W H I T E PA P E R

The Top 10 Voice of Customer

(VoC) Best Practices
Key insights on how to win the race for
customer trust and business
WHITE PAPER The Top 10 Voice of Customer (VoC) Best Practices

TOP 10 VOC BEST PRACTICES MAKE FEEDBACK COLLECTION PART OF THE ROUTINE
Consumer confidence in corporations and their leaders has Companies must not only gather customer feedback on a regular
steadily declined throughout the years. Billion-dollar banks and routine basis, but they must also respond to customer
failed, insurance and mortgage giants declared bankruptcy, big feedback quickly, as responding in a timely manner increases the
box retailers collapsed, and once “too-big-to-fail” automotive likelihood that a customer will buy again, especially if the company
companies accepted billions in bailout money from the U.S. resolves the complaint in the customer’s favor.
government just to survive. All of this turmoil left consumers Interestingly enough, some companies are still watching and
wondering who they could trust? and which business or industry waiting for the economy to turn around before they begin to collect
would be the next to fail. In their quest to continually increase customer feedback. However, too many companies, have learned
revenues, many businesses forgot they have a responsibility to recently that consumer behavior can change in an instant and
customers to meet or exceed their expectations. Thus, rebuilding change dramatically—sometimes for good. For instance, when gas
consumer confidence and the bond companies have with prices rose to more than $4 a gallon, a large number of consumers
customers is critical. got rid of their gas guzzling sports utility vehicles (SUVs) and trucks
As companies work to restore consumer trust and build better and replaced them with more economical forms of transportation.
relationships with customers, they must think and communicate Companies that manufactured trucks and SUVs soon found
differently. They must gain a better understanding of customers’ themselves cutting production, which had a downward spiral effect
needs, wants, and concerns by continually gathering, analyzing on suppliers, service providers, car dealerships, and salespeople.
and acting on customer feedback. This ensures customer needs When fuel prices did drop, a large number of consumers stuck with
are incorporated into the design of customer experiences and in the more economical forms of transportation, demonstrating they
the company’s products and services. had no intention of going back to buying SUVs and trucks. As a
result, many car companies are now developing new products to
LISTENING AND ACTING ON THE respond to changes in consumer needs. Thus, when it comes to
VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER finding out what customers are thinking, companies cannot afford
to wait.
In the past, businesses have traditionally listened to the voice of
their customers through surveys, comment cards, phone Whenever companies do collect feedback from customers, they
transcripts, and even random letters and e-mails, with the intent need to ensure they are using the right sampling methodologies
of quickly addressing any concerns or issues. Though valuable, and minimizing the potential for survey fatigue.
these listening methods are no longer enough. Today, businesses
must have a formal voice of the customer (VoC) program in KNOW WHAT THE FEEDBACK SAYS
place to systematically capture, manage, and act on customer Customer-centric organizations continually strive to understand
feedback across their enterprise, and then ensure feedback what customers are trying to tell them, where customer feedback
gets incorporated into their organization. In addition, companies is coming from, and the underlying factors driving customer
must ensure that they are putting the right people, processes and satisfaction or dissatisfaction. They also understand that some
technology in place to support these programs. information they collect may be seasonal or time-sensitive. For
instance, an insurance company may take in 135,000 claims
OPEN THE GATES TO CUSTOMER FEEDBACK during a 30-day period following a string of natural disasters. Once
An important part of staying in touch with customer needs and those claims are filed, feedback regarding service may change.
wants is gathering customer feedback such as, information A customer’s circumstance or view of the situation at the time of
regarding customers’ concerns, complaints, questions, feedback is an important variable to keep in mind. Understand both
suggestions, ideas, etc. Companies should aim to gather feedback the data and the factors that may be affecting that data.
both useable and actionable. Customer feedback has become
increasingly important to everyone in a business ranging from
customer service managers, chief customer officers and VPs of
marketing up to the CEO and the chairman of the board. Feedback
is incorporated and applied in many areas: the product team uses
it to develop future versions of products; the marketing team uses
it to shape marketing campaigns; and the CEO uses it to monitor
how well the company is meeting customer expectations.

