Take a close look at your company’s voice of the customer program.
Are you obtaining valuable and objective insight into customer sentiment? Have you been able to successfully uncover ways to drive even deeper loyalty and attract new customers? Is the entire organization rallying behind your efforts?
If your answer to any of these is no, it’s time to improve your voice of the customer (VoC) program and execute fundamental changes to drive meaningful results.
Watch our video for more on this topic:
Here’s a just a few select tips that we suggest when companies come to us ready to get to the next level and increase the impact on the organization. Like our clients, we think you’ll find these easily implemented recommendations effective in advancing the maturity level of any customer feedback program.
Form a Voice of the Customer Championship Team
For VoC programs to be truly successful, you have to have buy-in across your organization and work collaboratively to determine the best ways to use the information your gathering.
A great way to do this is by forming a VoC championship team, which is a cross-functional group of passionate individuals who meet regularly to discuss ways to enhance the customer experience.
To get started, have the team to dig deep into the feedback captured from your surveys. What do customers suggest is good and bad about the experience you’re currently providing? Then, empower them to collaborate on process improvements and ask for their recommendations on initiatives they believe will have the greatest impact.
For more on the benefits of forming a customer championship team, read this Fireside Chat with our client TriNet.
Quantify the Business Impact for Employees
Are your employees being given any insight into how they can impact overall customer satisfaction as well as the financial success of the business?
We always encourage our clients to share the progress toward goals and remind employees how each individual role contributes to creating satisfied customers, and thus revenue and profitability.
This reinforcement can come in different forms, such as making it a regular part of check-ins and reviews, or tying goals or performance metrics to customer satisfaction. Whatever form it takes, be sure to keep it positive and make each person feel the value of what they bring to the organization.
Talk Up Your VoC Program at Every Opportunity
How do you ensure your voice of the customer program remains top-of-mind for every employee in your organization? You make it part of the everyday language.
Discussions about the program, the feedback, the impact and the analysis should become a regular topic—both positive and negative aspects. Take every opportunity to socialize it, and at every level. Let it be a regular part of team meetings, huddles, companywide town halls, internal newsletters, and any other relevant gathering.
Honest conversations beget better solutions. Therefore, it’s vital that you empower your people to speak up with ideas, thoughts or concerns. This article covers more on keeping the conversation alive year-round.
Inspiring a Customer-Centric Culture
At the end of the day, the responsibility for customer satisfaction falls on everyone’s shoulders, regardless of title or position on the company org chart. The more you make your customers a priority on a day-to-day basis, the more it will remain in the forefront of employees’ minds and keep them continually thinking about what they can do to improve the overall customer experience.
Your VoC program should be the most important initiative in the company. It strengthens the service culture within your organization and gets everyone working towards the shared goal of providing the best experience for your customers. That’s why you must continually evaluate your program and seek new opportunities to cultivate it.
One final reminder – the pursuit of customer service excellence should be an ongoing, never-ending endeavor. There’s always more you can do attract and retain customers. Continue to elevate your voice of the customer efforts, and you’ll be rewarded with raving fans (both customers and employees) who will be willing to advocate for you.