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Voice of the Customer through the Employee (VOCE)

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A week from today I’m teaching a free afternoon workshop in Waltham, Massachusetts on Voice of the Customer best practices (please signup here!). When I last taught this workshop, I was asked about “Voice of the Customer through the Employee” – listening to what employees have to say about what they hear from customers.

I related a case study of a Vovici customer, an international bank, that in early 2008 was facing increasing competitive pressure in its home market. In order to better understand the changing needs of its retail banking customers, it implemented a Voice of the Customer through Employee program (VOCE). Employees were empowered to share the questions, concerns and frustrations of customers through an online community.

VOCE efforts have evolved since then, and Best Buy offers a great example of taking such a program up a level. Employee computer terminals include a link to an application where “Blue Shirts” (Best Buy employees) can share suggestions and criticisms.

Laura Heller, writing for WalletPop, shares two changes that Best Buy made in November as a result of the program:

There was some initial confusion about where to pick up items bought online, and thanks to a store in Michigan, there's new directional signage and a line queuing process to make it easier, according to Steve Wallin, Senior Director of Consumer Insights at Best Buy.

You'll see more bundles and groupings of accessories closer to bigger ticket items, Wallin told WalletPop in a phone interview. Best Buy is coming out with big promotions in the mobile phone category, and that's another area with more informational signage and bundles, said Wallin.

Speaking at this year’s Clarabridge user conference, Wallin shared that “VOCE is all about amplifying the voice of our employees in key business decisions.” Wallin leads an analyst team dedicated to compiling customer insights from employees and sharing them throughout BestBuy. As Best Buy describes it in a recent ad, “The VOCE team is responsible for soliciting input from customer facing employees in the field, regarding consumer needs, preferences, concerns, and experiences.” It turns out that reviewing open-ended feedback from stores each week generates a lot of additional questions, so in addition to collecting open-ended feedback, the BestBuy system supports pushing “hot topic questions” out to employees as well.

A Voice of the Customer through Employee program is key for retail, where it can be hard to reach prospects, shoppers and even existing customers to survey them directly. Is a survey going to be able to capture the fact that shoppers were confused about the layout of a particular store? Not as easily as an employee at that store can, after assisting such shoppers. For more information, and some practical tips, check out Rishu Mandolia’s list of 5 hurdles that VOCE programs must overcome.