2 MARITZCX.COM
WHITE PAPER The Top 10 Voice of Customer (VoC) Best Practices

TAKE REAL AND DELIBERATE ACTION

Companies need to be both organized and prepared to respond to “Gathering feedback can increase cross-sell and
and act on customer feedback. This includes having a systematic up-sell effectiveness by 15 to 20 percent.”
feedback program in place that defines who will respond to the
feedback, how and when, and what the company’s general policy GARTNER RESEARCH
will be for taking action on customer feedback.
When a company does have a systematic process in place, it is
able to see and act on comments that have been made several THE VALUE OF CUSTOMER FEEDBACK
times (indicating a trend), instead of reacting to individual pieces of
feedback. (After all, it’s important to recognize that a customer or
Stories abound about the difference that having the right
employee could just be having a bad day when they submitted
customer feedback can make to an organization – on its
their comment or query). Also, whenever companies do act on
bottom line, in its decision making, and even in its day-to-day
customer feedback, they should evaluate whether or not that
operations.
action had a positive impact on their customers’ experience,
loyalty and engagement. In the book “What Customers Really Want”, author Scott
McKain tells a story about how a coach bus company that
transports music stars (clients who lease or purchase
There are multiple ways to get customer-related feedback the company’s buses), was originally planning to improve the
data. For example: interior of its buses because it believed customers
• Qualitative survey data would be willing to pay more, and the company would
make more money.
• Customer complaints, compliments, questions,
suggestions, concerns, and issues However, in the midst of picking out fabric, flooring, etc.,
the company decided to ask its customers what they thought
• Post episodic and transactional surveys (new customer
about its plans. To its surprise, the company found that
surveys or product cancellation surveys)
while customers did want nice interiors, the single most
• Customer experience data important factor in selecting a coach company was the bus
• Information from your sales team about customer driver (Someone who could get the music stars to their
needs and questions destination safely, especially if they had to drive long
• Employee observations distances through the night). They also wanted a driver who
would serve as a good ambassador for the band with fans.
A crucial component is to have the right technology, VoC
program and processes in place to centrally collect, manage, The company launched a driver education program to teach
organize and analyze that data in order to act on it. its drivers how to communicate more effectively with
customers and how to retain and grow customer
relationships. The company started compensating drivers
according to how well they served the customer and how
CLOSE THE FEEDBACK LOOP well they cultivated long-term relationships with them.
Once the company did that, it moved from fourth in the
A crucial part in responding to customer feedback is establishing
marketplace to first, and grew from 28 to 56 coaches.
a closed-loop feedback process. This entails setting up and
maintaining a formal process whereby someone is responsible
for following up on every piece of customer feedback that gets
submitted and tracking each of those submissions through TELL THE WORLD
to resolution. This will ensure that every significant piece of Whenever customer engagement increases and/or if a company
customer feedback receives the level of attention and receives an award such as the BusinessWeek Top 25 list of
response that it deserves. Customer Service Champs, the CRM Service Award or a Gartner
and 1 to 1 Media Customer award, companies need to promote
it. Similarly, if a company achieves a “95% customer satisfaction
rate,” it should post that data on its web site and use that data
in its advertisements, public relations campaigns and marketing
promotions. Not only can good data help attract new customers
and help positively influence sales prospects and their buying
decisions, but it can also have significant sway in customer
opinion and result in a stronger reputation for the company in
the marketplace.

