Four Myths of the Voice of Customer

Most customer experience leaders say that they have active Voice of Customer (VOC) programs in place by tracking NPS, asking their customers to complete post-interaction surveys, and implementing speech analytics however the results of these programs are not as expected. Research from Forrester found that 71 percent of respondents said their VOC program was not fully or mostly effective in driving actions. 

Temkin Group says that although 70 percent of companies are collecting customer feedback, only one-third believe that they are designing solutions to the problems or making changes to the business based on the insights. Since the voice of the customer strategy is an essential part of a strong CX program, what is the reason it is often misunderstood and poorly implemented? Well, one of the key reasons for the elusive success of the VOC programs is the four VOC myths that have taken hold over the years and repressing their potential. 

Let’s discuss what these myths are and how they can be dispelled to implement an effective VOC program.

MYTH 1: Voice of customer best practices equals lots of survey data

In the early days, the only voice of customer data that could be easily collected and analyzed was survey data, and it soon became the norm. However, new sources of data have emerged and it has become easier to capture customer insights from them. The scope of VOC data has expanded to more than just self-stated survey responses. Other kinds of VOC data such as speech recordings from call center transactions, emails, chat data, and social media comments provide more layers of information that can help companies better understand their customers’ actions. 

MYTH 2: Voice of customer strategy only applies to our customer relationships

VOC should be renamed to the voice of the consumer. Voices of potential prospects are highly relevant and insightful, too, and help organizations in the growth phase to identify new opportunities. The prospect’s voice helps to identify education opportunities, gives insight into why we may not be in the consideration set for some, provides awareness of a competitive strategy, and a lot more.

MYTH 3: The voice of the customer is explicit customer feedback

It is a common misperception that the voice is always customer/prospect-initiated and explicit in the sense that they have to call in, text, email us, or fill out a survey. While proactive customer outreach is certainly part of it, there’s much more. When your customers and prospects visit your website, for example, their clickstream data is VOC data, when customers click on a banner ad or traverse aisles in a retail store, their behavior qualifies as VOC data, as well, and provides very valuable insights.

MYTH 4: Voice of customer data on its own can improve customer experience (CX) and business performance

VOC data is extremely powerful and can provide invaluable insights on its own. However, it typically lacks information about a customer profile and transactional behavior that reside in enterprise data warehouses and CRM systems. The real power of the voice of customer data comes when you can link all of these data sources. Linking data is critical to evaluate the worth of what can be learned from VOC data to make meaningful, actionable recommendations.

For example, you may receive 200 inbound calls a day to your call center, and speech analytics tells you that on average most of the callers have a very negative sentiment because they are upset about the new pricing strategy recently launched. That is great information, but would you go out and change your pricing strategy based on that information alone? What if 90 percent of these calls came from low-value customers who represent only 5 percent of your revenue? 

Linking VOC to customer profile data and transactional behavior is of paramount importance when deciding your best course of action

Wrap up

VOC is not a new term rather it has been re-ignited as a differentiator due to its influence on customer service and customer satisfaction. A strong understanding of what your customer expects does more than just improve the customer experience, it can have a great influence on your brand's relationship with customers and improve customer loyalty and overall customer retention, which increases overall customer lifetime value. Hence it becomes really critical to dispel common myths to implement the voice of the customer best practices to help your company's CX transformation. 

Reference:

https://www.ttec.com/articles/voice-customer-best-practices-and-strategy

With 11+ years of experience in the field, Leanpitch has successfully upskilled 90,000+ people across 12+ countries. Explore our website, Our trainers are internationally acclaimed for their insightful and experiential training.