Voice of the customer (VOC) is a term used in business and Information Technology (through ITIL, for example) to describe

the in-depth process of capturing a customer's expectations, preferences and aversions.[1] Specifically, the Voice of the Customer is a market research technique that produces a detailed set of customer wants and needs, organized into a hierarchical structure, and then prioritized in terms of relative importance and satisfaction with current alternatives. Voice of the Customer studies typically consist of both qualitative and quantitative research steps. They are generally conducted at the start of any new product, process, or service design initiative in order to better understand the customers wants and needs, and as the key input for new product definition, Quality Function Deployment (QFD), and the setting of detailed design specifications. Much has been written about this process,[2] and there are many possible ways to gather the information focus groups, individual interviews, contextual inquiry, ethnographic techniques, etc. But all involve a series of structured indepth interviews, which focus on the customers experiences with current products or alternatives within the category under consideration. Needs statements are then extracted, organized into a more usable hierarchy, and then prioritized by the customers. It is critical that the product development core team own and be highly involved in this process. They must be the ones who take the lead in defining the topic, designing the sample (i.e. the types of customers to include), generating the questions for the discussion guide, either conducting or observing and analyzing the interviews, and extracting and processing the needs statements. Voice of the Customer Initiatives 1. 2. 3. 4. A detailed understanding of the customers requirements A common language for the team going forward Key input for the setting of appropriate design specifications for the new product or service A highly useful springboard for product innovation.

[edit]Qualities

of Desirable Voice of Customer Metrics

Credibility: How widely accepted is the measure? Does it have a good track record of results? Is it based on a scientifically and academically rigorous methodology? Will management trust it? Is there proof that it is tied to financial results? Reliability: Is it a consistent standard that can be applied across the customer lifecycle and multiple channels? Precision: Is it specific enough to provide insight? Does it use multiple related questions to deliver greater accuracy and insight? Accuracy: Is the measurement right? Is it representative of the entire customer base, or just an outspoken minority? Do the questions capture self-reported importance or can they derive importance based on what customers say? Does it have an acceptable margin of error and realistic sample sizes?

Actionability: Does it provide any insight into what can be done to encourage customers to be loyal and to purchase? Does it prioritize improvements according to biggest impacts? Ability to Predict: Can it project the future behaviors of the customer based on their satisfaction?

VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER

The voice of the customer guides organizations in providing products and services in a manner that meets customer needs. System to consistently collect customer feedback Review feedback Make changes to improve the customers experience.

Spotting & Capturing the Voice of the Customer

The voice of the customer can provide a company with valuable information for innovation and customer service. Over time a companys value proposition on products and services become the expectation and no longer the differentiator from the competition. By actively pursuing the voice of the customer an organization can continuously adjust their value proposition to the changing wants and needs of the customer. More importantly, a company can determine the unknown wants and needs by staying close to the customer. The first slide illustrates common techniques for capturing the Voice of the Customer and their strengths and weaknesses.

Collecting Customer Information

In each technique the organization is trying to secure the customers view point on satisfaction, identify their needs and determine new or future needs that are either unknown or difficult to describe by the customer. Interviews, surveys and focus groups are targeted at asking the customer questions to determine their requirements. Quality Function Deployment and Emphatic Design take the process a step further by incorporating observation to the questioning technique. The lead user is a more advanced process which networks knowledgeable experts together to develop new products and services. The primary purpose of the Voice of the Customer is to assist an organization with innovation. The innovation allows the company to serve the customers with new products and services, which leads to loyal customers and increased profits for the organization. Innovation is the key to reinventing the value proposition of an organization and by including the customer it creates a win win.

Heskett et al., 1994

Avnet is capturing the voice of the customer by deploying web based surveys from Walker Information. The customer information is developed into customer strategies linking closely with Hesketts (1994) Service Profit Chain. The voice of the customer, employee engagement and service delivery are tied together to create a superior value proposition and customer experience that leads to increased sales, the attraction of new customers and higher profits. Avnet also holds customer councils, similar to focus groups. The intent of the councils is to assist Avnet in the identification and prioritization of opportunities that can provide profitable growth, operational excellence, customer and employee engagement. The council members are motivated to help Avnet with new innovation that leads to mutual benefits of increased profits and reduced costs. Avnet has a huge opportunity to further extend the voice of the customer towards more innovation, resulting in a competitive advantage. With the coming of the internet as the standard vehicle of connectivity and the emergence of the X and Y generation, the web is the place for collaboration. Dell and Starbucks, to name a few, have gone to the web to ask for help on the design and innovation of new products and services from their customers. Dell has unleashed IDEASTORM where customers have the opportunity to make suggestions or recommendations on products or services Dell is considering bringing to market. The input is tracked and measured for review. They even post an update every week on what actions they are taking with the data they have received. It was interesting to note that while I was researching the site folks were posting recommendations by the minute on laptop features. Businesses are in business to serve customers and make a profit. A businesss survival is based on knowing the needs of their customers and innovating products and solutions to meet them. The key is to determine what the spoken and unspoken needs are. We have explored a number of techniques to gather information from customers and determine what they want or need. Even the voice of the customer needs to evolve, as customers change how they want to provide their input. Dells approach with IDEASTORM and its use of collaboration over the web is great innovation in itself. A companys approach to the market they serve and their success is dependent on knowing their customers and continually innovating to meet their ever changing needs.

6 Ds For Voice Of The Customer Programs

APRIL 17, 2011 BY BRUCE TEMKIN LEAVE A COMMENT

In the recent report, Voice Of The Customer Programs Grow Up, we introduced the Six Ds which are the elements of a good closed-loop voice of the customer (VoC) program:

The report identifies 20 best practices across these 6 Ds that will increasingly push companies to invest in Customer Insight and Action (CIA) platforms and force market research organizations to radically change how they operate (or become obsolete). In our recent assessment of VoC programs, we found that only on out 105 large firms reached the the level of Transformer, the highest level of VoC maturity. Heres some things to think about across the 6 Ds if you want to improve your VoC program:

Detect: Companies often use the term listening to describe the first step in a VoC program. If companies had unlimited resources, then passive listening might be the appropriate approach. But companies dont have unlimited resources. VoC leaders need to be strategic about when, where, and from whom they solicit information. Disseminate: The success of VoC programs does not come from collecting customer feedback, it comes from putting actionable insights into the hands of the right people. Leading VoC programs need to invest in making sure that key people get the right information at the right time and in the right form to help them make better decisions. Diagnose: Many VoC programs act as if the data they collect contains all of the answers. In many cases, however, the data just highlights potential problems or opportunities. Thats why VoC programs need to develop processes for uncovering the insights and testing hypotheses.

Discuss: While some issues can be handled within a single department, VoC insights often highlight issues and opportunities that span multiple organizations. Firms need to make put in place cross-functional forums to make sure that VoC insights dont get lost across organizational silos. Design: Once companies find a problem or opportunity, they are ready to do something about it. But you cant take this design step for granted. Follow user-centric approaches for identifying changes that will improve the customer experience. Deploy: Since VoC programs only succeed when companies take action on what they learn, it makes sense for them to prepare for those changes by establishing release cycles and allotting resources to make and test ongoing changes to the experiences. The bottom line: To improve VoC maturity, master the 6 Ds