3 MARITZCX.COM
WHITE PAPER The Top 10 Voice of Customer (VoC) Best Practices

BRING FEEDBACK TO
% of Customers that will not buy again LEVEL SATISFIED LOYAL ENGAGED
LIFE INTERNALLY
CUSTOMERS CUSTOMERS CUSTOMERS
Time Taken to Respond
Everyone in a company
needs to be responsible for BEHAVIOR/ Customer asks Exhibit behaviors, Exhibit behaviors,
20% ATTITUDE themselves: Is it including: including:
Minutes increasing customer loyalty easy and worth it to • Stay longer in • Stay longer in
and engagement, and do business with this relationship relationship
25% using customer feedback to company again?
• Repeat business • Buy more products
Hours
improve the organization. To improve: Offer
• Talk about your and services; buy
To that end, companies a little morethan more frequently
85% products and
45% the customer is
Months must provide employees services to others • Willing to pay more
Days expecting. If you
• Continue to do for your products
55% easy and ready access to only offer 1% more,
and services
Weeks
he will be happy. business with you
customer feedback and even if they have • Refer your
But if you offer
the result of that feedback. 1% less, he will a bad experience business more;
Speed of Response This includes putting the be unhappy. • Willing to give convert talk to
new business by
is Critical right processes in place and What is the best your business
referring
way to know what the benefit of
making sure that VoC data the doubt effectively
your customers are
gets used effectively across expecting? Ask. • Reluctant to • Provide more and
the enterprise. Along with this, companies must elevate customer switch providers better feedback to
your business to
engagement metrics to the same level of importance as financial help you improve
and operational metrics on an overall company level, division
level, and department level. By making customer metrics a part of
the core values for employees, it helps employees feel like this is
something they can influence and own. 8 of 10 executives believe their company loses sales
each year because of failure to create engaged
MATCH EMPLOYEE BEHAVIOR TO DISCOVERIES customers. 80 percent say that engaged customers are
critical because they recommend products or services.
Customer-centric organizations incorporate VoC data and
engagement data into their training programs for customer-facing FEBRUARY 2007 SURVEY OF GLOBAL EXECUTIVES
staff. For instance, when company leaders tell their employees BY THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT
that customers want them to be courteous and responsive, these
leaders must simultaneously use customer feedback data to define
and explain what customers mean by “courteous” and “responsive”
so that employees understand and can act accordingly. By arming WHY IS CUSTOMER LOYALTY AND
employees with this data and providing training, they will be able ENGAGEMENT IMPORTANT?
to build better relationships with customers and help the
The biggest reason is customer engagement is the only metric
company increase its share of wallet.
impacting other metrics typically measured by a company. As one
industry expert noted, “When customer engagement slides, so
CELEBRATE SUCCESS BY SHARING SUPERIOR do a great many other outcomes, including future sales, growth,
CUSTOMER SERVICE STORIES WITH OTHERS and profit.” Below is a chart outlining why. (Obviously, engaged
IN YOUR ORGANIZATION customers are the best customers for a company to have.)
Finally, companies need to build a customer-driven company
culture by sharing and evangelizing stories of superior customer ENSURE BENEFITS ARE REALIZED
service with their employees, including examples of when
Measuring for return on investment (ROI) as well as tangible
employees went above and beyond to satisfy customers.
business outcomes is a common need of businesses. Company
Companies must incorporate customer service into every aspect
leaders want to know: What are we getting for the money we are
of their organization, ranging from beginning every meeting
spending on our VoC program and initiatives? What impact is it
with a great customer story to bringing customers into their
having on our customers? How is it helping us make more money,
offices regularly to interact with employees. This will help the
reduce our expenses, etc.?
company cultivate a culture that strengthens customer loyalty and
engagement and emphasizes the importance of customers to Today’s best practice VoC leaders actively work to tie their VoC
the company. programs to business outcomes. They do this by setting goals
and objectives for their projects, establishing initial baseline
measurements for those projects based on the areas they are
trying to improve, and regularly measuring and monitoring their
progress. Armed with these baseline numbers, they are able to

