Successful companies know that revenue and employee performance don’t paint the full picture. The customer perspective makes or breaks a business. Especially in today’s digital world where customer feedback is public and easily accessible. Identifying and acting on the voice of the customer (VoC) is critical in growing a company.
There are other perspectives in addition to voice of the customer that matter, like voice of the business, voice of the process, and voice of the employee. They’re all key. But the most important one is the voice of the customer because it’s the foundation on which your company sits.
This article outlines the basics of voice of the customer and what you need to know to implement an effective VoC program in your company.
What is voice of the customer (VoC)?
Voice of the customer is a method of collecting information about how customers think and feel about a company. Customers have specific needs, wants, and expectations about products or services delivered by a company. Successful companies collect this information and use the insights to optimize their customer experience.
Within the VoC method, there are a number of ways to collect customer information.
Voice of the Customer collection examples:
- Online surveys
- In-person surveys
- Interviews
- Focus groups
- Live chat
- Call data
- Website traffic analytics
- Online customer reviews
- Customer service agents
- Sales reps
- Net Promoter Score (NPS)
- Emails
Why is VoC important?
The way a customer experiences and thinks about a company is directly related to how likely they are to purchase from that company. According to recent research, nearly all (94%) US consumers report they are likely to make more purchases from a company with a “very good” customer experience (CX). Finding your company’s VoC nearly guarantees an increase in sales.
Three key benefits of knowing your company’s VoC
Before diving into how to find voice of the customer, here are the top three benefits of knowing your company’s VoC.
Increased customer retention
It’s no surprise that when you listen to your customers and improve your products, services, and operations accordingly, customers want to stay.
Annual revenue growth
Research from the Aberdeen Group shows that companies who implement a voice of the customer strategy generate a 10x greater year-over-year increase in annual company revenue.
Not only that, a Gartner report found that companies who actively implement a VoC program spend 25% less on customer retention than those that don’t. The bottom line? Consistently listening to customers and improving their experience is good business.
Improved company performance
When your company knows their VoC, it improves team performance across the board. It positively affects marketing, sales, customer service, and product teams alike. Teams can use customer feedback to consistently improve products and services, marketing efforts, and customer support.
Your marketing team can use VoC information for word-of-mouth testimonials and social proof which are some of the most effective ways to reach new customers. When you equip your customer service and sales teams with VoC data, they can proactively assist customers and close more sales.
VoC program basics
An effective VoC program can be summed up in three main steps: listen, act, and analyze. You can further customize these steps, but they are the core pieces of a successful program.
Before choosing how your company will capture VoC, identify a common objective. Customer feedback runs the gamut. If you gather data without a specific objective in mind, it’s harder to implement the findings to improve your business.
Pose a common objective in the form of a question. It’s helpful to include a benchmark metric too. Here are a couple of examples of what a VoC program objective can look like:
- Our subscription renewal rate dropped to X% from Q3 to Q4. Why did this happen? How can we improve?
- Website data shows that customers get stuck in our product flow at X stage. Why is this? How can we proactively assist customers better? How can we optimize our user experience?
When your team focuses its customer feedback efforts with a common objective, you’ll get better answers in a shorter amount of time. After discovering answers to one objective, move on to the next and continue improving your customer experience.
How to find your company’s VoC
An effective VoC program includes collaboration from the top down and across teams. Get your C-suite engaged. VoC affects the entire buyer journey from sales and marketing to product and customer success. It’s key that all stakeholders are actively involved and advocating for the program.
Identify customer perception and touchpoints
It’s time to put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Where do your customers interact with the company? Think about what comes up when your customers perform an online search. Think about what ads they might see. Customers might be introduced to the company via online reviews then head to your website. Or maybe it’s social media. It’s key to understand how your customers hear about and engage with your company.
Map out your customer journey. With a clear, documented customer journey, you have the context to create useful program objectives.
Collect customer feedback
Now that you know how your customers interact with the company, focus on listening to their experiences. Collect customer feedback via direct communication (interviews and surveys) or sentiment analysis (reviews and social media interactions). It’s best to collect all the information that already exists online then move on to asking for feedback directly from customers.
