When customers feel truly cared for and listened to, they don't just stick around—they become your biggest fans and most passionate advocates. They spend more, promote your brand, and drive your success.
Enter Voice of Customer or VoC.
Voice of Customer (VoC) is more than just a buzzword; it's the lifeblood of customer-centric businesses. Successful companies don't just listen to their customers; they actively leverage VoC insights to shape every aspect of their business strategy.
In this blog post, we’re setting the stage for understanding the Voice of Customer (VoC) and why we are so passionate about how important it can be to your business. Something we often hear is "We would love to build out our VoC program, but where do we start?" Well, we're here to understand how you can capture VoC data and wield it to shape your business strategy.
Future posts will take you on a deeper dive into each segment, dishing out detailed, actionable insights.
Let's take it from the top: What is the Voice of the Customer (VoC)?
Simply put, VoC strategy is the complete process of listening to your customers by digging into all places they communicate with your brand (conversations, socials, surveys, etc.) and sharing the data internally in a digestible and actionable way. A VoC strategy has the following stages:
Stage 1: Listen and capture customer feedback from various touchpoints
Stage 2: Break down the data and circulate it to the right people
Stage 3: Implement changes to enhance customer experience
Stage 4: Monitor results and adapt continuously
Getting started in building a VoC program can be an overwhelming task. What specific data do stakeholders crave? How do we gather this data? How do we transform it into actionable insights? How does VoC shape business strategy?
No worries—we’re here to break it down for you and build a rock-solid framework to get you rolling.
How can businesses capture Voice of Customer (VoC) data?
Ok, so we have driven the point home that Voice of the Customer (VoC) is crucial for businesses. Not only to meet market demands but also to create that ‘wow’ factor for your customers.
The first step is to listen and capture customer feedback from various touchpoints.
How does one do that? Ensure you have the tools set up to capture all the chatter—needs, pain points, preferences, sentiments—everything your customer is saying about your brand, and put it into one repository for analysis.
Yes, it sounds a little bit obsessive. But, it’s healthy. And as the saying goes, well begun is half done.
Here’s a list of methods used to capture VoC data:
1. Surveys and Questionnaires
Online Surveys:
A series of questions that can be answered by your customer to provide feedback, opinions, or data on a specific topic. It is by far the most popularly used method to collect customer feedback.
Pros:
Scalability: Can reach a large number of customers quickly and cost-effectively.
Standardization: Standardized questions make data analysis easier.
Anonymity: Customers can provide feedback anonymously, leading to more honest responses.
Flexibility: Surveys can be customized to gather specific information.
Cons:
Survey Fatigue: Customers may become tired of frequent surveys, leading to lower response rates.
Bias: Responses can be biased if questions are not well-designed.
Limited Depth: Surveys may not capture the full depth of customer opinions.
Technical Issues: Online surveys can be affected by technical problems that prevent completion.
Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) Surveys:
CSAT surveys measure how satisfied customers are with a product or service. These quick surveys use a simple star rating system (1 to 5) to capture how happy your customers are right after a purchase or service.
Pros:
Simplicity: Easy for customers to understand and complete.
Immediate Feedback: Captures customer satisfaction at the moment of interaction.
Benchmarking: Allows businesses to track satisfaction over time.
Cons:
Surface-Level Insights: Provides a snapshot of satisfaction but may lack context.
Response Bias: Customers who are either very satisfied or very dissatisfied are more likely to respond.
Limited Scope: Focuses solely on satisfaction, missing other aspects of the customer experience.
Net Promoter Score (NPS):
Look Familiar?
In a 2003 Harvard Business Review article, a partner from Bain & Co. introduced a simple but powerful concept. Brands ask their customers, "How likely are you to recommend us to a friend?" Customers respond on a scale from 0 to 10, and their answers are sorted into three groups: promoters, passives, and detractors.
Pros:
Predictive Value: NPS is a strong predictor of customer loyalty and future behavior.
Benchmarking: Enables comparison with industry standards.
Simplicity: Easy to administer and understand.
