Customer
Also called: principal, client or customer
A customer is the person who purchases a product or service from a supplier. The services, products or goods are generally provided to customers for a fee. The customer can be a person/consumer(B2C), or it can be a company or other type of organization(B2B).
The customer may also be referred to by other terms. Often this depends on the industry in which a supplier operates. When the emphasis is on the relationship between customer and supplier, for example in the legal, healthcare and social sectors, customers are invariably referred to as "clients. Hotels and restaurants do not have clients but guests. A hospital or other medical institution treats patients. In construction and business services, the customer is called a client.
Basically, a customer exists when a sale and/or service has taken place. If there has been a certain relationship with the supplier before then, potential customers are referred to as prospects or leads. The active acquisition of customers is called acquisition. In order to analyze, evaluate and optimize the figurative routes that customers take from unknown prospect to -hopefully- loyal ambassador, these are described and divided into customer journeys.
