What exactly do people mean when they say Voice of Customer, or VOC, and how does this apply to your business?
What is Voice of Customer (VOC)?
The Voice of the Customer is a market research technique used to collect and identify the collective thoughts and opinions shared by the customers of a company or brand, for the purpose of identifying their wants, needs and aversions so the company can improve their business performance with their target customer base.
However, the world is vastly different than it was 30 years ago, and the Voice of the Customer technique has been forced to change with it.??
Companies used to rely on complex and deliberate surveys and focus groups to hear from their customers and get insights into things like customer sentiments and Customer Experience (CX).
Now, with the emergence of the internet and the growth of social media, people can easily share opinions and collaborate with massive audiences at the simple click of a button.? Consumers now share their thoughts and experiences freely with the companies they do business with and their entire customer base simultaneously.??
With the evolution in consumer communication, came a shift in the expectations of customers and requirements of businesses.
Learn More About Tatvam?s Voice of Customer Tool which Enhances Customer Experience
Importance of VOC
Customers have never held more power over brands than they do today.? Now that customers have an unchecked ability to share positive or negative sentiments regarding a company with their network, they have the power to directly influence potential customers shopping decisions and thus the financial performance of any company.??
In fact, according to a recent Podium survey, 93% of consumers say online reviews impact their purchasing decisions.? In another study by J.D. Power, more than 65% of consumers said they have used social media for customer service.
This is major evidence that customers of any business are now relying on the voice of their peers, to determine which companies they do business with, and makes having an effective strategy to monitor, manage and measure the Voice of the Customer (VOC) for their brand a top priority for companies.
How to Build a Successful VOC Program
Companies are now faced with challenges of monitoring and deriving insights from customer comments being written across potentially hundreds of public online websites, in addition to the same survey and customer support methods they already have in place.
With so much data collecting in so many places, it has become extremely important that companies adapt to be able to keep up with their customers? needs wherever and whenever they are.
It is now extremely important for companies to leverage technology in their approach to measure the Voice of the Customer (VOC).
Through new technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, and Sentiment Analysis, companies can get instant insight into what customers are saying without having to devote massive amounts of time and resources to reading and creating reports from thousands of customer comments.
How does VOC help your business?
By implementing a Voice of the Customer (VOC) strategy at your business you are taking a progressive action toward creating a better experience for your customers and simultaneously ensuring the financial success of your business.
By proactively monitoring and measuring what your customers are saying, and how they feel, you will see many benefits in your business which include:
? Reduction of Customer Churn
? Improvement in Employee Engagement and Morale
? Improvements Customer Experience (CX)
? Increase in Market Penetration and Revenue
Research also indicates that the better an organization is at acting on this data and communicating with their customers, both in real-time and retroactively, the better the organization will perform.
What should you collect in your VOC program, and when should you collect it?
There are a lot of channels where customers comment on their experience.? This may include places like:
??Social Media (i.e. Twitter, Facebook)
??Online Review Sites (i.e. Google, TripAdvisor)
??Survey Responses
??Customer Support Interactions
? Web Forms
Each source carries its own individual value and biases; however, a good Voice of the Customer (VOC) solution will allow you to ingest and analyze data from all these sources.? This enables you to maximize the use of your time and see the total picture when it comes to your companies CX.
How does Tatvam help you understand the Voice of your Customer?
Tatvam is a Voice of the Customer Analysis Platform that helps you save time and improve customer experience (CX).? Tatvam allows you to analyze and identify CX insights from all your customer feedback sources, like social media, online reviews, internal survey feedback, customer support interactions and more.
By aggregating and using technology like AI, Machine Learning and Sentiment Analysis to analyze all of your various customer comments, Tatvam helps you better manage and understand the Customer Experience (CX) so you can always make the right decisions for your business.
