Indian Banks and financial institutions have something called “KYC norms- Know Your Client” – set by the governing bodies that they have to follow. This means getting clients to divulge certain information that will help the business determine whether they are a risk to the health of the business or not. However this is an area  involving statutory compliance.

There are many other companies who voluntarily seek to know their customers.

Toyota is one such company. You can read here about how it went about designing the Lexus by listening to it’s (future) customers better.

Another company that comes to mind is P&G- the FMCG giant. It has some of its interns and management trainees live with the customers in their houses and observe how they use certain products.This helps them to design better products that become hits with their consumers.

The message is simple: the better you know and understand your customers, the more loyal they will be to you  and the higher the payoff in the long run.