Cons:
Lack of Detail: Does not provide insights into specific areas of improvement.
Potential Misinterpretation: Scores can be misinterpreted if not analyzed in context.
Response Bias: Similar to CSAT, responses can be biased toward extremes.
Customer Effort Score (CES):
CES measures how easy it was for customers to achieve what they needed. Typically, CES surveys use a scale ranging from "very difficult" to "very easy." A great way to find out friction points in the customer journey that could lead to drop-off.
Pros:
Actionable Insights: Highlights friction points in the customer journey.
Customer-Centric: Focuses on ease of interaction, a critical aspect of customer experience.
Predictive of Loyalty: High CES scores correlate with customer loyalty.
Cons:
Narrow Focus: Only measures effort, potentially missing other important feedback.
Bias: Responses can be biased if customers do not fully understand the scale.
Implementation: Requires careful implementation to ensure accurate results.
2. Feedback Forms
Website Feedback Forms:
These are feedback forms placed strategically throughout your website and help catch feedback any time of the day. They are great for gathering insights on site usability, content relevance, and specific product features.
Pros:
Accessibility: Available 24/7, allowing customers to provide feedback at their convenience.
Targeted Feedback: Can be placed on specific pages to gather relevant insights.
Low Cost: Relatively inexpensive to implement.
Cons:
Engagement: May have low engagement rates if not strategically placed.
Limited Interaction: Lack of real-time interaction can lead to incomplete feedback.
Overload: Too many forms can overwhelm customers and reduce response rates.
Post-Purchase Feedback:
Catch their thoughts while they're fresh! Sending feedback from right after their purchase, to understand their buying experience, product satisfaction and the overall customer journey.
Pros:
Timeliness: Captures feedback when the purchase experience is fresh in the customer's mind.
Specific Insights: Provides detailed information about the purchasing process and satisfaction.
Personalization: Can be personalized based on the customer's purchase.
Cons:
Response Rate: Customers may ignore requests for feedback post-purchase.
Bias: Customers with strong opinions (positive or negative) are more likely to respond.
Timing: Poor timing can result in lower response rates and less useful feedback.
3. Social Media Monitoring
Social Listening Tools:
Discover the chatter and uncover real-time insights. Tools like Emplifi, Meltwater, and Curator track mentions, comments, and sentiments about your brand on social media platforms
Pros:
Real-Time Insights: Provides immediate feedback and trends.
Broad Reach: Monitors a wide range of platforms and mentions.
Unfiltered Opinions: Captures genuine customer sentiments and opinions.
Cons:
Volume: High volume of data can be overwhelming and difficult to analyze.
Noise: Differentiating between valuable feedback and irrelevant mentions can be challenging.
Privacy Concerns: Ethical considerations around monitoring personal social media accounts.
Engagement Analytics:
It’s all about the engagement these days. Analyzing engagement metrics such as likes, shares, and comments on social media posts helps businesses understand what content resonates with their audience and simply do more of what's working.
Pros:
Content Optimization: Helps identify what content resonates with customers.
Customer Engagement: Tracks how customers interact with brand content.
Trend Identification: Identifies emerging trends and preferences.
Cons:
Quantitative Data: Focuses on engagement metrics, lacking qualitative insights.
Bias: High engagement does not always equate to positive sentiment.
Algorithm Changes: Social media algorithms can affect engagement metrics and trends.
4. Customer Interviews
In-Depth Interviews:
One-on-one interviews allow you to explore customer experiences in detail, uncovering nuanced insights that surveys might miss. They are particularly useful for understanding complex customer journeys.
Pros:
Detailed Insights: Provides deep understanding of customer experiences and needs.
Flexibility: Allows for follow-up questions and exploration of specific topics.
Qualitative Data: Captures nuanced feedback that surveys might miss.
Cons:
Time-Consuming: Requires significant time and resources to conduct and analyze.
Small Sample Size: Typically involves fewer customers, which may not be representative.
Interviewer Bias: The interviewer’s presence can influence responses.
