For many brands, Voice of the Customer is just an expensive add-on. It’s a nice to have, rather than a need to have. Often this attitude is the reason Voice of the Customer doesn’t have enough investment. After all, it’s much harder for senior execs to justify investment in an area that isn’t seen as business critical.
Yet brands that are truly investing in Voice of the Customer benefit. You only have to see the evidence from Forrester to see the improvements both in customer experience and broader business results.
So here’s the challenge for all you Voice of the Customer advocates: how can you communicate the need for investment within your organisation? How can you change the thinking so that Voice of the Customer is seen as a need to have?
Think of the stakeholders as customers - how can you answer their challenges?
Most of us now agree that a one-sized approach doesn’t work for customers. They have different challenges and ambitions, which all need different approaches.
The same is true for senior execs.
Before starting your conversations, consider the emotions, intentions and priorities of each stakeholder - what they will be looking for from Voice of the Customer and how can additional investment be used to achieve this?
Every stakeholder has different motivations and different pain points. Each one will evaluate your recommendations from their own, unique perspective. Or, in other words, they’ll be asking: “What does this mean for me?”.
To find out more about the impact of emotion, we recommend checking out our recent eBook: The Essential Guide to Emotional Engagement.
Prove the benefits to the business
According to McKinsey, not explaining where the data shows a return on Voice of the Customer investment is where many proposals fail, whether immediately or longer term.
If you want to engage senior execs and communicate the need for investment, show them the link between Voice of the Customer and the business results. While this is often frustrating and difficult to do, it’s not negotiable if you want to increase investment.
Consider, again, the situation from the perspective of a senior exec. It’s difficult for them to invest in areas that take a long time to deliver value to the business, so give them the evidence that improving Voice of the Customer will bring clear benefits.
Turn these benefits into a compelling story
Storytelling is one the best methods to get people invested in an idea. When an idea is put forward as a story, it starts to engage with the emotional part of a person’s brain. Use examples of where Voice of the Customer has worked for other organisations, such as BOC (part of The Linde Group), which achieve £4.4 million in annual savings through their investment.
Or, share stories of customers who’ve experienced the benefits of the Voice of the Customer and the impact this has had on their relationship with the brand. If you can find an example in your own organisation, it’ll be even more powerful and relatable.
Research shows that 90% of all purchasing decisions, even those for businesses are made with an emotional part of the brain. Think about the pain points of senior execs and show how the Voice of the Customer can resolve these problems through a story. This will create a relatable context for them to understand the reasons to invest in Voice of the Customer.
