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.

Make sure your customer relations are well managed, and guarantee your company's success!

See all software Customer relationship management

What is a customer for a company?

Definition of a customer

A customer is a person or entity who purchases a good or service offered by a company. Its meaning may differ depending on the field, for example:

• the customer in marketing: it's common to differentiate between internal customers (employees) and external customers,
• the customer in IT : this refers to a software program or computer that sends requests to a server.

👉 Here are a few 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 his or her first purchase.

What's the difference between a consumer and a customer?

In reality, consumers or users are not necessarily customers (and vice versa). A person may, for example, buy a gift voucher to give to a loved one on their birthday: the latter will 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 just a few of the types of customer your company may encounter:

• the inquisitive customer, who always has lots of questions to ask and finds out a lot about the company and the product before buying;
• the distrustful customer, who doesn't trust easily and may retract at the slightest flaw, error or inconsistency they notice;
• the paranoid customer, who is scared to death of being ripped off and appreciates any official document that can protect him in the event of a problem,
• the aggressive customer, who uses the slightest pretext to "test" his interlocutor by pushing for confrontation, raising his voice or asking to speak to a manager,
• the money-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 profile and use the information gathered by your CRM software to personalize your approach and offer them the best possible experience.

What is the role of customers in a company?

A company wouldn't exist without its customers: without them, there'd be no sales! To maximize profits, it must therefore redouble its efforts to meet customers' needs as effectively as possible, through effective customer relationship management, while setting itself apart from the competition.

86% of consumers would be willing 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 evolved, 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.

See all software Customer relationship management

Managing customer relations for success

To optimize its customer relationship management, a company can draw on knowledge of its customer lifecycle to personalize its strategy and actions at each stage of the relationship's evolution.

Today, there's no doubt about the need to place the customer at the heart of its approach, but implementing actions adapted to each stage of the customer journey and experience must become a reflex.