What is Customer Centric and Why is it Important for Financial Inclusion?

Since time immemorial, there has been a silent and unwritten rule in the world of business; the customer is king. Every business needs customers. In fact, customers are the reason why businesses are. Without a customer, there is no business and the earlier businessmen and women know this, the better their businesses will be.

For a business to succeed, a customer has to be centralized in the business. According to a Symposium on Financial Inclusion that is taking place in Accra Ghana, there is a need for businesses and organizations to embrace customer-centric approach if at all the dream to have a full financial included society is to be realized.

What is Customer Centric?

Customer-centric is a way of doing business with your customer in a way that provides a positive customer experience before and after the sale in order to drive repeat business, customer loyalty and profits. A customer-centric company, according to analysts is a company that offers more than good services.

According to Customer-Centric Guide, Customer centrism is about putting customers at the center of your business which in turn produces loyal, active customers and moves your organization or business toward long-term competitive advantage. When an organization or business is focused on customers, they gain a competitive advantage over the long term by remaining agile and giving their customers exactly what they need. What businesses need is loyalty from their customers. Customers become loyal when you give them what they need. If you give them what they need, they will remain loyal, actively use your products and services and provide referrals making your organization or business to grow.

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One of the major advantages of businesses adopting a customer-centric approach is that it provides value for customers by timely responding to their wants and needs through tailored experiences and products. Customers are often empowered by product use and they gain control over their financial lives. This is where financial inclusion come in. Financial inclusion, among other things, is how people take control of their financial lives. The approach, also, offers value for organizations through value propositions that are based on customer needs, cost to serve and customer lifetime value.

Opportunities for adopting Customer-centric approach

According to financial experts, including the MasterCard Foundation, which has been on the forefront in ensuring that financial inclusion is realized around the globe, between 2011 and 2014, financial inclusion efforts around the globe prompted 721 million account openings.

Of this number, according to the Customer-Centric Guide, 54 million were mobile accounts, and two-thirds of those were used less than once every three months. Most of the remainder were only used as “mailbox accounts,” as customers immediately withdrew all cash upon receipt of wages or social benefits. Lack of use translated into a lack of revenue for organizations that offered these accounts. There is a link between customer satisfaction and the performance of the business. When the customer is satisfied with the products and services you offer, chances of he/she coming back and telling others about how good your products and services are, are very high.