The customer is king, it is said everywhere: whether in a bakery, at a tour operator or a capital goods manufacturer. Every person capable of doing business is a customer every day. Every customer has probably felt like a king at some point. But they have also experienced being treated less than "royally". Ultimately, it is a business decision as to how the company's products and solutions are received by customers.

Concept and definition

Knowledge of customer expectations and the ability to fulfill them are considered crucial for a company's success in competition with other providers. Customer orientation is the part of marketing and corporate processes that takes place in interaction with the (potential) customer. The focus of the interaction is the relationship of dependency between the supplier - i.e. the company - and the customer.

Another definition says that customer orientation is the regular recording and analysis of customer wishes, needs and expectations. Customer orientation refers to the collection of information from and about the customer, which serves as the basis for active customer relationship management.

Derived from this, customer orientation is defined even more narrowly as the alignment of all activities of a company with the needs and problems of customers.

The company management often uses the emphasis on customer orientation to motivate its own employees and suppliers and to convince interested parties of the services offered. This is because orientation towards the expectations and wishes of a customer is inherent to the economic exchange of goods and services: entrepreneurial activity without customers and customer orientation does not exist and is considered a hobby, as it is not intended to make a profit.

Synonyms for customer orientation

Customer orientation as a discipline affects the entire company. As the relationship with the customer is primarily the responsibility of marketing and sales, these areas of the company are particularly affected.

Since customer orientation, as shown, is part of every entrepreneurial activity, it has long been considered an important, much-noticed topic. Many academics and practitioners are constantly developing new concepts and ideas with terms that are becoming established "around" the topic of customer orientation. With this in mind, it is worth taking a look at some of the terms associated with customer orientation.

Fig. 1: Customer orientation and related terms

Customer expectations

The fulfillment of customer expectations or customer wishes is often equated with customer orientation. To exaggerate, it can be said that the customer's wish is probably to receive a maximum offer at a minimum price, i.e. in the best case free of charge. A customer expectation is likely to be more realistic: rational and reasonable people will be aware that every service in exchange is also matched by a service in return - usually a monetary payment. However, more service is expected in return for more money. If there is an imbalance here, i.e. if this customer expectation is not met, this is often referred to as a lack of customer focus.

Customer centricity

When it comes to emphasizing the importance of customer orientation, the term customer centricity is often used. The word centring emphasizes the aspect that in today's world, all elements of a company really must be aligned with the customer if the customer is to be taken seriously. Figuratively, the elements of a company can be imagined as the force arrows of a magnetic field that are aligned with the "customer magnet"; the customer determines the direction.

Taking the customer "seriously" is hardly in keeping with the spirit of the times anyway. Today, customers are expected to be "loved": accordingly, this commitment is frequently found in the slogans or claims of numerous companies. This radical interpretation of customer orientation is reminiscent of the approach of selflessness, which, incidentally, has been used by customer orientation pioneers such as Edward K. Geffroy for over 20 years: "Clienting (customer orientation) assumes that a company that acts selflessly to a certain degree (egoless corporation) achieves better market opportunities than a company that strives solely for profit. Clienting puts the customer as a person and the increase in success in the foreground and not the market." [1]

Customer satisfaction

The term customer satisfaction, on the other hand, is limited to the question of how satisfied the customer is with a company and its services. If you understand the scope and consequences of customer orientation as described here, it quickly becomes clear that customer satisfaction is only a small part of customer orientation.

Customer journey

The customer journey aspect emphasizes end-to-end customer orientation in all phases, from the information phase to the onboarding process to the conclusion of the transaction. It has been recognized: If a customer has to wait or even cancel at any point in the customer journey (for example, to be able to sign a loan agreement), customer orientation is not given in the consistent interpretation of our time. Therefore, the customer should be welcomed right at the beginning with a seamless onboarding process that makes the customer journey easier from the start and removes all disruptive factors along the way. The client onboarding process picks the customer up right there and ultimately transforms them into a satisfied customer. If this doesn't happen, the customer immediately questions these incidents and has strong "weapons": The computer mouse or his touchscreen finger. The competition is just a click away.

