How to use VoC analytics for better insights

Imagine you're on a quest to uncover what truly delights your customers. Instead of deciphering ancient maps, your tool is the powerful voice of customer (VoC). 

Though not universally understood, VoC is crucial for companies eager to deeply connect with their audience. 

VoC involves attentively listening to customer feedback about your company's brand and offerings. It delves into customer desires, expectations, and preferences for valuable insights.

To harness VoC, businesses analyze indirect and direct inputs. Indirect inputs offer subtle clues about customer behavior, including transaction data, product usage, and market research. 

Direct inputs are clear expressions of customer sentiments captured through social media monitoring, customer interviews, and the full range of feedback.

Together, these insights form a detailed picture of customer experiences and expectations, guiding companies to exceed what their customers seek.

Meeting specific customer needs is crucial in any business, underlining the significance of the voice of the customer (VoC). 

VoC is pivotal in enhancing customer satisfaction and driving business success. It emphasizes the importance of acknowledging and ensuring brands consider customer feedback in decision-making processes. 

This data aids in delivering the features customers desire most, gathered through customer interviews, focus groups, surveys, and customer data analysis. 

When VoC data informs changes in strategy, products, or services, it's essential to communicate these adjustments to customers. 

A strategic approach to VoC addresses the concerns of dissatisfied customers while leveraging satisfaction to unlock new opportunities. 

Ultimately, VoC provides precise insights into customer expectations, enabling businesses to refine their offerings based on this valuable feedback.

How does voice of customer analysis impact your business?

Customers typically like to let a brand know what they want and expect, and businesses want to be aware of the expectations of the people they serve. 

VoC data enlightens businesses about their customers' needs and significantly benefits them. It enhances the ability to connect with and understand customers, turning every interaction into an opportunity for deeper insights.

Companies excelling in customer experience outpace competitors in revenue growth and enjoy greater customer loyalty. 

VoC programs play a pivotal role in innovation, sparking ideas for new products and services that can set a brand apart. 

Ultimately, superior customer service is a magnet for customers. It draws them to companies that listen and adapt based on their feedback, ensuring a cycle of continuous attraction and retention.

All businesses must know the best ways to capture VoC to use it to their advantage. Customer feedback is the first step, and you can use many techniques to get this information. 

You can collect data through customer interviews, and the responses can help you gather insights on issues, such as what they were, why they happened, and how to fix them. 

Surveys are another flexible, effective method for capturing VoC. They can include a few simple scale questions or be more in-depth and open-ended. They can gather quantitative and qualitative feedback. 

Social media platforms are a direct line to customer sentiment, providing unfiltered feedback and opportunities for further research.

Monitoring online reviews is vital, as they range from basic star ratings to detailed, open-ended reviews. This is a great way to collect customer feedback, and third-party websites are a direct way to find unsolicited customer opinions. 

Focus groups present an excellent opportunity to collect exploratory research and uncover valuable insights about unexpected topics. 

Additionally, you can offer customer feedback forms and talk to customer-facing employees to capture VoC.

It is important to remember that any successful VoC analytics program can help your brand identify problems and differentiate itself from competitors. 

Your voice of customer analysis should focus on these benefits and your company’s goals. 

Let’s look at the six steps of analyzing and using VoC. 

Start with the question

This is the first step in collecting the right data. It also allows businesses to decide what analytics tools to use and what type of analyses to perform. 

Generalized questions can help collect valuable data, such as: 

1. Why haven't customers been returning? 

2. How can our marketing be more effective? 

3. What other product categories do customers want?

Gather and prepare data

Next, it’s time to gather and prepare data. The data needs to be relevant to the question you’re asking.

Companies can gather data by using surveys, talking to customer-facing employees, examining online reviews, and running focus groups. 

It’s also vital to completely understand your customers and business model to get the best data possible. 

Choose the right voice of customer tools 

Choosing the right VoC tools is essential to gaining insights. Brands can use feedback management platforms like email, web surveys, and social media. 

You can also use sentiment analysis software, which uses natural language processing and machine learning algorithms to analyze customer feedback. This software identifies positive, negative, or neutral sentiments. 

Organizations can also consider using customer journey mapping tools to visualize and analyze the customer experience. This will help them identify areas for improvement.

Analyze your data 

Now you’re ready to analyze the collected data to find answers to your questions. 

Your company can use the feedback to determine exactly what customers think and feel. This can help you decide what customers want and need from your brand.

Draw conclusions

Drawing conclusions is one of the most important steps in the entire process. While some insights will be easy to identify, not all solutions will be as obvious, so further questioning may be necessary. 

Sometimes, the data findings can come as a surprise, and you might identify problems you weren’t aware of. 

VoC allows an organization to draw conclusions from its findings by identifying important issues for customers. This can help your business rise above the competition.  

Take action to improve customer experiences

Now it’s time for your business to develop the solution that makes the most sense. 

Sometimes, the solution is obvious. Other times, it may require even more questioning and research. You may need to focus on relevant data points until you find a workable answer. 

An effective VoC analytics program will allow your brand to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, build customer relationships, and give them exactly what they want. This powerful tool enables your entire organization to be successful.