Earlier this week, CX research directors David Truog and Harley Manning published a blog post that highlights two key points that I urge CX leaders who manage VoC programs to consider: understanding your customers is critical right now, and it is time to adapt your approach to CX.
When it comes to your VoC program:
- Evaluate and adjust when, where and how you collect customer feedback. Instead of just soliciting feedback from customers via surveys, it’s time to hit pause and tap into the power of other feedback sources to better understand your customers’ wants and needs during this trying time. This means relying on the power of text analytics to understand customer sentiment and emotion – and incorporating feedback sources like contact center calls, chats, social media, comment cards and customer emails instead of asking for feedback.
- Tap into the voice of the employee – and the voice of the customer through the employee. Instead of surveying customers, work with customer-facing employees to continue to understand what the customers are asking for – and determine how CX can help.
- If you have an insights and engagement community, use it. Allow your customers to proactively communicate their wants and needs with you instead of soliciting feedback from them directly.
- Use feedback from customers and employees to enhance your external communication plan. Clear communication has an out-sized impact on overall perceptions of customer experience. Communicating clear and proactively with customers is therefore a low-cost way to strengthen their loyalty.
- Continue to reassess what is – or isn’t – working and adjust the program as needed. This is a best practice for VoC programs in general, but it is even more critical now.
Taking this approach – one that puts the customers wants and needs at the center – is likely to have a greater impact on your customer experience in the long run.