Adopting Voice of Customer (VoC) best practices means everything now. Learn 6 common Voice of Customer mistakes, plus tips, to succeed.

 

Companies are increasingly adopting Voice of Customer (VoC) best practices to improve their customer experience (CX). According to Gartner, collecting customer feedback can help reduce retention costs since brands that actively implement VoC programs spend 25% less on retention than those that don’t.

Moreover, a study called “The Business Value of Building a Best-in-Class VoC Program” by Aberdeen Group showed that brands that invest in VoC programs experience much greater client retention, employee engagement and spend less on customer service costs.

But designing, planning, and communicating effective VoC strategies, let alone getting the big man’s nod of approval, isn’t always easy. Some brands fail to extract value from listening to customers because most likely they’re making certain small yet critical errors without realizing it.

To help CX professionals become more aware during VoC strategy planning, we share six common Voice of the Customer mistakes to avoid, plus tips.  

6 Common Voice of Customer Mistakes 

Are you relying on third parties for your VoC strategy?

If so, then that can be a big “whoopsy” and a very common Voice of the Customer mistake. Many marketers rely heavily on consumer insights sourced from external sources. 

Typically, customer feedback is obtained through ineffective focus groups. They’re usually small and therefore unrepresentative of the target population and provide less accurate information.

You should branch out with your voice of the customer methodologies by collecting feedback from various sources, including social media, marketplaces, call center transcripts, private chats, etc. 

Think about investing in a unified voice of the customer analytics software, which allows departments to collect reviews from virtually anywhere and analyze them in one place, at one time. 

TIP: Use Omni-channeling to diversify your sources when collecting consumer feedback. 

Have you acted on customer feedback at least half of the time?

When we say “act,” we don’t just mean responding or thanking customers, but we also mean providing proper feedback in return. 

75% of brands never reply to reviews. When they do, at least 25% of their customer feedback earns them 35% more revenue on average. By not responding at all, brands risk losing 15% of their customers. 

Additionally, CX professionals can sometimes get caught up in the ‘hunt’ to collect reviews without returning feedback to the customer and telling them why the brand’s feedback is valuable for the user. 

Make sure to include practical steps on how your business intends to resolve the customer’s concern when returning feedback to customers. 

TIP: Exchange a value for a value. 

Source: Talkwalker

Are you asking customers the wrong questions?

You are simply wasting your time if you do! Questions that are “wrong” are non-measurable and non-actionable. You may be asking too many questions that the company can’t answer or not building up the conversation so that you get to the heart of the customer’s problem. 

Don’t ask questions that already have established answers unless you need to measure the accuracy of the survey.

Save the digital space (and time) for using questions that matter, those that generate specific consumer responses and impact business processes.   

TIP: Don’t ask, just to ask. Ask like you know where you’re going and what you need. 

Are you asking yourself the wrong questions?

Although some of us don’t want to admit it, sometimes we ask ourselves the wrong things – or nothing at all. It is still possible for VoC programs to fail as marketers may lack a “why” and “what” mindset. In your next planning, be sure to ask yourself several critical questions:

• Why does my VoC strategy have this goal?
• What situations make me aware of this goal?
• Why are the executives and board of directors reticent about my VoC strategy?
• What are their preferences, and why?
• How can I design and market an effective VoC program that is aligned with executives’ inner concepts? 
• How can my strategy win over as many customers while being cost-effective?

Are you afraid of negative reactions?

You may also be afraid that some of your VoC programs will be negatively received by executives in particular. You worry whether they’ll disapprove due to misalignment with the company’s goals (or policies), or if they’ll point out risks you’ve overlooked, or if the top-guns have different views on things. 

With the right analytics tools, though, you can support your VoC campaign with sound data that outlines what you want to do, how, and why “we” should do it. 

As long as you present your facts correctly, regardless of how intimidating the top guns seem, you can exude confidence, which may sway the big man. 

TIP: Always back things up with data, data, data.

Is the ‘big man’ just unconvinced?

Then the common VoC mistake could be that your team has not been properly communicating with executives regarding program updates, tests, honest errors, and overall progress. 

Implementing Voice of the Customer best practices is often hampered by poor communication, particularly with upper management, your biggest investor, and supporter. CX experts usually avoid preparing quarterly (or annual) reports because they find them daunting. 

Even so, this process is essential to successfully communicating with senior management. Regardless of how great your VoC strategies are, this continuous flow of knowledge sharing will promote a more collaborative work culture.  

Tip: Chase after C-Suite to regularly feed them VoC program updates, not the other way around.

Adopt Voice of Customer Best Practices and Reduce Risks of VoC Mistakes with a Unified AI Solution

As an AI-based text analysis software, Wonderflow is an enterprise-grade solution to achieving Voice of the Customer best practices. It also helps CX professionals with minimizing common VoC mistakes. For instance, Wonderflow’s AI can:

• Generate granular reports with 50% more accuracy than generalist engines. Never miss another month of updating executives on your VoC plans.
• Present simplified data in the “Wonderboard,” which executives and non-techies alike can understand and easily navigate.
• Pinpoint the “why” behind customer dissatisfaction; the tool allows your team to ask all the right questions to customers. You’ll also be left with no questions regarding your own decisions.  

 

And with so much more capabilities, save an afternoon for talking more with our VoC experts. Book a demo here.