Hi,
It is well known that listening to customer is an important aspect in the operation of any intensive service organization. Moreover, during 2008 there was a boost in the creation of new Voice of the customer/ customer experience departments & job titles.
I personally think that in order to improve customer experience, organizations must listen to the Voice of their Customers (VOC) and adapt all service elements (People, Policy, Procedure, Product) to the rapid changes in customer needs and expectations. Only by doing so, those organizations will be able to understand what their customers are really thinking/feeling about them. In other words: in order to know what your customers really think/ want, you just need to ask them.

I would be glad to read your thought & insights on the above mentioned,
Cheers,
Elad

HI Elad
Customer Insight is a huge area and I think most organisatiosn are only just beginning to delve into this area with anything like the kind of commitment it deserves.
Understanding customers and how they think, feel and behave is different from asking them what they want. Both are important but the former is the difficult one (and subesquently the costlier one) tp get to.There is so much information you can gather about your customers that needs to be streamlined into a clear and focused customer insight strategy that can ultimately has to be embedded into not only the strategy but the culture of your organisation. All sounds really idealist eh? But this information has never been more important to the success of any company, as value overrides price in the marketplace and companies find it harder to differentiate. I say let's make a start!!

Hi Sue,

Sorry for not responding earlier... I am bust arranging our next visit to SA.
I couldn't agree more with your feedback... this is exactly what we are saying to our customers, which are large intensive service organizations mainly from the Telecom & Finnacial industries. We tell them that the VOC is what counts rather than what they think he thinks.. does it make sense? I personally beleive that it is not enough to get the VOC.. you musy act on it and implement changes in proceduers and policies according to customer feedback.

On a peronal note - can you share with me where you work and your position?

cheers,
Elad

As VOC is very important, what is more important is who is being asked and who is responding. Too often, VOC is weighed too heavily by what can be termed as "Tier 1" or "Tier 2" customers. A lot of feedback is gained, but not at the level that will provide real insight to the needs and requirements.

At one time, surveys were sent out that were well segregated into four categories: 1) Corporate level, 2) Decision Makers, 3) Influencers, and 4) Users.

You would be surprised how dis-jointed 1 and 2 are from 3 and 4. The problem is, we fulfill the requests (new products, new services, etc) of 1 and 2, but then field the (dis-satisfaction) calls from 3 and 4.

Make sense?

Make a lot of sense.
Our best practice, which is embedded in our Attentive ACE solution, is that it's not the quantity that counts, but the quality. Evermore, we always tell our customers- if you can't manage it, don't measure it.

The Attentive ACE solution has an intelligent sampling mechanism that includes pre-defined business rules, such as:
•Get only 2 feedbacks on each CSR during 1 month
•On new CSRs get additional 2 feedbacks during 1 month (totaling in 4)
•Black list - don't ask for another feedback from a customer that was asked to give feedback during the past 6 month

Using those pre-defined business rules organizations are able to pin-point the most relevant interactions and using event driven feedback methodology to acquire the true voice of the customer.
It is also very important to make sure the questions you ask are in relevancy and in context to the specific interaction; that way you get higher response rates and unbelievable insights.

Hope that make sense :)

Cheers,
Elad

HI Elad,

I am a Customer Service Manager for a company that collects and collates customer satisfaction information for mainly public sector organisations. So I am ultimately a CSM helping organisations to listen to VOC and strategically align to those insights. Double Whammy!
My background is in market research and consumer insight consultancy, more prominently in behavioural and cognitive profiling to truly understand what makes people and groups of people act in the way they do and more importantly how to create influence. That applies not only to the customer but to the organisational culture too, in order to get customer focus , you need to BE customer focussed rather than just DO customer focus.
An absolute minefield!! Takes a lot of skill in objectivity and suspension of personal judgement to be able to get this stuff, and unfortunately not everyone has it !

Great to meet a like minded person!!

Regards
Sue

Hi Sue and thanks for letting me know a bit more about yourself.
If you have other subjects relating to customer experience/ VOC and others that you like to discuss, your are more than welcome to write me to eladarm@ransys.com

Regards,
Elad