that no professional should overlook. According to BCG data, in just 4-6 weeks, brands that used advanced data-driven technology saw their online results increase by up to 50%, resulting in a 33% increase in ROI and a 44% decrease in cost per action.
It is precisely this ability to measure the ROI of actions that is the market research metric most valued by marketers and product specialists, according to CMO Alliance data.
Why you should NOT ignore Customer Centric Marketing
A relationship without communication is a relationship doomed to failure, also in the corporate environment. Operating blindly without knowing who we are addressing and what they expect from us is a mission impossible to accomplish successfully.
Understanding consumer behavior and market dynamics not only allows us to create strategies adapted to the target and build loyalty, but also to anticipate and address potential risks that could affect our brand. According to a study by Buljan & Partners, 81% of satisfied customers make repeat purchases and 55% make their purchasing decisions based on recommendations from other customers.
For this reason, consumer opinions and market research must play a key role in any marketing strategy. Only by continuously collecting data and analyzing consumer perceptions and market trends is it possible to create effective strategies and effectively manage any brand reputation crisis.
According to CMO Alliance data, the main barriers marketers encounter when conducting market research are lack of time, lack of knowledge of which source of information to use, lack of budget and difficulty in accessing the right tools. It is precisely this last point that can solve the rest of the problems.
Marketing teams must have the right tools to spend their time analyzing the market, understanding the consumer and creating strategies tailored to the target audience. Currently, however, Zinklar data reflects that 75% of professionals spend more time analyzing data, deciding on research actions (67%) and tools (65%), rather than performing research tasks themselves.
Marketers usual work duties
Conclusion
The consumer-centric approach is the most powerful tool for managing the challenges of marketing decision making. A deep understanding of consumer behavior and the use of quality insights are critical to minimize risk and ensure the effectiveness of any strategy.
Brands that adopt a customer-centric approach not only achieve exponential performance improvements, but also remain agile and relevant in an ever-changing business environment. And that enables them to make a difference.