So you’ve just launched a big, shiny, new Voice of the Customer program. What now? For those just starting out on the journey of customer experience transformation there are three quick wins that you should be after:
1. Take action to fix customer problems.
If a customer reports a problem, follow-up and fix it as soon as possible. You’ll begin to see patterns emerge that hint at the systemic issues causing customer problems, but right now you should be focusing on making it right with each individual customer.
Think of it as a new opportunity to build a relationship with customers. You now have access to a new channel of customer communications, and while the negative feedback may be hard to hear, it’s certainly better than not knowing.
2. Reward customer-centric behaviors.
Nearly all of our clients are surprised by the volume of employee praise that comes in through their Voice of the Customer software. It’s a pleasant surprise to see how willingly customers compliment the great work employees are doing. Pass this feedback along to the employee’s manager, send it directly to the individual, or create a list of all the employees being recognized and send it to the CEO. This customer praise is incredibly motivating. Sharing it builds excitement around customer feedback management.
3. Share it.
You may not be ready to set improvement priorities, you may not have answers for all the suggestions or problems coming your way, you may be struggling to figure out what it means. But you must resist the urge to limit customer feedback to one person or department. On day one, begin looking for ways to share customer feedback:
- Send out a daily report of some open-ended customer comments.
- Set up a weekly webinar where stakeholders can tune in and hear you share some of the things customers are telling you.
- Share customer comments on the company intranet.
The voice of the customer is incredibly powerful and strikes an emotional chord that numbers and analysis can’t. Use this force to your advantage by sharing this voice with your entire organization from day one.
One of our clients set up a “low-tech listening” exercise for senior executives. They were simply listening in to customer feedback coming in through the call center. One conversation was around a customer struggling to pay her cable bill while balancing the other needs of her family. A VP in the group pulled out his credit card on the spot and took care of the bill. This story is a wonderful example of how listening, actually listening to customers and hearing their stories, reminds everyone at every level of the company that we’re dealing with people. Real flesh and blood humans, and this emotional connection is far more likely to inspire action than even the most brilliant PowerPoint presentation.
~Janessa Lantz
