The Future Customer

I was invited by Imperial College Business School, London to join a panel for a leadership programme for executives of a global financial services firm.  The executives and panel will be considering ‘The Future Customer’ and exploring questions such as

1.     What do future customers look like?

2.     What are their expectations of the financial services sector?

3.     How will future customers engage with financial services? What will characterise the relationship?

The opportunity got me thinking – not just about future customers in financial services – but about future customers.  Regardless of industry future customers will be comprised of people with needs stretching from food and clothing to financial services and utilities.

Most organisations focus on current customers – at least the most significant (or noisy).  And most organisations think about whether the products, services, interface and experience they’re investing in and developing will retain those customers and win new ones that look similar to those in the portfolio. 

But how much do we think about how customers will choose products and services using criteria that go far beyond the products and services themselves. Future customers are likely to focus on and emphasise non-traditional criteria.  Criteria that are not related to the actual products or services but are instead related to the values important to the customer.  For example, evaluating a firm’s environmental impact, its stance regarding social justice, the sustainability of its products, the diversity of its employees, the inclusiveness of its products and services or how its investments or production impact the climate.

In contrast to most current customers, future customers will buy less and instead borrow and rent more based on different choices and different values.  Future customers will shop for and select services based on that lifestyle and those values.  We are only at the beginning of this shift.  There will be many incumbent organisations and many leaders caught off guard or behind the curve when it comes to understanding the non-traditional decision-making criteria of the future customer. 

Anyone leading an organisation; defining strategy, products or services; or developing user interfaces and customer experiences needs to consider the new criteria by which organisations will be judged and products and services purchased. What can we, as leaders, do to stay ahead?  Reflect on the perspectives, positions and experiences that drive us and our decision-making.  Attempt to truly understand the perspectives, motivations and drivers of others.  Learn.  Challenge.  Try not to assume.  

Remember that considering future customers and adapting for them is - and will remain - a journey.