Why COVID-19 Can Be The Catalyst For Enhancing Your VoC Program

Why COVID-19 Can Be The Catalyst For Enhancing Your VoC Program

by | Sep 5, 2020 | Voice of Customer & Insights

Voice of the Customer, commonly referred to as VOC, can be YOUR company game-changer WHEN DONE RIGHT! I speak a lot on podcasts about VOC and the art and science of getting feedback from customers to inform business decisions, and employees (VOE) too. This is the theme of my recent Customer Experience book.

Getting customer feedback and applying VOC best practices is essential especially during a pandemic because people’s expectations are constantly changing. MyCustomer asked a variety of experts, including me, about how to enhance customer experiences through a VOC program during tough times. Below is a summary of our conversations and tips about making VOC surveys more compelling.

Research Tells Us:

In 2016, in what was possibly the most meta consumer survey of all time, a 2016 OpinionLabs study revealed that 72% of consumers didn’t like being surveyed by brands.

More explicitly – respondents felt surveys interfered with their experience with a brand, while the same study found that 80% of customers had abandoned a survey halfway through because it was soporific.

It’s long been a catch-22 situation for businesses seeking to gauge the opinion of their customers – how to survey in a manner that’s not intrusive or damaging to the relationship they’ve fostered whilst also gleaning enough information to make the process worthwhile.

“To know how satisfied your customers are, you need them to tell you. The trouble is, customers aren’t playing ball with surveys anymore,” explains Sophie Leaver, marketing operations for Customer Thermometer.


Voice of the Customer (VOC) 

In recent years Voice of the Customer (VoC) programs have helped apply science to the art of surveying customers.

By asking for feedback at different points in a customer journey, and then applying some real-time thinking and a closed-loop system, VoC is aimed at removing some of the more painful or unnecessary elements of other longer-form surveys, which are often pushed to customers at the point of transaction.

“A VoC program enables leaders to understand customers and target audience perceptions and expectations,” explains Stacy Sherman, Head of Customer Experience for Schindler Elevator Corp. in North America, and the founder of DoingCXRight.

“It’s essential when building new products and developing market messaging or service processes.

“Developing the right questions to validate peoples’ needs are what I call ‘heart and science’. For example, if customers say that ‘communication’ is important and it turns out to be a key factor for dissatisfaction, then surveys need to incorporate reasons WHY communication is a pain point. You may start with high-level themes but then need to revise surveys to dig deeper so that feedback is actionable.”

 

Surveying During Coronavirus

This need for making surveys actionable is what drives VoC programs, and has taken on a renewed purpose since the coronavirus pandemic swept the globe at the start of 2020.

One organization that has felt the weight of COVID-19 as heavily as most is Stagecoach, which, as a provider of buses, coaches, and trams across the UK and other parts of the world, saw its customer base slashed almost overnight, as the result of the pandemic.

Keith Gait, who heads up the company’s customer service operations, was overseeing a trial of a new VoC program for Stagecoach which was due to be rolled out the week the UK went into lockdown in March. The company decided to hold back on the rollout, and despite an “almost total drop-off in passenger numbers for 2 to 3 months”, discovered something new about their customers that fed back into their VoC program design.

“We were still getting interactions from our previous feedback program at this time and we found that whilst our customer base was diminished, those people that were still traveling really, really valued the service, and our NPS went up a further 13 points during a lockdown,” Gait explains.

“It made me realized that we needed to re-evaluate the VoC program we were about to roll out, and so during a lockdown, I spent a lot of time talking to people about how to improve it and make it more actionable.

“The view was we needed to make it more human, so that’s where we have focused. The feedback requests needed to be much more personable, much more about the human characteristics – of the driver, of the cleaners, of the welcome, of the safety – and generally less corporate. But whilst trying to still keep it very short. Our VOC program is all customer-led, it’s proactive on their part, delivered to them while they are actually on a bus, so we need to be mindful of the short attention frame we have with them.”

“The feedback requests needed to be much more personable, much more about the human characteristics.”

Stacy Sherman’s team at Schindler also took a similar approach to their VoC program during the COVID-19 lockdown, acknowledging that a much more ‘human’ approach was necessary to stay in contact with customers during a period of unprecedented uncertainty, and gauge their thoughts and feelings in a more direct manner:  

“My survey team pivoted to “peace of mind” phone calls. Instead of asking traditional questions that don’t apply right now, we contacted customers to express empathy and inform them that we’re here for them. We authentically asked customers how we can be of help, which has fuelled loyalty. As Maya Angelou says, ‘people will forget what you did and said, but never forget how you made them feel’.”

In a recent post for MyCustomer, Claire Sporton, customer experience innovation lead at VoC specialists Confirmit, believes the pandemic should reset the way every business thinks about surveying customers, and their Voice of the Customer program:

“People have changed. The research and insight you gathered six months ago is out of date; it relates to a whole different world. What is important to us has changed. The things that mattered before have been replaced by new concerns and this impacts our perceptions, expectations, and priorities. We need to ensure our insights reflect this new reality. 

“This surely means it’s time for a raft of new surveys! Hurrah! Or does it? What insight do you hope to gather and what exactly do you think you will be measuring? Have a well-defined plan before you open up your feedback tool and start hammering out a new survey.”

