Best-in-Class Voice of the Customer (VOC): In the Game

In this first installment in the Results Oriented Customer Listening Series, I’ll introduce the key elements of Best-in-Class Voice of the Customer (VOC) Programs.  We’ll discuss five levels of organizational maturity around VOC measurement.

1. In the Game

2. Solid Foundation

3. Causal Prediction

4. Action Orientation

5. Best-in-Class

While your organization may have some elements that we’ll discuss as being part of a more mature VOC program, if you don’t have all of the antecedents discussed in prior maturity levels, you aren’t taking full advantage of the great work you’re doing.  Each of the elements we’ll discuss has a compounding effect, and when you’ve covered off all of these bases, you’ll have transformed your VOC program from hand-written map on the back of a napkin to the latest, greatest GPS money can buy.

Why do I use this analogy?  Well think of your VOC program as a navigational tool with your destination being delivering a truly best-in-class customer experience that differentiates you from competitors.  The tool won’t do the driving for you, but it will tell you where to turn.  And a more sophisticated tool such as a GPS system is going to do so with far greater results than Uncle Buddy’s recollection of the drive from 20 years ago.

With that, let’s jump right in to the first level of organizational maturity around VOC measurement…

In the Game:

You have a survey program

Good job!  Seriously.  A major first step in trying to get somewhere is recognizing that you don’t possess the requisite knowledge by yourself to make all the right calls.  You’ve effectively stopped and asked for directions, and as several of us men can attest, this isn’t always easy to do.

Now survey programs can take many forms and at this point we’ve just established that you’re asking someone some questions about at least some of their experiences.  Whether or not you’re asking the right questions of the right people and processing that information in the right way will determine where your organization is at in the subsequent stages of maturity.

Are you measuring the entire customer experience, or is it very transactional in nature?  Ideally, the answer is “yes”, meaning you have tactical measurements around each individual customer interaction that guide improvements to those touchpoints, but you also have a program that’s more strategically-oriented and covers the end-to-end customer experience.

Does the program clearly identify where the organization needs to focus to have the greatest impact on customer buying behavior, or are you just shooting for the lowest scoring items?  Do you know how much benefit investing in billing processes provides relative to investing in customer service?  What’s the appropriate measure of this benefit… is it higher revenue per transaction, increased lifetime value through extending tenure, or increased organic growth through referrals?  Can you quantify these benefits?

Think carefully about the answers to these questions.  As we discuss the later stages of organizational maturity around VOC, these answers will determine how far along your organization is and consequently how much value it’s getting out of the VOC measurement program.

In the coming days, we’ll discuss the second phase, the “Solid Foundation.”  Until then, please use the comments to pass along any feedback or questions, and I look forward to the discussion!