The customer: definition of this key company player
The definition of a customer may seem obvious at first glance. And yet it deserves to be reminded and explored in greater depth.
In a context where digital transformation has gradually given customers full power, let's (re)discover the ins and outs of this notion.
Ensure that your customer relations are well managed, and guarantee the success of your business!
What is a customer for a company?
Definition of a customer
A customer is a person or entity that purchases a good or service offered by a company. The meaning of customer may differ depending on the field, for example:
- the customer in marketing: it is common to differentiate between internal customers (employees) and external customers,
- the client in IT : this refers to software or a computer that sends requests to a server.
👉 Here are some synonyms for customer: acquirer, buyer, or clientele. Contrary to what is sometimes claimed, a prospect is not a customer, but a potential buyer who has not yet made their first purchase.
What is the difference between a consumer and a customer?
In reality, consumers or users are not necessarily customers (and vice versa). For example, a person might buy a gift voucher to give to a friend or relative on their birthday: the latter would then be the final consumer. In this case, the customer and the consumer are two different people.
6 types of customer
Although each customer is unique, they can be grouped together according to certain similarities and portrayed in different ways.
Here are a few types of customer that your company may come into contact with:
- the curious customer, who always has lots of questions to ask and finds out a lot about the company and the product being sold before buying;
- the distrustful customer, who does not trust easily and may retract at the slightest defect, error or inconsistency they notice;
- the paranoid customer, who is scared to death of being ripped off and will appreciate any official document to protect them in the event of a problem,
- the aggressive customer, who uses the slightest pretext to "test" the other person by pushing for confrontation, raising their voice or asking to speak to a manager,
- the financially conscious customer, for whom the most important thing is not to make a mistake and to get the best possible value for money,
- the customer who is always in a hurry, for whom every request is urgent and must be dealt with as quickly as possible.
There is no such thing as a good or bad customer. Get to know each of these profiles and use the information gathered by your CRM software to personalise your approach and offer them the best possible experience.
What is the role of customers in a company?
A company would not exist without its customers: without them, there would be no turnover! To maximise its profits, it must therefore redouble its efforts to respond as effectively as possible to their needs by focusing on good customer relationship management, while setting itself apart from the competition.
86% of consumers would be prepared to pay more for a better customer experience.
Enquête Oracle
Having a good salesperson in front of you is no longer enough. Customer expectations have changed and numerous studies have shown that customer satisfaction, which is closely linked to the quality of the relationship and the customer experience, has become a criterion of profitability.customer satisfaction, which is closely linked to the quality of the relationship and the customer experience, has become a criterion of profitability.
Managing customer relations to lead your business to success
To optimise its customer relationship management, a company can draw on its knowledge of the customer lifecycle to tailor its strategy and actions to each stage in the relationship.
While there is no longer any doubt about the need to place the customer at the heart of its approach, implementing actions tailored to each stage of the customer journey and experience must become a reflex.
Article translated from French