There are many ways to get value from Voice of the Customer technology and there is often some variation in which aspects of the program our clients derive the most value from. This post will examine common questions that VoC has answered for various companies and industries and how customer feedback was used to drive change.
“How can we motivate employees to go above and beyond for customers?”
Industry: Restaurant
Our client, Service Inspired Restaurants, is a casual dining chain that differentiates on service. They created a cycle of excellent service by making a practice of sharing Recognize Alerts (generated when a guest recognizes an employee for going above and beyond). In one year, the percentage of employees being recognized for delivering outstanding service went up six points and they found a clear correlation between employee recognition and higher guest spend.
“Where are we consistently damaging the customer experience?”
Industry: Telecommunications
Customer feedback can also effectively uncover the breakpoints in your experience – those moments of truth where customers are continually disappointed. For example, in our Most Engaged Customers study, we found that the #1 problem in the Telecommunications Industry relates to Billing and Invoicing. Knowing this provides leaders with strategic direction to allocate budget, resources and time to most effectively improve the customer experience.
“How can we create more Fully Engaged customers?”
Industry: Accounting
Every business has their best customers, who spend the most, complain the least, and highly value the service you are delivering to them. These are the customers every business wants more of. In the Most Engaged Customers study, we closely examined the client experience in Accounting to see how these best clients talk about the accounting firms they love. Understanding this on an industry level can provide a valuable guide to improving the experience, and on a company level it offers crystal clear instructions for employees at all levels and in all departments for delivering superior client experiences.
“What makes us different in the eyes of our customers?”
Industry: Market Research Consulting
Brand differentiators have a tendency to use vague marketing-speak that says everything about how a company sees itself and nothing about how a customer or client sees it. Recently, our CEO reviewed several years of our client satisfaction survey feedback and identified exactly what it is that makes us different in the eyes of our clients. Using client feedback in this way provides marketing with valuable insight on how to build a brand that is meaningfully different.
“How can we fix broken processes to improve the overall customer experience?”
Industry: Pharmaceuticals
The pharmaceutical industry has a history of sales processes that are company-centric (vs. customer-centric). But leaders in the pharma space are transforming the sales model from company-centric (or product-focused) to trusted partner. Doing this requires integrating customer feedback into strategic decisions to fix the processes that continually damage the experience.
In what areas has your company derived the most value from customer feedback?
~Janessa Lantz