Focus Groups:
Moderated group discussions to explore customer perceptions and ideas. Often, it allows customers to build on each other’s point of view and provides a richer understanding of customer sentiment and collective opinions.
Pros:
Interactive: Customers can build on each other’s ideas and provide richer insights.
Group Dynamics: Encourages discussion and exploration of diverse perspectives.
Qualitative Insights: Provides detailed feedback on perceptions and ideas.
Cons:
Logistics: Organizing and conducting focus groups can be challenging and costly.
Dominant Voices: Some participants may dominate the discussion, skewing results.
Moderator Bias: The moderator’s style and approach can influence outcomes.
5. Online Reviews and Ratings
Review Sites:
Online reviews and ratings provide unfiltered, public feedback from customers that can influence potential buyers. Monitoring review sites like Amazon, Yelp, and industry-specific platforms helps businesses gather feedback on their products and services.
Pros:
Visibility: Reviews are public and can influence potential customers.
SEO Benefits: Positive reviews can improve search engine rankings.
Cons:
Negative Impact: Negative reviews can harm a brand’s reputation.
Management: Requires constant monitoring and management.
Verification: Some reviews may be fake or biased.
App Store Reviews:
For businesses with mobile applications, collecting feedback from app stores (Google Play, Apple App Store) is crucial. App store reviews provide insights into user experiences, app functionality, and potential bugs.
Pros:
User Experience: Provides insights into app functionality and user experience.
Visibility: Public reviews can influence new users’ decisions.
Feedback Loop: Direct feedback channel for app improvements.
Cons:
Bias: Users with strong opinions are more likely to leave reviews.
Response Time: Can take time to address issues raised in reviews.
Visibility: Negative reviews are publicly visible and can impact downloads.
6. Customer Support Interactions
Call Center Data:
Customer support interactions are a rich source of VoC data and reflect real-time concerns. This not only helps businesses understand customer pain points but also training needs for support staff.
Pros:
Real-Time Feedback: Provides immediate insights into customer issues and concerns.
Comprehensive: Covers a wide range of customer interactions and topics.
Training Tool: Highlights areas for staff training and improvement.
Cons:
Volume: A high volume of calls can be difficult to analyze comprehensively.
Bias: Data may be biased toward negative experiences.
Resource-Intensive: Requires significant resources to monitor and analyze.
Live Chat Transcripts:
A quick and low-effort way for a customer to reach out to you and one that provides real-time insights into customer issues.
Pros:
Convenience: Easy for customers to provide feedback during interactions.
Real-Time Insights: Provides immediate feedback on customer issues.
Detailed Records: Transcripts offer a detailed record of customer interactions.
Cons:
Volume: A high volume of chat transcripts can be overwhelming to review.
Bias: This may be biased toward customers with immediate issues.
Analysis: Requires tools and resources to analyze transcripts effectively.
An innovative way of collecting VoC data
These Voice of Customer (VoC) collection tools have been around for quite some time, and some of them are starting to show their age. Surveys and feedback forms often feel tedious to customers, leading to survey fatigue and lower response rates. Let's face it, we've all been there—getting another survey in our inbox and thinking, "Not again!"
So, what's the downside of these dated tools?
They can be intrusive, interrupting the customer experience.
They often miss the nuances of customer sentiment because they rely on fixed questions and answers.
The data collected can sometimes be fragmented, making it hard to get a complete picture.
In this situation, one must ask: How can a business find and prioritize methods that work best for them? What is the most efficient way of making the most of Customer Generated Content (CGC)? How can brands personalize these methods to create strong brand advocacy?
Here's the good news: forward-thinking brands are finding new ways to gather customer feedback that are both engaging and effective.
In fact, Customers who have used Hark have seen a refreshing uptick in engagement and efficiency. They noticed a 26% boost in CSAT, an incredible 181% improvement in one-touch resolution, and noticeable drops in resolution time, cost per ticket, and reply count.
Curious to see what Hark can do for your business? Schedule a demo with us today.
Emily Rosato
June 19, 2024
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4 min read
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