Customer Experience (CX) is the new battleground for companies to differentiate and win in the experience economy. Great experiences have a direct correlation to revenue. Satisfied customers buy more, are less likely to churn and bring in more referrals. Companies are starting to see tremendous value, investing in organization wide CX programs. While CX design, implementation and roll out still remain a big challenge, there is one simple thing that can drive success of these programs. It is the ability to listen and take action on what your customers are saying – about their likes, wants and hates - the Voice of the Customer (VoC).
Here are some simple steps towards building a sound Voice of the customer (VoC) program.
Listen
When it comes to voice of the customer, most companies end up taking inputs from customers which are either too high level like asking how satisfied they are or just focus on inputs about just one group say customer support. It is important to go both wide and deep. One of the most critical aspects of listening to customers comes from listening to them across every interaction in their customer journey be it an interaction with a sales representative, or talking to billing experts or service professionals. And, it involves following the customer through every available channel of interaction as well. How many times have you been asked to give a feedback about a service call? How many times do we get that in SMS or a social channel? Listening to customers through all interactions and in all channels gives a holistic perspective of where things are working and failing.
Learn
It is common to think of a direct feedback/surveys as a key way to listen and learn about the customer. But learning comes in many other forms. There are indirect means to learning about customers. Employing rich interaction analytics, looking for key words in conversations is one way. Another could be to look at handle times, and other KPIs that tell a story on why the customer is unhappy. Analyzing every customer data gets you to learn something more about the customer.
Leverage
A closed loop action based on customer feedback is an absolutely critical step to ensuring customer delight. If you have a survey right after a support call, where the customer points to an issue, take that immediate step to close the loop. Call back the customer right away. Address their specific problem with the right experts. Also ensure you have an organizational model that empowers every employee to get information on what the customer wants and take immediate action.
A silo-ed VoC program is a doomed failure. Involve and empower every stakeholder from an agent to an executive and provide the next best action to address customer issues. Take a holistic perspective of where things are failing and build a governance model that identifies the right actions for every stakeholder. Register now, for an upcoming webinar on more tips and techniques on building a successful VoC program.
