A customer-centric design approach to digitization
Ordering from your shop should be as easy as your customers need it to be, and that starts with how you design your systems. I make the case for building around how your best customers already work instead of forcing them into your tools. Less friction on their side means more business on yours.
One of the best things a business owner can do is make ordering efficient and easy. Less friction means more business.
Look at how customers design, request quotes, and place orders. That process is often slow and manual, and it costs your clients time and money.
You want to sell more, as easily as possible. That only works if order entry is efficient too.
You can not force a way of working. An Excel list to fill out, everything through a portal. The customer does not know your tools, is not disciplined, or does not have the time.
Metalworking companies that go digital design their software around how their best customers work, not just around internal efficiency.
The point is
To stay competitive, meet the customer where they are.
A customer-oriented design cuts the workload for both sides.
Make the process easy and you save your customers real time. They will order more.
So any new software or initiative should start with the customer’s systems and needs first.
I wrote about this before:
I wrote about this before:
