Kuraianto: Client / Kokyaku: Client / Kasutama: Customer / Okyakusama: Customer

Kuraianto（くらいあんと/クライアント）

Kuraianto is a person or company that requests continuous professional services. Clients from consulting and advertising services are often called kuraianto. In the IT field, the word may also refer to a computer or application that receives services.

例：クライアントの課題を解決する。


Kokyaku（こきゃく/顧客）

Kokyaku is a person or company that has purchased a company’s product or service at least once. It can also refer to people who purchased the service for the first time or who are likely to purchase it in the future. It these cases we call them “shinki kokyaku”（しんきこきゃく/新規顧客）and “mikomi kokyaku”（みこみこきゃく/見込み顧客）.

例：新規事業によって、多くの顧客を獲得することができた。

The difference between kuraianto and kokyaku is whether or not they purchase the products or service continuously.

Kasutama（かすたまー/カスタマー）

Kasutama is a word for a purchaser of a product or service. It means a customer who has already purchased a product or service. Some companies have customer service or customer success to solve the dissatisfactions and questions from customers. kokyaku and kasutama are commonly used as synonymous terms.

例：商品に不備があったので、カスタマーサービスに連絡する。

Okyakusama（おきゃくさま/お客様）

Okyakusama is a polite term used to call a person or company that has purchased a company’s product or service. There is no major difference between okyakusama, kokyaku and kasutama, but this word is used in general conversation and colloquial speech in business.

例：お客様を不安にさせてはいけません。

The list of glossary