Voice of the Customer (VoC) programs generate huge amounts of information — unstructured and structured, quantitative and qualitative. Amidst this volume of “big data” lives business and customer insight, provided you know what you need, where to find it and most importantly, why it’s worth finding in the first place.
Many companies struggle with the what, where and why. Follow this kick-start guide to get the process going.
Knowing what your VoC program needs
Start with three basic questions that are the building blocks to all successful VoC programs:
1. Does your organization understand the value of each customer? How does it assign that value? What information does it use to make those decisions?
2. Is the value of each customer tied to your VoC program, enabling you to prioritize and determine the manner in which you engage with customers?
3. Do you fully understand the impact poor customer experiences can have on different areas of your business? Conversely, how do you replicate success? Are there any obvious pain points or common strengths? How do you ascertain that information? How do you share it and who do you share it with?
Where to find it
Identifying the systems that hold the information you need will enhance and provide context to your VoC program. Create a wish-list of goals and for each one in your VoC strategy, ask:
– What information do I wish I had to help me understand the situation better and see the full picture?
Do not worry about whether you currently have access to that information. Too often, businesses make decisions based on the information they have at their disposal, versus what they need to have. Once you’ve identified the information you desire, ask:
– Does this information already exist somewhere in my organization?
Integrating and leveraging silos of information across the organization is one of the biggest challenges faced by companies today. Just because you and your team can’t access the data, it doesn’t mean that the information doesn’t exist somewhere. It could simply mean that no one has thought to connect the information silos together. You could be that person and the impact could be huge.
For example, uniting your CRM, HR and VoC systems could help you understand if customer feedback aligns with employee feedback. This knowledge can have a ripple effect and stimulate changes from front-line sales efforts to customer support call center scripts.
Why does it matter? Communicating the greater good.
VoC programs are purposefully and strategically mandated. Unfortunately, many of these mandates come without clear goals and explanation of why the strategy is important to the organization and what is specifically hopes to accomplish.
Skillfully-communicated VoC strategies and goals foster community and co-operation. Better yet, showing the ongoing results of VoC initiatives and how they are making the business stronger and more competitive is even better.
If you haven’t done it already, start with a clear VoC communication strategy that is heavy on the “why” because its success is inextricably linked to the “who” within your organization.
To read more about powering and praising the people behind VoC programs, click here.
