Customer centricity which is more than just a wall sticker or an abstract guiding principle, but is genuinely at the heart of a company’s operations, lived and breathed – is found in just 3% of all companies. 3%! Yet
- according to Forrester, it is precisely this 3% that is growing 41% faster,
- generate 49% more profit and
- are 51% more successful at retaining their customers than the rest.
So why isn’t everyone doing everything they can to make customer centricity the heart of their customer journey – after all, this is about hard cash? Because, once again, it’s not that simple – starting with simply understanding what actually needs to change.
So here we present the 10.5 commandments that make all the difference to the customer experience and will help you stand out from the vast, vast crowd.
🪦I. Thou shalt not have other goals than the customer
Let’s just say that, at the very least, the customer should clearly be the number one priority. No problem at all? 80% of companies believe they are already delivering top-tier CX – unfortunately, only 8% of customers agree with them. Oops, is it all just overconfidence? Certainly in part, but the gap between self-perception and external perception is wide across all sectors and company sizes. The biggest stumbling block seems to be not ego, but implementation.
Customer Centricity Only on Paper
- Quarterly goals trump customer goals: Customer centricity regularly loses out to short-term business goals—because executives are evaluated based on quarterly results, and investments in the customer experience rarely pay off quickly. Customer centricity is often treated as an initiative that runs alongside normal business operations, rather than as a core priority.
- The metrics focus inward: Companies that measure monthly revenue from a product or a channel’s performance are managing the business from an internal perspective. Customer-centric companies, on the other hand, measure customer satisfaction, profit per customer, and customer potential. RedPort tests this as follows: If someone answers the question of how business is going by citing product goals, the company is managed internally. If they answer by citing customer satisfaction, it is managed externally.
- Incentives don’t work: Employees do what they are rewarded for. When bonuses are tied to internal goals—closing rates, processing times, product sales—a structural conflict with customer focus arises that permeates day-to-day operations. VisionEdge Marketing therefore recommends linking executive compensation directly to customer loyalty and engagement.
- Leadership doesn’t just talk the talk: McKinsey via VisionEdge: Companies whose leadership actively models customer-centric behavior grow more than twice as fast as their competitors. If, on the other hand, the issue is delegated, it is effectively dead in the water.
🪦II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any wrong image of the customer.
32% of CX professionals do not have the information they need to truly understand customer needs – precisely the people who make decisions relating to customer centricity on a daily basis. And 83% of executives admit they don’t have the right tools to understand what drives their customers – whilst at the same time, 9 out of 10 of them believe that customer loyalty has increased. That’s a comforting thought, at least! Unfortunately, their customers see things differently: only 4 out of 10 agree.
🪦III. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Now that the customer has become the top priority (Rule 1), you have to stay on the ball! It’s not as straightforward as it sounds: in practice, many companies end up prioritising sales targets, product strategies and short-term profits once again. The betrayal creeps in gradually; furtive glances at quick KPIs become more and more frequent – and in the end, as always, it is the customers who suffer. No wonder divorce rates are skyrocketing!
That’s why prioritising one thing at a time is worth it
- Customers are leaving faster than ever before: Emplifi: 70% of customers abandon a brand after two bad experiences. 45% switched brands in 2024 due to poor service – more than in the previous year, and tolerance continues to decline.
- 75% expect consistent experiences across all channels: Omni24: Three out of four customers expect a consistent experience—online, in-store, and on mobile. Inconsistency across channels is one of the most common reasons for losing customer loyalty.
- Inconsistency even beats price increases! Emarsys: 53% of consumers switch brands due to poor customer experience—just behind price increases as a reason for churn.
- Loyalty is declining, investment is rising: PwC 2025: 57% of executives say their loyalty programs are not delivering the desired results. 46% believe their current loyalty program will be irrelevant in three years.
- Consistency pays off Forrester: Companies that consistently prioritize CX grow 1.5x faster and are 1.8x more profitable. A 5% increase in customer retention can boost profits by 25–95%.
Customer-centricity and customer focus – what is the difference?
Customer focus means taking customers’ needs into account. That’s a good start! However, with this approach, you tend to react to the customer rather than reaching out to them.
Customer centricity , on the other hand, places customer needs squarely at the heart of decision-making. It involves actively considering how to satisfy customers and retain their loyalty, and this approach is structurally embedded throughout the organisation.
🪦IV. Thou shalt not treat the customer as a mere ticket
72% of customers are annoyed by having to repeat themselves (which is actually quite a small number). This usually happens when customer history isn’t linked across channels, meaning context is lost and the team isn’t aware of the full history, only the specific enquiry. The solution, of course, is integration + omnichannel!
But that’s only half the story: 73% remain loyal to a brand because of its friendly and personable staff – if you don’t have one, the other might make up for it; ideally, of course, you’d have both.
🪦V. Remember the customer journey
Customers can be difficult.
- First of all, they are difficult to influence and rarely make decisions in a linear fashion: consumers now interact with a brand across various channels at least three times before making a purchase!
- And before you know it, they’re gone: 91% of dissatisfied customers simply walk away, without complaining and without giving you a second chance.
We’re learning that the customer journey is far from over once a purchase has been made. Post-purchase moments, such as the first time a customer contacts you with a problem or when they’re asked about renewing their subscription, are crucial for building customer loyalty. If you’re aware of all your (critical) touchpoints, you can step in at the right moments.
🪦VI. Honor feedback and complaints
For every customer who complains, there are 26 who leave without saying a word. Complaints are therefore a valuable indicator and almost a cause for celebration – the real problem (customers) are much harder to spot, at least in good time!
