Voice of the customer templates

Collecting your customers’ feedback through different channels is one of the best ways to understand their needs and preferences. But simply gathering feedback isn’t enough to improve your product or service. You also need to analyze and use that feedback to make informed decisions.

Collecting and analyzing voice of the customer (VoC) responses with templates can help you do this effectively. VoC templates offer a standardized way to gather feedback, which can be crucial for ensuring you’re receiving accurate data.

We’ll share three different templates for VoC data collection, as well as tips on how to use them effectively. Read on to understand how to gather and analyze customer feedback in a meaningful way.

A VoC template is a tool designed to help gather and analyze customer feedback from multiple sources. It typically includes an outline or checklist for VoC-related questions to ask your customers.

By centralizing customer feedback and analyzing it through VoC templates, you can identify common issues, track customer sentiment, and improve products and services. These insights can help you make informed decisions about product development, customer service, and marketing efforts, leading to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty.

In short, VoC templates are must-have tools for any business looking to stay ahead of the competition. They can help you to always ask the right questions and use feedback effectively.

The voice of the customer is essential in understanding your customer’s needs and wants, as well as identifying opportunities to improve their experience. But when should you use a VoC template?

Use a VoC template when you want to:

• Improve customer satisfaction by identifying ways to make your customers happier with your products or services

• Enhance customer experience by identifying what’s working well and what isn’t

• Address customer pain points by solving specific problems your customers are experiencing

• Identify new opportunities by innovating and bringing new products or services to the market

In short, a voice of the customer template is a valuable tool to have in your toolkit whenever you want to gather customer feedback and make data-driven decisions.

Using a voice of the customer template can help you better understand your customer’s needs, wants, and preferences. You can turn the valuable insights you extract into actionable strategies that will help grow your business.

Step 1: identify what your customers are saying

The first step is to identify what your customers are saying. You can do this by analyzing customer feedback using a template such as the Kano model, customer satisfaction score (CSAT), or net promoter score (NPS).

Pay attention to recurring themes and comments when analyzing feedback. They will provide insight into what is most important to your customers.

For example, if you own a restaurant and receive customer feedback about slow service, identify the specific areas where customers experience delays and the reasons. Perhaps your kitchen is understaffed, or there are communication breakdowns between staff members.

Step 2: understand what customers want and need

To understand what your customers want and need, use a template like the Kano model. This template categorizes customer requirements into three categories: basic, performance, and excitement. Identifying these requirements enables you to prioritize them.

Using the restaurant example from step 1, customers may indicate they want faster service times. To understand this, the restaurant owner could examine how staff are serving tables and implement a new ordering system to streamline the process.

Step 3: develop strategies to meet this requirement

You can develop strategies to meet the customer’s requirements by creating an action plan and assigning responsibilities to staff members. This ensures that everyone is working toward meeting customer needs and improving customer satisfaction.

Continuing with the restaurant example, after identifying the need for faster service times and developing a new ordering system, the restaurant owner could train staff on the new system and regularly monitor the new process to ensure they are consistently meeting requirements.

The Kano model is a framework for understanding and categorizing customer needs. It was developed by Dr. Noriaki Kano in the 1980s and has become a popular tool for product development and customer satisfaction analysis.

The Kano model separates customer needs into three categories: basic needs, performance needs, and delight needs.

To use the Kano model, you first need to create a survey that asks customers to rate different features or aspects of your product or service. The survey should use a Likert scale to rate how important a feature is to the customer and their satisfaction with that feature.

The Kano model helps businesses understand what features or aspects of their product or service are most important to customers and how satisfied they are with those features. You can use this information to prioritize product development efforts, improve customer satisfaction, and ultimately increase loyalty and advocacy.

One of the most commonly used voice of the customer templates is the net promoter score. This template is based on the question, “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend our product/service to others?” The responses are then divided into three categories: promoters (9–10), passives (7–8), and detractors (0–6).

Start analyzing NPS responses by calculating the percentage of each category. Promoters are the most valuable customers. They are highly satisfied and likely to refer others. Passives are satisfied, but not enthusiastic. They may be easily swayed by competitors. Detractors are unhappy customers who may actively discourage others from using your product/service.

Next, dig deeper into the reasons behind each response. Include an open-ended follow-up question alongside the NPS scale questions in your customer survey. An example would be, “What’s the reason for your score?” This will provide valuable insight into what’s working well and where you can make improvements. Use this information to prioritize action items and make data-driven decisions to improve customer experience.