This also makes it clear that the concept of the customer journey emerged primarily in the Internet age and initially gained its high status in the world of online stores and online marketing agencies. When digitalization gradually took hold of all companies and topics such as multi-channel and omni-channel became increasingly important, the topic entered the collective consciousness of everyone involved in customer orientation: The aspect of the customer journey draws attention to the very art of offering customers end-to-end customer orientation across all channels and media.

Customer Experience

Customer experience is based on the concept of the customer journey, i.e. the consistency of the process, which must be simple, fast and free of media discontinuity at all customer touchpoints. But even that is only the mandatory part - the optional part is to combine this customer journey with an unmistakable experience that matches the company's brand. This is what the concept of customer experience is all about: it emphasizes the holistic experience that a customer receives during the customer journey. No major company today only sells products - they also sell emotions. This means that customer experience - as the name suggests - has an experiential character. Compared to the customer journey, the emotional component is in the foreground here.

Customer relationship management

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) emphasizes the software-supported process of relationship management. Entire software companies and consulting firms have grown up with this concept and the associated CRM systems. From around 1998 until recently, CRM was the overriding management concept. For the first time, IT was given an important role in customer orientation. Suddenly it was possible to better understand and individualize customers in order to better respond to them when preparing offers. The other side of the coin is also well known: CRM is also the reason why customer orientation was often very poorly practiced in practice. Customer orientation was literally hidden in the CRM system, indeed it was often trapped in it The customer was only managed in the way that the respective CRM system intended or enabled. Until the last renaissance wave of customer orientation, which began in recent years, companies were so preoccupied with the further development of IT that they forgot who it was actually about and why CRM was invented: The customer.

Customer value

The idea of customer value comes from controlling. The contribution margin of a customer is added up over the period of the customer relationship. The idea is that at the beginning of the customer relationship, investments must be made in the individual customer through marketing and service, so that the customer contribution margin can be negative if the expenses for initiating the customer relationship are deducted from the price of a product in addition to the product creation costs. Only in the course of the customer relationship does the customer contribution margin become positive after repeated purchases by the same customer. This calculation also leads to the realization that it is often more expensive to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one.

Sometimes customer value is also determined qualitatively, for example when reference customers receive a special service.

The customer is king, it is said everywhere: whether in a bakery, at a tour operator or a capital goods manufacturer. Every person capable of doing business is a customer every day. Every customer has probably felt like a king at some point. But they have also experienced being treated less than "royally". Ultimately, it is a business decision as to how the company's products and solutions are received by customers.

Concept and definition

Knowledge of customer expectations and the ability to fulfill them are considered crucial for a company's success in competition with other providers. Customer orientation is the part of marketing and corporate processes that takes place in interaction with the (potential) customer. The focus of the interaction is the relationship of dependency between the supplier - i.e. the company - and the customer.

Another definition says that customer orientation is the regular recording and analysis of customer wishes, needs and expectations. Customer orientation refers to the collection of information from and about the customer, which serves as the basis for active customer relationship management.

Derived from this, customer orientation is defined even more narrowly as the alignment of all activities of a company with the needs and problems of customers.

The company management often uses the emphasis on customer orientation to motivate its own employees and suppliers and to convince interested parties of the services offered. This is because orientation towards the expectations and wishes of a customer is inherent to the economic exchange of goods and services: entrepreneurial activity without customers and customer orientation does not exist and is considered a hobby, as it is not intended to make a profit.

Synonyms for customer orientation

Customer orientation as a discipline affects the entire company. As the relationship with the customer is primarily the responsibility of marketing and sales, these areas of the company are particularly affected.

Since customer orientation, as shown, is part of every entrepreneurial activity, it has long been considered an important, much-noticed topic. Many academics and practitioners are constantly developing new concepts and ideas with terms that are becoming established "around" the topic of customer orientation. With this in mind, it is worth taking a look at some of the terms associated with customer orientation.

Fig. 1: Customer orientation and related terms

Customer expectations

The fulfillment of customer expectations or customer wishes is often equated with customer orientation. To exaggerate, it can be said that the customer's wish is probably to receive a maximum offer at a minimum price, i.e. in the best case free of charge. A customer expectation is likely to be more realistic: rational and reasonable people will be aware that every service in exchange is also matched by a service in return - usually a monetary payment. However, more service is expected in return for more money. If there is an imbalance here, i.e. if this customer expectation is not met, this is often referred to as a lack of customer focus.