77% of customers also view brands more favourably when they actively seek feedback and then act on it. Gathering feedback is easy, but using it to improve requires a willingness to accept uncomfortable truths.
🪦VII. Thou shalt not solder.
Solder ..? Yes – in the sense of ‘making a makeshift connection’: 43% of companies cite a lack of cross-departmental coordination as their biggest CX challenge! Customers sense these silos, even if the term itself doesn’t necessarily mean anything to them: they’re passed from one person to another, have to repeat themselves, receive contradictory answers, and are rightly fed up.
CX teams that work together across departments are 27% more likely to achieve a high ROI from their CX programme. A case study from Leafworks: Staffbase – a platform that has reorganised its support team on a cross-functional basis.
Strategy + implementation: What sets Leafworks apart
If you’re wondering where to start, that’s where we come in. Leafworks helps companies take customer-centricity in customer service from mere lip service to the very heart of their organization—strategically, operationally, and technically. After working on nearly 1,000 client projects, we know how to foster genuine customer loyalty and where the pitfalls lie.
In our opinion, the first step toward better customer service begins with Clarity! If you’d like to learn more about our holistic approach to customer service, we highly recommend this strategy overview page.
🪦VIII. Thou shalt not steal data
… nor should you give the impression that 88% of users base their willingness to share personal data on how much they trust a company. At the same time, 63% of users believe that most companies are not transparent about how their data is used.
Data protection is therefore a matter of compliance and trust – and trust is the foundation of any healthy relationship.
🪦IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness regarding customer satisfaction
Unintentionally, of course. Because KPIs such as response time, first contact resolution and CSAT are all important and necessary, but they are not enough from a strategic perspective. The questions that are decisive for most companies are:
- Do customers stay?
- Do they buy more?
- Do they recommend you to others?
So anyone who fails to keep an eye on retention rate, customer lifetime value, net revenue retention and escalation rate is managing their service based on symptoms rather than impact.
Incidentally, McKinsey shows that those who manage to raise customer satisfaction from poor to excellent can reduce churn by 75% and almost triple revenue growth over three years.
🪦X. Thou shalt not covet thy competitor’s success
Of course, competition invigorates and motivates! By this we mean:
a) Because you don’t need to (after all, this article has already put you in the fast lane) and
b), because copying doesn’t work very well.
According to Deloitte, customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable than their competitors. However, profitability is the result of having your own CX identity – one that stems from your culture, your processes and your history. Those who are constantly looking left and right to see what the competition is doing will find it very difficult to become a frontrunner with a poorly fitting imitation.
🪦X,V. Thou shalt not buy golden calves
A new approach was needed – after all, AI is a relatively new field: by 2025, 42% of all companies had scrapped most of their AI initiatives, which is twice as many as in the previous year. Only 20% of AI projects fully meet expectations.
It’s not really down to the technology itself, but more to the approach. It would be a good idea to ask (and answer) a few questions beforehand:
- What should be automated?
- What data is available?
- What does success look like?
- How will things look in a year’s time, or in two years’ time?
AI can be incredibly useful if the purpose, the framework and everything else are right. Often, however, it’s just an expensive, flashy gimmick.
Let’s talk about your customer service
Want to understand how customer-centric your service really is – and what the next sensible step could be? Our customer service experts are happy to take a closer look together with you in an honest and direct conversation about what’s working well, where challenges remain, and which steps can help you move forward.
Meet our customer service expertsFAQ on Customer Centricity
Customer centricity means placing the customer at the heart of all business decisions. Not just in customer service, but in every area: product development, recruitment, strategy and processes. It’s about filtering every decision through the question: What does this mean for our customers?
Customer focus means responding to customer needs, whereas customer-centricity goes a step further: it embeds the customer structurally throughout the entire organisation – in management, incentives, culture and decision-making processes. The difference lies in the level of commitment and consistency.
Because customer-centricity can easily take a back seat to short-term goals in day-to-day operations. Quarterly pressure, misleading metrics, and incentives that drive internal performance – all of these ensure that well-intentioned customer-centric initiatives never really take root within the organisation. Well-intentioned is not the same as well-established.
Customer-centricity cannot be measured directly, at least not using a single metric. Indirect indicators include retention rate, customer lifetime value, Net Promoter Score, escalation rate and – at an organisational level – whether and how customer feedback is incorporated into decision-making. The simplest question is this: how does the management team answer the question “How is business going?” – by referring to product targets or customer metrics?
This is usually because it is treated as a project running alongside normal business operations – with its own budget, its own department and its own set of KPIs. Until CX is integrated into the management of the entire organisation, it will remain merely an initiative.
Customer centricity is the mindset; CX strategy is the implementation. A CX strategy defines what customer centricity looks like in practice: what the objectives are, which touchpoints are designed, and which metrics matter. Without a strategic foundation, customer centricity remains nothing more than lip service. Find out more on our Customer Service Strategy page.
An honest look at the status quo. Where do we really stand today? How are decisions made? Which key performance indicators guide the company? And: what would change if the customer were the first answer to each of these questions? Our Clarity Workshop offers a structured starting point – one day, concrete next steps.
The term ‘Voice of the Customer’ refers to all the methods companies use to systematically collect and analyse customer feedback – surveys, support analytics, interviews and social listening. The aim is to gain genuine customer insight: not just transactional data, but an understanding of why customers buy, what frustrates them and what they really need.
That would be better! When you work within your own system every day, you often fail to spot patterns. An experienced partner brings benchmark data, structured methods and an outside perspective that is hard to come by internally. Leafworks supports companies not just in deciding to adopt a customer-centric approach, but in actually putting it into practice – both strategically and operationally.
