5 Ways to Ensure You're Providing Value to Customers

Measure the right metrics and get on the same page as your customers. They will thank you by returning over and over again.

The most important thing customer-focused individuals do is generate value exchange. Value exchange is a harmonious cycle that ensures vendors and customers both get what they need from a transaction.

Value to a vendor can be seen in the form of customer retention, revenue, customer data, and advocacy. Value to customers is in the form of products, efficiencies gained, data, and more. To achieve success for your company and customers, below are five techniques to master value exchange:

1. Measure what your customer measures.

Your product could be saving customers money, but if they measure value differently, you could be missing the mark. Ensure you understand the metrics and underlying calculations that your customer expects to report to their leadership.

Metrics mismatch can play out in many ways, but here is a simple example: A customer has a goal to reduce the time spent doing an activity, for example completing a digital form. They measure reduced time as a benefit of using your tool, and their users log in for less and less time in their use of the product. The customer success manager for the business notices reduced time in the platform by users as a negative trend. They report that the customer is at risk internally, and try to work on addressing the reduced usage.

2. Ensure you track your customer's goals and expected outcomes.

Many modern tools do not have a goal tracker system built into them, so it is important to ensure your customer-facing teams can track and report on customers' goals using a repeatable and reportable format. Consider a format that includes a goal, goal year, expected outcome, and status of achievement. This should also be reviewed annually or bi-annually, as business goals can change course.

3. Share action plans with your customers.

Creating joint action plans with your customers to identify and track responsibilities can lead to more value exchange. Internal teams should not be the only ones accountable for delivering on the successful use of the platform. Monitoring your customer activity and engagement through action plans can also help ensure the relationship is sound.

4. Confirm that customer value is achieved.

It is difficult to rely on customer sentiment and net promoter scores for insight into what your customers are feeling. Confirm the value your customer is expecting is achieved through data and discussion. This could be in the form of a business review, for example, or a scorecard that is shared. This is also important to consider internally. Assessing internal value achieved can be as simple as answering a few questions. Examples are: Is the customer paying on time? Are they referenceable? Is a renewal on track? Are the decision makers aligned?

5. Identify growth opportunities.

Expansion from your existing customer base is how you achieve positive net revenue retention and customer-led growth. Understanding product market fit and what your customers are requesting can be a beneficial way to direct product roadmaps and strategies. To master value exchange, focusing on the key elements discussed above can be an asset to improving the two-way engagement and clarity between both parties. This is critical to long-term retention and harnessing customer-led growth.

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This article was written by Parul Bhandari from Inc. and was legally licensed through the DiveMarketplace by Industry Dive. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.