A question we often hear people in the CX community ask is: “Why is my Voice of the Customer programme not going to plan?” Now, to be honest, this question is a tough one to crack. Part of the problem is defining what ‘not going to plan’ looks like. Is the programme not achieving your goals? Is it not getting the business benefits you expected? Has an in the first place?
While we can’t explore each and every detail in this blog post, there are some common pitfall that we want to share. These are the main mistakes that we’ve seen brands make time and again which have thrown their VoC programme off-course.
Your VoC strategy isn’t actionable
Understanding and creating your VoC strategy is one thing, but executing this strategy is a whole different challenge.
Brands spend significant time working on defining their ideal strategy. But then they fail to see this through into meaningful action. Often this is caused by confusion over the programme’s goals, which leads to a disconnect between the programme’s strategy and its results. The first step is to reframe the focus and move from strategy to execution. One way to do this is by setting SMART goals, to ensure your programme can move forward.
Rather than having vague intentions, SMART goals ensure your VoC programme is executed to a timescale and that it’s progress can be easily reviewed and measured. This will ensure that your VoC goals aren’t just left to fail, but are used to make visible changes to your service.
From this, the second step is to consider how you can communicate your intentions internally and keep everyone engaged with the values and aims of your VoC programme.
You’re not approaching your customers in their channel of choice
Now is the time to fess up. Have you ever asked your customers for their channel preferences? If you have, when was the last time that you actually did something about it?
Not taking any action can mean that customers are approached through inappropriate channels, such as keeping them on the phone to leave feedback when really they just want to finish their conversation and get on with their day. Essentially you're reaching out to customers in the wrong places (e.g. on social media when they don’t really use it).
Getting a customer’s channel preferences right not only shows that you are really listening to what they want but that you’re doing something about it. It also means that you’re not wasting time emailing an empty inbox or, worse than that, ringing a customer repeatedly when they don’t want to be disturbed.
You’re not genuinely invested in what your customers have
Customers aren’t fools. They can tell when a company is simply paying lip service to CX, without making any real changes for their benefit. For a VoC programme to really work, you have to make sure that everyone in the organisation is onboard.
This isn’t just about aligning all of their goals towards one final objective (although this is important) but engaging them with the programme on a daily basis. This can be done by sharing customer feedback or using customer satisfaction as a main performance measure throughout your company. By engaging your employees, you ensure that they have a vested interest in providing good customer service and fulfilling your Voice of the Customer programme.
We suggest checking out our 'Five Top Tips For Capturing The Voice Of The Customer In The Contact Centre' to help you to transform your operations and make life just that little bit easier for you, your agents and your customers!
