What is the difference between perceived customer value and total customer benefit?

What is the difference between perceived customer value and total customer benefit?

What is total customer value (TCV)? Total customer value is the relationship between what a customer pays and what he or she receives when making a purchase. You can use TCV to assess the experience you deliver to customers and determine fair pricing for your offerings.

TCV helps you understand what customers value when doing business with you. When you assess TCV, you need to think about all of the costs and the benefits of buying from you.

Costs and benefits aren’t just monetary — think about your own buying experiences. An efficient sales or shopping process that saves you time benefits you. If you need assistance, you may appreciate quality customer support. Also, you may gain image or status by selecting a brand with an esteemed reputation.

Your total costs related to a purchase can include the time and energy you expend to make it happen. If you wait days for an ordered product to arrive and have to review online tutorials to use it, that’s a time-related cost. Stressful buying experiences or poor service are intangible costs that can diminish the value of a purchase.

Common uses for total customer value

  • Determining the perceived value of your products and services
  • Comparing the value you deliver to customers versus the value your competitors offer
  • Considering all the costs and benefits customers experience when buying from you
  • Setting fair pricing that ensures customers value what they buy from you
  • Understanding why and when your customers may feel “buyer’s remorse” after a purchase

Examples of how to increase TCV

Once you understand TCV, you can find ways to deliver more benefits for your customers. That way, you’ll increase the perceived customer benefits and come out ahead in the value vs. cost equation.

  1. Provide a free gift, rewards, or extra service: Give your customers something to show them that you appreciate their business. Loyalty programs that reward repeat purchases are a great way to increase perceived value and fortify customer relationships.
  2. Make it easier to buy from you. Streamlining purchase processes and shortening delivery times will benefit your customers. In e-commerce, recurring product subscriptions and one-click ordering are examples of this concept.
  3. Strengthen your brand perception and relevance. Strategize ways to make customers feel proud about choosing you. One approach is showcasing your commitment to causes customers care about.
  4. Provide standout customer experiences. Go the extra mile for customers whenever possible. Don’t just react to their needs — anticipate them.

Assessing TCV helps you understand your customers’ point of view. When you operate with a customer-centric mindset, you can create products and services that resonate with the market and win you more business.

What is total customer value (TCV)? It's the perceived benefit a customer gains from a product or service compared to its cost. Find out more. #marketing #contentmarketing Click To Tweet

About the author

Connie Harrington

Connie Harrington is a content strategist with expertise spanning B2B technology, customer experience, consumer products, digital marketing, and healthcare. She has created content for brands of every scale from small startups to household name companies such as eBay, Cisco, and Purple.

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Total customer value and total customer price are terms that have importance for a business in a sales-oriented industry. Building value for the customer gives a business more control over its pricing and can help the company bring in higher profits in the long term. Failure to build value while increasing total customer price could send a customer looking to the competition.

Total Customer Cost Definition

  1. Total customer cost is the complete packet or fees a customer expects to pay in the researching, buying, obtaining and maintaining of a given product or service. For example, a customer buying a loaf of bread expects to spend little in the way of research and maintenance, whereas a customer buying a new car has the expectation that costs will continue to accumulate through yearly inspections, fuel costs and upkeep.

Determining Customer Costs

  1. A business considering the extended costs of customer purchases in determining total customer cost has better control over sales than a company ignoring total cost. For example, a shaving razor company can set low introductory prices for its products to encourage more customers to buy, but charge a higher price for replacement blades. By contrast, a business charging high introductory prices along with high prices for replacement parts might lose customers because consumers don't want to pay the inflated total cost when a cheaper alternative exists.

Total Customer Value Definition

  1. Total customer value is the perception of what a customer is getting from a given product or service in comparison to the purchase price. A business can build value for a customer in a variety of ways. For example, a company can offer a service plan or maintenance package to assist a customer in keeping a product in optimal condition for as long as possible. This increases the belief that the customer is buying a product or service with a value that exceeds the price the business wants in return.

Building Value and Price

  1. By building higher total value for a given product or service, a business increases its ability to charge a higher price for that product or service. A customer is more willing to pay a higher price for a product with better total value because the customer does not view the expenditure as a waste of money. For example, a customer is more willing to pay a higher price for a new car from a dealership with a dedicated service staff and warranty plan offerings than from an establishment that offers no service plans and has no mechanics on staff.

What is the difference between customer value and customer perceived value?

The perceived value is very different from the actual value of a product. The perceived value is what a customer believes the product is worth. This perception is formed by the opinions of the market and by the benefits that the customer expects to receive if he makes a purchase.

What is the difference between perceived value and actual value?

Perceived value vs real value In layman's terms, the real (or actual) value is what the product is actually worth, without any outside expectations from the consumer or seller. Perceived (or intangible) value is what consumers think the product is actually worth.

What is meant by customer perceived value?

What is Customer Perceived Value? Customer perceived value is defined as what your customers believe that they stand to gain or benefit from purchasing from your brand compared to the price they pay. CPV is all about what shoppers think your offerings are worth.

What is total customer value?

Total customer value is the relationship between what a customer pays and what he or she receives when making a purchase. You can use TCV to assess the experience you deliver to customers and determine fair pricing for your offerings.