4 MARITZCX.COM
WHITE PAPER The Top 10 Voice of Customer (VoC) Best Practices

keep track of what impact their VoC and feedback programs are stores and call center informing store managers of the trends and
having on their business, and what course corrections are still appropriate action to take. This organized approach ensures that
needed, if any, to ensure they achieve their goals and objectives. issues are addressed quickly before they become major problems,
This information also enables them to assist their company in in addition to arming employees across the organization with the
making smarter decisions about where to spend their company’s information they need to properly address the issues. Recently,
time, resources and money on future VoC program initiatives to Best Buy has also started to emphasize the voice of the customer
achieve the best possible outcomes. in its advertising, including promoting a Twitter customer service
account encourageing real-time customer interaction with a pool of
In conjunction with tying their VoC programs to business outcomes,
live agents.
they make sure to communicate that data to their company’s
executive team and employees.
Aeromexico
COMPANIES THAT DO VOC RIGHT To more clearly hear the voice of its passengers around the world,
Aeromexico, Mexico’s leading airline, initiated a closed loop
Even though the demise of big-name companies has received its
feedback solution from MaritzCX. Not only has the company been
fair share of media coverage, there are a number of companies
able to centrally collect, manage, analyze and act on customer
that truly understand what it means to be customer-focused.
feedback, but based on feedback received, has regained more
They understand the value of improving customer service, from
than 3,000 customers who would have otherwise been lost. As a
increased customer loyalty, engagement and referrals to increased
result, NPS has increased on every survey, a gain equating to $12
revenues. Below are a few examples of companies that have set
million. Other efforts to improve the customer experience have
up effective VoC programs and processes:
been implemented to improve the customer experience, including
personalized onboard initiatives to distinguish itself as an attentive
Amazon.com airline, and phone calls from the company’s top executives to
To ensure customers receive a consistent positive experience, passengers to resolve issues.
whether from Amazon direct or the thousands of merchants who
sell through the site, Amazon has implemented a number of CONCLUSION
safeguards, many of which have been influenced by the voice
Listening to and understanding the voice of the customer is crucial
of the customer. Amazon established an internal email system to
to restoring consumer trust in businesses and building customer
facilitate and monitor conversations with customers and retailers;
loyalty, engagement and advocacy. Aside from just creating an
it uses metrics to track customer complaints about third-party
exciting brand, companies today must align their communications
retailers; and it implemented a fulfillment process allowing
and product delivery with higher customer values. They must also
merchants to leverage Amazon’s distribution channels. Each of
set up a formal VoC program and actively be collecting, managing
these programs was developed to ensure a reliable and consistent
and acting on customer feedback. Given all of the fallout that has
experience for the consumer. Every employee at Amazon.com
resulted from big bank, insurance and other company failures
spends two days on the service desk every two years.
recently, there has never been a better time to put a formal VoC
As Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, was quoted as saying,
program in place or improve upon an existing one by leveraging
“Fixing customers problems builds loyalty with people...”
many of the best practices outlined in this paper. Ultimately, it will
be those companies that truly listen to their customers that will not
Best Buy
only win customers’ trust and business, but set themselves apart
Best Buy has set up a nerve center in Minneapolis, which from the competition.
processes and analyzes customer feedback. Trained service
representatives review issues happening across all of Best Buy’s
stores. If they identify a trend, they call a “Blue Alert.” The customer
service representatives then send out a report to individual

To demo a product or to contact MaritzCX call

North America +1 385.695.2800 I Asia Pacific +61 (0) 2 8397 8131 I UK & Ireland +44 (0)1494 590 600 I Germany +49 (0)40 369 833 0
maritzcx.com maritzcx.com maritzcx.co.uk maritzcx.de

MaritzCX believes organizations should be able to see, sense and act on the experiences and desires of every customer, at every
touch point, as it happens. We help organizations increase customer retention, conversion and lifetime value by ingraining customer
experience
5 intelligence and action systems into the DNA of business operations. For more information, visitMwww.maritzcx.com.
ARITZCX.COM

67-000004-001 06/16 © 2016 MaritzCX Holdings LLC. All Rights Reserved. All Rights Reserved. All third-party trademarks are the property of their respective owners.