Customer-centric is an approach to doing business that focuses and prioritises the creation of exceptional experiences for the customer.  Great customer experiences create loyal customers for your footwear brand, resulting in increased spending, brand advocacy,  and customers who are less likely to be tempted away by better prices. 

Consistency is important as customers penalise those who under-deliver twice as much as they reward companies who exceed expectations. Footwear brands need to ensure that they are consistently excellent in user and customer experience as well producing a product that exceeds customer expectations. Acquiring a new customer can cost five times more than retaining an existing customer, which goes some way to explaining why increasing customer retention by as little as 5% can increase profits from 25-95%. 

Product-centric footwear brands invest money and effort in the development of improved and innovative products by leveraging technology or specialised skills, as their product lines define their business identities. It is important for footwear designers and brands to figure out what their target customers want before they do. When taking this approach, it is important for the business to look internally at the business capabilities rather than at external factors such as unserved customer needs. Real customer focus requires an operational and cultural change whereby the business architecture shifts from product to customer-centric.

Organisational Structure

A Business Analyst serves as a bridge between your footwear brand and the ever-changing customer landscape. Through comprehensive data gathering and analysis, business analysts can identify patterns and trends, and gain valuable insights into customer preferences and behaviour, enabling your brand to make informed decisions that prioritise the needs and expectations of your customers. Should the organisation decide to make the necessary changes to become customer-centric, your business analyst will be responsible for the adoption of changes in processes, products and technologies in the organisation. The business analyst has to understand the footwear industry, organisational culture, and their capacity for change. They need to help employees to understand their role in achieving successful outcomes as well as how they will be affected by the change. Your business analyst will  need to be able to bridge the communication gap between departments and interest groups in pursuit of a common goal - customer satisfaction.

System Integration

Another important task of your business analyst is the facilitation of system integrations within your footwear business.  When acquiring software, many cost-conscious companies choose to buy only the components that they need for the next stage of growth. As the organisation evolves, the multitude of independent tools impairs productivity and information data analysis. A straightforward, personal, seamless and quick service experience is all customers want.  System integration is here to save the business and customer experience.  A system integrator needs to know your system and your requirements very well.  

The business analyst will gather requirements and facilitate the understanding of unobserved and complex information that aids in decision making and actionable strategies for your footwear brand. By thoroughly understanding the gathered information, analysts can identify opportunities for improvement and innovation , optimise product offerings, streamline processes, and enhance the overall customer experience. 

Customer Behaviour Insight

In order to be customer centric, the organisation must foster a culture of listening to and acting on customer feedback provided through social media, online surveys and passive feedback, collated by tracking customer behaviour while using digital products. However, implementing a complex data structure can be time-consuming and the high volume, velocity, and variety of customer data it produces may overwhelm decision-makers. The added weight of excessive data may also negatively impact the customer experience. Regardless of the data structure used to track the digital behaviour of your customers, the business analyst plays a crucial role in designing an optimal solution based on specific business requirements.  The process of gathering and collating data is only part of the challenge, as many CEOs struggle to effectively capture signals of change in the marketplace, how to develop customer insights or leveraging big data.  Big data is massive data sets analysed  to reveal patterns, trends, and associations. The key challenge for CEOs lies in transforming information into knowledge. The Business Analyst is your specialist in contextualising information and is responsible for ensuring stakeholders at every level understand the significance of the information, and have the necessary information to make informed decisions on how to respond. Business analysts collaborate with stakeholders to develop innovative solutions to cater to customer needs, by actively involving customers in the design process and continuously soliciting feedback. By doing this, your footwear brand can establish strong customer relationships and build brand loyalty. 

Understanding and Controlling ROI

If the business fails to see clear outcomes from their efforts in enhancing customer experiences, the CEO or finance manager may struggle to justify continued investment. For this reason, many footwear brands struggle to be or remain genuinely customer-centric. The Business analyst is responsible for improving the accuracy of time/cost and benefit quantities by conducting just enough analysis to highlight risks, resolve uncertainties and challenge assumptions. There are a few challenges to the assertion that marketing leading customer service will be your differentiator. Customers today are highly informed and have increased expectations.. Your business needs to be focused, aligned, and prepared for change. 

Customer centricity is an ongoing process and business analysis plays a vital role in driving continuous improvement. By conducting regular assessments, they are able to identify areas for enhancement, monitor customer satisfaction, track the effectiveness of implemented strategies, and guide your brands decision making process in order to meet customer expectations.  By leveraging the expertise of business analysts, your footwear brand can establish a strong competitive edge, build meaningful customer relationships, and thrive in the dynamic business environment.