VoC methodology is the starting point for buy-in and enthusiasm around customer insights. Do you want more executive support? . . . Less pressure to show financial gains? . . . Higher internal engagement in using customer insights for seamless journeys?
In this Part 2 of 3 article series, we’re building on the 8 points explained in Better Measurement: 8 Voice of Customer Keys to CX ROI. Start there and continue here in designing your VoC methodology:
Use almost-free VoC before asking for more
Customer data you have on-hand is almost-free VoC. When customers have interacted with you and you have records of it, why not make the most of that? It’s respectful and efficient. These insights may be even more insightful than survey data. Managers are overwhelmed with information overload, so it’s more important to maximize information usage without overloading them further.
Better VoC Methodology: Instead of asking a new survey or continuing a survey, make use of what you have to guide: (1) every department’s performance, including the senior leadership team’s decisions, (2) every cost efficiency effort, (3) every growth endeavor, and (4) every department’s strategy, including corporate strategy. When you track the percentage of these areas that are earnestly using customer insights, that’s your Insights Usage Rate. It may be one of the best indicators of customer-centric culture maturity. I believe this is the #1 high-value use of AI for CX: it's proactive and preventive for the entire end-to-end customer life cycle (journey).
Make it easy for them to give feedback anytime
Think about how you feel after a long queue and a long conversation. Ironically, certain circumstances may be a poor experience for customers to give feedback for the timing, format, or topics you request.
Better VoC Methodology: Instead, welcome feedback anytime, any way, about anything. Technology allows you to data-mine videos, audio, pictures, sketches, and text. When you listen to customers in their preferred format, timing, and topics, their experience is better and you learn a lot more. You’ll find these customer insights to be more informative and actionable to all areas of your enterprise. This is central to becoming more customer-centric, differentiated, efficient, effective, and prosperous.
Self-monitor root causes of success factors
When you have a sense of what bothers customers, why keep doing it? When you wait to find out, some opportunities are forever gone to make it right or do it right from the start.
Better VoC Methodology: Instead, mistake-proof what you’re doing. Keep a tally yourself of what you’re doing to ensure you don’t do what bothers customers. This practice is essential for both customer-facing and non-customer-facing roles. For prevalent issues, analyze the root causes and engage all involved in doing their part to prevent those causes from ever happening again.
Ask as often as you resolve poor CX
If nothing changed since the last time you asked for feedback, how does it make sense to check-in again?
Better VoC Methodology: Instead, rely on self-monitoring to proactively prevent issues. If you have accurately identified the root causes, you can be reasonably sure that what you’re tracking internally is what customers are experiencing externally. Once you solidly stop the root cause for all customers universally, ask about that prevalent issue to validate or refine your self-monitoring of success factors.
Expectations VoC (qualitative) is 1st priority
A huge reason for all of the above is lack of expectations research. When you’re unclear about expectations of different types of customers, you’re flying blind.
Better VoC Methodology: Instead of starting with ratings surveys, start data-mining customer comments you have on-hand. Discover their consequences when things don’t go well, and also when things do go well. Look for patterns. When different outcomes mean more in certain circumstances, see whether that’s a continuing outcome theme across the end-to-end journey. Find out what triggers those circumstances. What are the cues for you to recognize which customers are in which expectation groups? Make it easy for non-customer-facing groups to understand customer expectations. This way, they can amplify touchpoint efficiency and effectiveness.
There are 3 more! See the original article at 8 Keys to Better VoC Methodology at ClearAction.com/blog.
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