Remember that iconic scene in The Wolf of Wall Street?
Jordan Belfort is seated in a room full of sharp business executives, and he pulls out a pen. Handing it to each of them in turn, he challenges, “Sell me this pen.” What happens next?
One by one, they stumble over how amazing the pen is, rattling off features and benefits. But they all miss one crucial element: understanding who they’re selling to.
The lesson here? It’s not just about how great your product is; it’s about knowing your audience, their needs, and why they should care.
As fascinating as your SaaS product is, you have to bridge the gap by providing a solution to a real pain point for your customers.
Why?
Every day, your business is contending against other competitors and it’s crucial to claim a permanent spot in their mind. How?
By creating an experience so exceptional that no other company even comes close. When you consistently deliver something unique and memorable, you’re not just offering a product—you’re building loyalty and trust.
In this article, we will cover in-depth what a customer-centric strategy is, the difference between being customer-focused and customer-centric, and how to build a customer-centric service in the SaaS space.
What is a Customer-Centric Strategy?
A customer-centric strategy is a business strategy designed to place your customers first. It is a framework designed to provide a positive experience for your customers and build long-term relationships.
What is the difference between a customer-focused and a customer-centric brand?
A customer-focused brand is one aligned with putting customers’ needs first; however , a customer-centric brand is designed to create positive customer experiences.
Customer-centricity is ingrained in the culture. It involves creating a wholesome experience for your customers at every touchpoint.
In B2B SaaS, a customer centric model is designed to prioritize your customers the same way you would prioritize other goals such as revenue growth or product compatibility.
Where customer focus is targeted to satisfying the needs and expectations of your customers, customer centricity is putting deliberate efforts into building a sustainable environment where customers thrive and their satisfaction is made a top priority.
A customer-centric business is driven to understand customers at a deeper level and find new ways to serve them better.
How to build a customer-centric service in B2B SaaS
With different changes in the tech landscape such as integrations of AI tools, evolving customer expectations, and no-code platforms, it’s becoming more glaring that the SaaS space is more competitive and it takes an effective strategy to stand out.
This is why building with your customers in mind is essential as you optimize your product in solving a real pain point and iterate based on feedback.
Here are 7 ways to build a customer-centric saas business;
Understand your customer needs and challenges:
Your customers are the backbone of your business. To truly serve them would mean digging deep beyond basic demographics and conducting user research to look into buyer’s pain points and one of the ways you can do this is by creating an ideal buyer persona that covers your target audience’s motivation, challenges, and aspirations.
By doing this, you can tailor solutions at each touchpoint and interactions that your customers have with your product to highlight certain areas for improvement. We created a guide here on how to meet your buyer at each stage of their journey with your brand.
Have a tailored onboarding process:
Your onboarding process is the steps taken by your company to ensure that your users are adequately informed on the steps needed to use your product. For a swift onboarding process, optimize for two things; your product and customer’s needs.
While your onboarding process may have been streamlined to cover any loopholes or obstacles that your audience might face on the way to interacting with your product for the first time, also ensure your customers are equipped with the necessary resources and knowledge to use your product.
Create videos on how to use each product feature, and set up customizations such as live chats or FAQ’s to offer assistance along the way. This minimizes frustration and maximizes customer success.
Offer personalized solutions:
Offer solutions tailored to meet their unique challenges and goals. Create targeted messaging and personalized product recommendations based on user’s preferences. In some cases, due to the number of steps that may be required to fully set up your product for your desired audience, you can automate certain aspects to reduce the stress of having to hop from one learning resource to the other.
Implement technology that helps you understand users’ past interactions, preferences, and behavior and create dynamic content that your audience would want to see on your website. GrowthApp offers a conversion optimization tool you can use to monitor your user performance and deliver personalized content for your users based on their interests and specific needs.
Build strong relationships:
By providing value and constantly innovating ways to build transparency between your company and the audience involved, you can foster a relationship between the both of you. Innovating with them in mind at the end leads to strong advocates of the brands.
While your product may not meet 100% of a customer’s needs, focus on the unique value it does provide. Highlight the solutions that address their most significant challenges and continually seek ways to improve. Loyal customers are often your strongest advocates, promoting your brand through word of mouth and user-generated content.
Prioritize customer experience:
A seamless customer experience can make all the difference. Test out every step of the user journey and ensure that there are no roadblocks. For instance, a broken link or missing page (“404 error”) can be incredibly frustrating, interrupting what might have been a smooth experience.
From sales and marketing to operations and customer service, it’s essential to ensure that every touchpoint delivers a positive experience for your customers. Whether it’s through your welcome emails or self-service options on your website, make sure each interaction is seamless.
Start by mapping out the ideal customer journey—from the first email they receive to the onboarding process. Test different elements along the way, and continuously optimize to create a smooth, enjoyable experience that meets your customers’ needs and keeps them engaged.
Invest in customer feedback and data:
At every step, customer feedback is crucial to building an exceptional customer experience. With all the information at your disposal, make sure you remain highly data-driven. Your decisions for improvement should always be grounded in user feedback.
Send surveys to your customer segment, a/b test certain features to know which one performs better, and track analytics to measure performance. By gaining insights into how customers interact with your brand, you’ll be better equipped to craft exceptional experiences that evolve as they engage more deeply with your product.
This feedback-driven approach helps you stay aligned with customer expectations and continuously enhance their journey.
Be proactive in problem-solving:
A customer-centric brand doesn’t just respond to problems—it anticipates them. Whether you’re launching a new feature, hiring a new team member, or refining your existing processes, make sure problem-solving is at the heart of your strategy.
It is what gives your company the engine to which you run because a customer-centric brand is deeply invested in creating quality experiences and quality experiences can only come from a system deeply rooted in actively providing solutions to its audiences as this is what births loyal customers and brand advocates.
Conclusion
According to Keap, companies that invest in their customer experience see a 42% improvement in customer retention, a 33% improvement in customer satisfaction, and a 32% increase in cross-selling and up-selling. For B2B SaaS companies, building a customer-centric strategy is essential to driving long-term success. Prioritizing customer needs, offering personalized solutions, fostering strong relationships, and making data-driven decisions are all part of this strategy. While it may take time and effort to fully embed customer-centricity into your company culture, the rewards—stronger customer loyalty, increased conversions, and sustainable growth—are well worth it.
FAQ’s
How can I be customer-centric?
Build with your audience in mind. Create an enabling environment that prioritizes customer needs, offers personalized solutions and fosters strong relationships
What are the characteristics of a customer-centric SaaS business?
It has a deep understanding of its customer’s needs, prioritizes certain features based on feedback, has proactive customer support, and is dedicated to ensuring customer satisfaction.