Keep feedback requests as simple and short as possible. Don’t ask your customers to do a lot of heavy lifting. Stick to concise survey questions and convenient platforms.
Analyze feedback
Successful VoC programs take the time to gain valuable insights from the data they collect. It’s easier to spot trends and points of improvement when you zoom out and view customer feedback as a whole.
Act on feedback
After analyzing feedback, your internal stakeholders are in the best position to act on key insights. Continue to promote cross-collaboration among teams at this stage. From a birds-eye view, one comprehensive solution can improve performance and outcomes across teams. For example, your product team may find that a specific how-to video improves product user flow. Your marketing team can help create this asset and utilize it to market your company. Meanwhile, your customer success team can use this same asset to proactively assist customers.
Monitor trends and iterate
As your business grows, your customer experience changes. Build a system that allows for continuous customer feedback to flow into team operations. Monitor feedback and analyze trends often to maximize business performance over time.
A VoC program helps your company discover its unique voice of the customer. NICE offers Customer Voice Analytics that does the heavy lifting for you. It includes recording and speech analytics, so your company can unearth every important detail of client conversations to improve the overall customer experience.
Using voice of the customer data analysis to research trends
The term “voice of the customer” (VoC) is a methodology used to collect and analyze customer feedback. The goal of VoC is to understand the needs, wants, and expectations of your target market so you can deliver a better product or service.
There are many ways to collect customer feedback, but the most common methods are surveys, interviews, focus groups, and social media listening. Once you’ve collected this data, you need to analyze it to find trends and insights. This is where VoC can get really powerful. By understanding what your customers are saying, you can make decisions that will improve their experience and lead to more sales.
Here are four tips to use VoC data analysis to research trends, identify problems early, and make decisions that improve the customer experience.
Tip #1. Research customer needs and wants
The first step in any VoC program is to understand what your customers need and want. This requires research. You can’t just assume you know what they want. You need to ask them directly.
The best way to do this is through surveys. You can use a tool like Jotform Survey Maker or Google Forms to create a survey, or you can hire a market research firm to conduct surveys for you.
Another option is to interview customers directly. This can be done over the phone, in person, or even through chatbots. The key is to ask open-ended questions that will give you insights into their needs and wants.
Tip #2. Identify customer pain points
Once you understand what your customers need and want, you can start to identify their pain points. These are the areas where they’re not happy with your product or service.
To find these pain points, you need to listen to what your customers are saying. This can also be done through surveys, interviews, focus groups, or social media listening. When you’re listening to your customers, pay attention to the words they use and the emotions they express. This will give you clues into their pain points.
Tip #3. Find trends in customer feedback
Once you’ve collected and analyzed customer feedback, you can start to look for trends. This is where VoC data analysis provides powerful insights.
Look for patterns in the data. Are there certain topics that keep coming up? Are there certain times of the year when customer satisfaction is higher or lower?
This analysis will help you understand what’s working and what’s not. You can then use this information to make decisions that improve the customer experience.
Tip #4. Use VoC data to make decisions
The final step in any VoC program is to use the data you’ve collected to make decisions. This data should be used to inform everything from product development to customer service.
For example, if you find that customers are unhappy with your product, you can use this information to make changes. Or if you find that customer satisfaction is lower during certain times of the year, you can use this information to adjust your marketing or staffing levels.
The key is to use the data you’ve collected to make decisions that will improve the customer experience. By doing this, you can increase sales, loyalty, and retention.
How to pick the right VoC program to collect surveys and feedback
The contact center is uniquely positioned to be the voice of the customer (VoC), but only if you have the right program in place.
Now that you know the basics of voice of the customer programs, it’s time to start thinking about which one is right for your business. There are many different options available, so it’s important to take the time to find one that fits your needs. Here are some things to consider when choosing a voice of the customer program:
Ease of use:
You want a program that’s easy to set up and use, so you can get started collecting feedback quickly.