Overall, NPS responses can be valuable for gathering customer feedback and identifying areas for improvement based on sentiments about the entire customer journey. By analyzing the data and taking action on customer feedback, companies can improve customer satisfaction, loyalty, and, ultimately, revenue.

The customer satisfaction score is a metric used to measure how satisfied customers are with a particular aspect of a company, namely a product, service, or interaction. The score is usually expressed as a percentage and is obtained by asking customers a simple question: “How satisfied are you with [aspect of the product/service]?” Respondents can choose from a range of answers, typically ranging from “very dissatisfied” to “very satisfied.”

To conduct a CSAT analysis, you’ll first need to gather data from your customers using a survey or other feedback collection tool. Once you have collected enough responses, you can calculate your CSAT score by dividing the number of satisfied respondents by the total number of respondents and multiplying the result by 100. For example, your CSAT score would be 80% if you received 100 responses and 80 of them said they were satisfied.

The CSAT score itself is important, but so is digging deeper into the data to identify patterns and trends. You can do this by analyzing the responses to individual questions or looking at how scores differ across different customer segments or product lines.

If you’re a software company, you might want to track CSAT scores for different features or functions within your product to see where customers are most and least satisfied. You might also want to compare scores for different customer segments (such as small business versus enterprise customers) to identify any areas where you need to make improvements.

Using a CSAT analysis can give you a clear picture of how satisfied your customers are with different aspects of your product or service. This can help you make data-driven decisions to improve customer satisfaction and ultimately grow your business.

Once you have collected VoC feedback, it’s time to gather and analyze it. A template can help make the process more efficient and effective.

Here are some steps to guide you through the process of gathering and analyzing customer feedback using a VoC template.

Step 1: determine which template is most appropriate for your situation

The CSAT analysis, NPS, and Kano model are some common voice of the customer templates. Determine which template is best for the specific feedback you’re collecting.

Step 2: collect and organize customer feedback

Use the appropriate template to collect and organize customer feedback. If you’re using the NPS template, assign a score to each customer response and calculate the average. If using the Kano model, organize customer feedback into specific categories.

Step 3: analyze feedback

Now it’s time to analyze the feedback. You might want to group NPS responses by scores and analyze feedback trends across groups. For Kano model responses, look for patterns and trends in the feedback.

Step 4: create an action plan

Use the insights gained from the VoC analysis to create an action plan. Determine what changes you need to make to address customer concerns or improve customer satisfaction.

Step 5: share findings

Once you have analyzed feedback and created an action plan, share your findings with relevant stakeholders within your organization.

Sharing your VoC analysis can help align different teams around customer needs and drive a customer-centric approach to business.

The voice of the customer is crucial for any business that aims to deliver excellent customer service, improve products and services, and stay ahead of the competition. Listening to customers’ feedback and opinions is key to understanding what they want and need. This can lead to better decision-making and long-term success.

Here are some key reasons why the voice of the customer is so important:

Improved service delivery

By gathering and analyzing customer feedback, companies can better understand the areas where they need to improve. For example, a high volume of complaints about long wait times could lead to improved staffing and appointment scheduling. You can measure this through customer satisfaction surveys or by tracking metrics like response time and resolution time.

Increased revenue and customer retention

Companies can improve their products and services when they focus on what customers want and need. This can result in increased revenue and customer loyalty.

By tracking metrics like NPS and CSAT, companies can gauge customer loyalty and identify areas for improvement. This translates to repeat business and increased sales.

Product innovation

Listening to the voice of the customer enables companies to identify new product ideas or features that meet their customers’ needs and expectations. Gathering feedback through surveys, interviews, focus groups, or other methods can help identify what customers want in a product or service. You can measure this through customer feedback on product features or sales figures.

Better market fit

Gathering and analyzing feedback from customers means companies can better understand their target market and what customers want. This enables them to identify new opportunities or ways to improve existing products and services, leading to products that better match the target market’s needs and desires.

Three templates from Dovetail, the CSAT, NPS, and Kano model, are great tools for gathering valuable customer feedback. They can help you understand your customers’ needs and wants, what they like and dislike, and what you can improve.

Implementing these templates and analyzing the responses can help you develop strategies that boost customer satisfaction and loyalty, ultimately leading to business growth.

If you’re looking for a way to improve your business, start by listening to your customers’ voices. Gather their feedback using templates, analyze it, and use it to guide changes. This approach can be the difference between a business succeeding and failing. 

If you’re ready to start gathering and analyzing voice of the customer feedback, download these templates from Dovetail and get started.