Guest Post: Three Rules to Kick-start Your Voice of the Customer Program

This week, we feature an article by Melanie Mingas, editor-in-chief at CX Network. She shares the research that confirms customers are being ignored – and explains how to listen better.

What if you had a colleague who could tell you exactly what to prioritize in your next CX strategy? A colleague who knows which prompts your chatbot needs to address and how much personalization is too much? What if this colleague was then excluded from all strategy meetings and decision-making? Or worse still, asked for their input and then ignored?  

It would be a pretty terrible situation for the business, as well as the individual and wider employee morale. But the truth is everybody in CX has this colleague – it’s the customer.  

Earlier this year, CX Network’s Global State research found that 29% of practitioners are not actioning customer feedback at present. There has also been a decline in the success of customer feedback reaching the right departments: in 2022, 43% said it mostly does, while this year, that figure dropped to 27%.  

At a time when CX budgets are under pressure and teams are often stretched beyond capacity, the ability to narrow focus while still driving impact is crucial. The customer’s voice provides a necessary clarity that can validate ideas and priorities and steer efforts. So, how can you listen to customers better?  

Here are three rules to kick-start your VoC program: 

1. Take a precision approach

Today, business decisions are not made on whims. They are made on data. But many think data is about volume rather than diversity or quality. They deploy every VoC tool at their disposal only to find that analyzing and actioning huge and diverse data sets is far from easy. A precision approach to what you want to establish and how you’re going to do so will eliminate data overload, one of the most common VoC pitfalls.  

2. Don’t use all your VoC tools at once

Every VoC program requires a diverse and high-quality data set to be of use, drawn from all the usual surveys, focus groups, interviews, and review analysis, as well as passive VoC methods, such as website behavior data.  

The secret to a successful VoC program lies not in using all these methods at the same time but in combining and cross-referencing them in sequence to paint a higher-resolution picture.  

For example, if a general customer satisfaction survey signals lower satisfaction levels on a certain day of the week, focus groups or customer interviews can then dive into the potential reasons. This way, different VoC methods are used as required, rather than being set to work in tandem and generating lots of data that goes unactioned.  

3. Unite teams around feedback

While much of VoC can focus on product and service quality, the chance should also be taken to assess journeys. The first step is to analyze VoC feedback from various touchpoints, such as surveys, social media, community panels, and customer support interactions, to understand the customer’s voice, sentiments, and specific needs at different stages of their journey. 

Cross-functional teams can then take a holistic view of this journey data and, rather than re-design the journey, manage it across the business to realize upsell, cross-sell, and retention opportunities.  

Your customers already know everything your CX strategy needs to achieve – it’s time to get them involved!

Melanie Mingas is the editor-in-chief of CX Network, a platform that supports CX leaders and practitioners.

Read Shep’s latest Forbes article: Are Your Customers Happy … Or Not?