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Voice of the Customer (VOC) Techniques & Technologies

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Bruce Temkin, a principal analyst at Forrester, defines "voice of the customer" as "a systematic approach for incorporating the needs of customers into the design of customer experiences." [Update: See an expanded Voice of the Customer definition.]

Bruce's blog post "Are you listening to the voice of the customer?" outlines five levels of activities in a VOC program:

1. Relationship tracking. Organizations need to track the health of customer relationships over time...
2. Interaction monitoring. Every customer interaction - from an online transaction to a call into the call center - is important. Firms need a way to monitor how effectively they handle these customer touches...
3. Continuous listening. ...There are many opportunities to hear what customers are saying, such as listening to calls in the call center, reading blogs, reading inbound emails, and visiting retail outlets.
4. Project infusion. Projects that affect customers should incorporate insights about customers. Despite the clear need for this type of effort, many companies lack a formalized approach for infusing customer insights into projects...
5. Periodic immersion. Every so often, it's valuable for all employees - especially executives - to spend a significant amount of time interacting directly with customers or working alongside frontline employees...

1. Relationship tracking. Periodic surveys are an excellent way to keep your finger on the pulse of customers. Many of our users conduct a full census of customers annually or biannually, but to truly listen to the voice of the customer we advocate monthly or quarterly surveys of a random sample of customers. That way you always have a fresh perspective on current customer attitudes.
2. Interaction monitoring. Automated surveys can follow up each purchase, customer-service interaction and renewal. By integrating your CRM system with your enterprise feedback platform, you can constantly listen for the voice of the customer. Coupling this interaction with survey alerts/email triggers is a great way to act on the voice of the customer, too.
3. Continuous listening. Text analytics enable you to eavesdrop on thousands of customers as they comment on your surveys, email your organization and blog and tweet about you.
4. Project infusion. Qualitative and quantitative research into the voice of customer needs to be infused throughout the product lifecycle: integrate such research into the planning, development, implementation and marketing of each product or service.
5. Periodic immersion. Online communities can immerse your employees in the thoughts and attitudes of your customers. To truly become a customer-driven organization, make sure that employee participation in your customer community is broad and deep.