As part of a series outlining the purposes, objectives, and tools used by companies worldwide, Business Insider spoke with a group of customer research experts to get the latest trends and issues related to voice of the customer programs. E.G. Insight’s Managing Partner Eric Engwall and Research Analyst Nick Wassenberg provided their points of view about gathering feedback from business-to-business customers.
Excerpt from the article:
Nick Wassenberg, Research Analyst for E.G. Insight, Inc., suggests several factors that could present ideal times to measure what your customers are thinking. For internal factors, such as making the decision to expand into new markets, you would need to perform customer research to understand what those new customers want. And then there are external factors, such as the recession, which might inspire you to find out how it’s affecting your customers’ buying decisions and needs.
As Eric Engwall, a managing partner for E.G. Insight, puts it, “Reality never works out like your business plan.” So it’s crucial to get out there, find out what your customers are thinking, and adjust.
You’ll make the biggest impact if you focus your customer research on these topics:
- More effective product development
- Better customer service and satisfaction
- More targeted marketing efforts
- Increased knowledge about your competitors’ products and how customers are using them
The series is sponsored by Toyota and will be released in two parts: the first is a summary of what can be learned from listening to customers and the second reviews various tools companies can use to capture customer feedback.
The full report can be found here: http://bit.ly/aKcZMY