Cost:
Another important consideration is cost. Voice of the customer programs can vary widely in price, so it’s crucial to find one that fits your budget.
Features:
Another thing to consider is the features offered by the voice of the customer program. Some programs offer more features than others, so find one that offers what you need.
Support:
Finally, consider the level of support offered by the voice of the customer program. You want a program that offers good customer support in case you have any problems.
Training your call center agents to use a VoC software solution
When your contact center uses a VoC software solution, it gives you the ability to measure and track customer sentiment in real time. This allows you to quickly identify any issues that may be affecting the customer experience.
But a VoC solution is only useful if your agents use the data they’re seeing to improve the customer experience. Follow these three steps to train your call center agents on how to use VoC software:
Step #1
The first step is to provide your agents with an overview of the VoC software and how it works. This will help them understand what the software is and how it can be used to improve the customer experience.
Step #2
Next, you need to train your agents on how to use the data from the VoC software. This training should include how to interpret the data and how to use it to improve the customer experience, depending on your specific use case.
Step #3
Finally, you need to provide your agents with some real-world examples of how the VoC software can be used to improve the customer experience. This will help them understand how to use the software in a real-world setting.
By providing your agents with this training, you’ll help them use the VoC software to improve the customer experience and increase sales.
Industry use cases for a Voice of the Customer Platform
There are many different industry use cases for a Voice of the Customer Platform. Here are some examples:
Financial services
Voice of customer data can be used to improve financial services by helping identify areas where your product or service isn’t meeting customer needs – such as high fees or poor customer service – and make changes to improve its appeal.
Retail
VoC data can also be used to improve retail businesses. The data can help you understand customer demand, so you can stock your shelves accordingly. It can also help you identify areas where your store isn’t meeting customer expectations such as long lines or a messy store layout.
Healthcare
In the healthcare industry, VoC data can be used to improve patient care. Understand what patients want and need from their healthcare providers, such as shorter wait times or more personalized care. It can also help you identify areas where your facility isn’t meeting patient expectations such as unclean facilities or a lack of wheelchair accessibility.
Manufacturing
In the manufacturing industry, VoC data can be used to improve the quality of products. Understand what customers want from your products, such as better quality or more features. It can also help you identify areas where your products aren’t meeting customer expectations such as poor craftsmanship or a lack of durability.
Government
VoC data can be used to improve public services by identifying what citizens want and need from their government like additional access to services or lower taxes.
Education
Understand what students and parents want and need from their schools with VoC data, such as better quality or more personalized education. It can also help you identify areas where your school isn’t meeting customer expectations such as a lack of extracurricular activities or poor teacher-student ratios.
Automating with Cloud Voice of the Customer tools
Contact centers can significantly streamline their operations and enhance customer experience by leveraging cloud-based Voice of the Customer (VoC) tools. These advanced automations are designed to capture, analyze, and act on customer feedback through phone calls, emails, social media interactions, and other communication channels. By incorporating cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, and natural language processing (NLP), cloud VoC tools can effectively analyze vast amounts of unstructured data and deliver deep insights on customers’ needs, expectations, and pain points. This allows organizations to identify opportunities for improvement and implement data-driven strategies to boost customer satisfaction, loyalty, and ultimately, their bottom line.
One of the most significant benefits of cloud VoC tools is their potential to automate routine customer service tasks, freeing up contact center agents to focus on more complex and high-value issues. For instance, AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants can handle a large volume of customer queries and complaints through natural, conversational interactions, providing real-time resolutions without requiring human intervention. Advanced analytics capabilities enable automated sentiment analysis of customer feedback, offering a granular understanding of trends, emerging issues, and potential areas of concern. Meanwhile, machine-learning algorithms can identify patterns in customer behavior and enable proactive engagement, ensuring contact center agents have the necessary context and tools to provide personalized, targeted support. Moreover, the cloud-based nature of these tools ensures seamless scalability, enabling contact centers to handle variable demands and maintain optimal performance regardless of changing circumstances.
