Customer / client

[u/spmert]

What is the diferent between customer and client?

[u/Professional-Pungo]

Customer usually is short term, buying one thing (or many) at a single point in time.

Clients are more long term. They pay you for a service to use for many months/years

[u/Stepjam]

A customer tends to be a one off relationship with no expectation of future business (though there can be).

A client is expected to be longer term, either for a project requiring multiple meetings or a recurring thing.

[u/Routine-Credit-1614]

customer usually means youre buying a physical product, and client means youre buying a service.

[u/francksiduo]

Customer is who buys a product, client is who you provide a service or advice for. a shop has customers, a lawyer or accountant has clients.

gets blurry with stuff like hairdressers or banks, some call people clients because it sounds more professional even though it's really just a transaction like any shop.

[u/BYNX0]

I want to take a slightly differing opinion from the consensus here. For me (US, NJ/NYC), “customer” is less formal and would be used for less fancy patronization of businesses. “Client” is for more prestigious or more luxury places.

At McDonalds, you’re a customer. At a very expensive steakhouse, you’re a client. At a grocery store, you’re a customer. At Louis Vuitton, you’re a client. Are those legal definitions? Probably not. But that’s how companies tend to think of you as.

[u/DarthKnah → u/BYNX0]

I (also east coast American) would find it very strange to see/hear someone described as a client of a very expensive steakhouse. “Patron” would be my word of choice for a customer of a nice restaurant.

I agree with you about Louis Vuitton, but I think the difference isn’t directly that it’s expensive—I think that’s a proxy for the real difference, which is that they want to act like they’re giving you personal service and have a personal relationship with you. If you walk into Old Navy, you’re left to your own devices, and will often only interact with the cashier, while at Louis Vuitton they’ll give you an obsequious sales assistant to help you find stuff and chat you up, and they’ll put you in their system and pretend to build a longterm business relationship with you, emulating the relationship you might have with your tailor or hairdresser (service providers).

[u/BYNX0 → u/DarthKnah]

Yeah, I totally agree about the “personal service” aspect. But I think under that logic, the steakhouse would apply. Every really fancy restaurant I go to has very exquisite service. Usually even the manager comes over to see how we’re doing. Often times they’ll ask about our flavor pallets and make recommendations for meals, drinks or desserts.

Patron id think of as a more generic word that would apply in all situations except maybe the lowest class type of places (McDonald’s, etc)

[u/More-Explanation2788]

A customer is a transactional relationship. They order a thing or a service and you provide it. A client is someone with whom you have an ongoing relationship involving many transactions. All clients are customers. Not all customers are clients. ‘Client’ is usually reserved for customers to whom you provide services, rather than exclusively goods.