Customer centricity

When it comes to emphasizing the importance of customer orientation, the term customer centricity is often used. The word centring emphasizes the aspect that in today's world, all elements of a company really must be aligned with the customer if the customer is to be taken seriously. Figuratively, the elements of a company can be imagined as the force arrows of a magnetic field that are aligned with the "customer magnet"; the customer determines the direction.

Taking the customer "seriously" is hardly in keeping with the spirit of the times anyway. Today, customers are expected to be "loved": accordingly, this commitment is frequently found in the slogans or claims of numerous companies. This radical interpretation of customer orientation is reminiscent of the approach of selflessness, which, incidentally, has been used by customer orientation pioneers such as Edward K. Geffroy for over 20 years: "Clienting (customer orientation) assumes that a company that acts selflessly to a certain degree (egoless corporation) achieves better market opportunities than a company that strives solely for profit. Clienting puts the customer as a person and the increase in success in the foreground and not the market." [1]

Customer satisfaction

The term customer satisfaction, on the other hand, is limited to the question of how satisfied the customer is with a company and its services. If you understand the scope and consequences of customer orientation as described here, it quickly becomes clear that customer satisfaction is only a small part of customer orientation.

Customer journey

The customer journey aspect emphasizes end-to-end customer orientation in all phases, from the information phase to the onboarding process to the conclusion of the transaction. It has been recognized: If a customer has to wait or even cancel at any point in the customer journey (for example, to be able to sign a loan agreement), customer orientation is not given in the consistent interpretation of our time. Therefore, the customer should be welcomed right at the beginning with a seamless onboarding process that makes the customer journey easier from the start and removes all disruptive factors along the way. The client onboarding process picks the customer up right there and ultimately transforms them into a satisfied customer. If this doesn't happen, the customer immediately questions these incidents and has strong "weapons": The computer mouse or his touchscreen finger. The competition is just a click away.

This also makes it clear that the concept of the customer journey emerged primarily in the Internet age and initially gained its high status in the world of online stores and online marketing agencies. When digitalization gradually took hold of all companies and topics such as multi-channel and omni-channel became increasingly important, the topic entered the collective consciousness of everyone involved in customer orientation: The aspect of the customer journey draws attention to the very art of offering customers end-to-end customer orientation across all channels and media.

Customer Experience

Customer experience is based on the concept of the customer journey, i.e. the consistency of the process, which must be simple, fast and free of media discontinuity at all customer touchpoints. But even that is only the mandatory part - the optional part is to combine this customer journey with an unmistakable experience that matches the company's brand. This is what the concept of customer experience is all about: it emphasizes the holistic experience that a customer receives during the customer journey. No major company today only sells products - they also sell emotions. This means that customer experience - as the name suggests - has an experiential character. Compared to the customer journey, the emotional component is in the foreground here.

Customer relationship management

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) emphasizes the software-supported process of relationship management. Entire software companies and consulting firms have grown up with this concept and the associated CRM systems. From around 1998 until recently, CRM was the overriding management concept. For the first time, IT was given an important role in customer orientation. Suddenly it was possible to better understand and individualize customers in order to better respond to them when preparing offers. The other side of the coin is also well known: CRM is also the reason why customer orientation was often very poorly practiced in practice. Customer orientation was literally hidden in the CRM system, indeed it was often trapped in it The customer was only managed in the way that the respective CRM system intended or enabled. Until the last renaissance wave of customer orientation, which began in recent years, companies were so preoccupied with the further development of IT that they forgot who it was actually about and why CRM was invented: The customer.

Customer value

The idea of customer value comes from controlling. The contribution margin of a customer is added up over the period of the customer relationship. The idea is that at the beginning of the customer relationship, investments must be made in the individual customer through marketing and service, so that the customer contribution margin can be negative if the expenses for initiating the customer relationship are deducted from the price of a product in addition to the product creation costs. Only in the course of the customer relationship does the customer contribution margin become positive after repeated purchases by the same customer. This calculation also leads to the realization that it is often more expensive to acquire a new customer than to retain an existing one.

Sometimes customer value is also determined qualitatively, for example when reference customers receive a special service.