The Importance of Voice of the Customer Information

The voice of the customer (VOC) as the name implies, is a research based process that is designed to gauge customers’ expectations, aversions or preferences towards certain products or services. The term itself is used within business and IT circles. It is a market research technique that specifies detailed data that is comprised of customer needs and categorized according to level of importance hierarchy or customer satisfaction.

There are countless businesses that have established certain VOC programs that help them make sound customer based decisions and for good reason. A voice of the customer system is based on more than just market research or customer satisfaction reports, it is a way for businesses to incorporate the desires of their customers in every fiber of their infrastructure, especially if they plan on maintaining a consistent state of growth. Without it, companies will be left floundering or playing catch up with the competition.

This is why polling results do not matter as much when it comes to what businesses have to offer. Polls do not take a customer’s unique needs into account. Instead, traditional customer research such as this pushes an organization’s products or services onto consumers, rather than take their individual needs into account.

It is easy to see why most customer based businesses do not opt for such strategies. In order for such businesses to analyze how their products or services fare against a demanding consumer market they need an approach that caters specifically to it, namely Voice of the Customer. The following details why this is so.

Statistics can only reveal so much when it comes to what customers want. In other words, what might be statistically important to an organization might not be so in front of consumers. This is also why Voice of the Customer methodologies is based on real world research, rather than those that are based on independent statistics.

This goes without saying. A business that has successfully implemented a working VOC program in its organizational infrastructure usually has no problem retaining customers. Companies often use optimized Voice of the Customer solutions in order to attain pertinent feedback from their customers, thereby making it possible for them to provide immediate solutions.

Customers will have no trouble staying loyal to businesses if their interactions provide them with the results that they are looking for. They won’t have any qualms in relating such positive experiences with other people, for instance potential customers, either.

This is what makes it all the more important for organizations to prioritize basic customer needs before they deal with any production tasks. Customer based discussions are usually based on how a certain need can be satisfied, rather than what the need actually is. However, this limits the possibility of alternative development. It therefore falls to marketing and development personnel to determine why certain needs should be satisfied or not. The aim is usually to analyze how the fulfillment of certain wants will ultimately influence purchase.

Analyzing consumer perspective on what the competition has to offer is another component in Voice of the Customer systems. In other words, businesses need to figure out how competitive products or services fare against their own prototypes or products.

Once a business manages to gather pertinent customer data, it needs to organize it. The data must be combined with interview notes and market research, which in turn need to be compiled in the form of statements. It is these statements that will express customer needs in their actuality.

From what we have gathered so far, Voice of the Customer methodologies are a vital component that helps businesses access and deliver products or services that will sell.