 

Boring Questions

Whilst the pandemic may be an opportunity to reset and refine VoC programs, it also offers an opportunity to ask yourself what makes for an interesting survey that can glean insight above and beyond the data being fed into your VoC program before COVID-19.

As an author of The Grid and founder of experience design agency Methodical, Matt Watkinson quipped in a post on LinkedIn in late-July: “I recently received a customer/brand survey that included these questions:

– You’re invited to take the first manned flight to mars but there is no guarantee of return. Do you take the flight?
– You can take a pill that guarantees you’ll live for a hundred years. Do you take it?
– Do you think you’d be better equipped to survive if you travelled 50,000 years into the past, or 50,000 years into the future?

“It was totally engrossing. I completed the entire thing — sixty questions or so. And it really got me thinking…why are surveys in general so f***ing boring? Is there an unwritten rule I’m not aware of? Don’t we want customers to engage with us and share interesting stuff?

“Why can’t we ask questions like, ‘If you were CEO for a day what one thing would you change?’ Or ‘If our brand was a band, who would we be and why?’”

Why Your Customer Surveys Suck and What To Do About It

Watkinson makes a valid point, and one which taps into Keith Gait’s ascertain that customer surveys need to be more human, and tap directly into how a customer might be able to elicit actual change as a result of completing a VoC survey.

“It’s been so striking how much has changed about the feedback we’ve received since [the start of the coronavirus pandemic].

“It has been much more personal from customers, valuing the drivers and the key role they have played in keeping them moving. They have also been generally more understanding about delays and factors outside the company’s control. But we need to keep asking them relevant questions and making sure we resolve issues that arise as we move out of lockdown and customers’ tolerance levels change.”

And this is where the true challenge lies – can you start asking more interesting questions of your customers, and can you facilitate action? Stacy Sherman says this is where the benefits of VoC will become most apparent for businesses.

“I believe customers are actually starting to expect surveys more than ever, because the focus on customer experience has exponentially increased across industries.

“Boredom is not the issue but rather knowing what companies do with their information is what drives their actions to share feedback. The magic happens when companies “close the loop” and tell customers about improvements made because of their responses. People are then more motivated to spend their precious time to help your brand in those instances.” 

21 Powerful Ways To Build Brand Loyalty

21 Powerful Ways To Build Brand Loyalty

by | Aug 24, 2020 | Retention & Loyalty

ShoppingGives asked 21 Customer Experience experts about proven ways to create brand loyalty, especially during an increasingly competitive eCommerce space. It’s a great article, which includes quotes from my CX friends like Shep Hyken, Adam Toporek and others (including me). You can read the original article here.

Experts agree that it can be challenging to engage your customers with your brand. It is even harder to build consistent loyalty throughout your customer base. However, cultivating loyalty is well worth the extra effort and expense.

Brand loyalty can increase your company’s overall revenue, make better use of marketer investments, and insulate your company against changes in the economy.

 

What is Brand Loyalty?

You probably know that it is good for a customer to be loyal to your brand, but every brand loyalist is good for a company in more ways than you may realize. One good way to understand brand loyalty is to ask consumers what they think it is:

  • Repeat purchasing. About 68% of consumers think that choosing to buy from a brand over and over again is indicative of loyalty.
  • Love of the brand. This is a pretty vague description of loyalty but accounts for 39.5% of consumers. Brand love may be expressed by being outspoken about positive feelings toward the brand, sharing the brand on social media, and encouraging friends and family to buy from the brand.
  • Preference despite price. 37.7% of consumers think that loyalty is expressed when you buy from a brand even though a product or service may cost more than very similar competitors or have experienced a price increase. Loyalty marketers find that their consumers keep purchasing through price changes. 

 

Why Build Brand Loyalty?

Customer Retention

Retaining your customers is highly profitable. 82% of companies believe that retention is much cheaper than acquiring new customers. The numbers seem to prove them right: An increase in keeping customers of only 5% may boost your profits by as much as 25% or even 95%. 

More customers coming back more often means you earn more from each customer over time. It also means that your business will be more consistent even in downturns of the market. 

Increase Earnings and Reduce Spending

Customers don’t just spend more often when they feel loyal to a brand; they also spend more money. In fact, as many as 43% of customers spend more money at a brand that they are loyal to. 

Getting a new customer through the door and buying something costs 5 times more than keeping a current customer. Investments into current customers is more logical than pursuing new customers. The customers that you keep will make it well worth your while to invest in loyalty. 

Gain a Competitive Edge

Brand loyalty has a lot of advantages, but most business owners don’t think that customer retention is a priority. If you invest in brand loyalty now, you can take a significant chunk of the customer base. You’ll also be able to keep them, even as ebbs and flows negatively affect your competitors.

 

How to Build Brand Loyalty

Knowing that brand loyalty is important doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll do a great job of building it. A successful brand loyalty program can be a great investment. However, you need to know that your techniques will be successful. 

Here are some powerful tips to build brand loyalty from professionals in the industry. 

Communication is Key

One of the most frequently overlooked and yet most effective ways to build brand loyalty is to have great communication with your customers. Whether you have something to tell your customer about their order, exchange, or whatever else they’re asking about or not, communication is better than silence. A great relationship can quickly be destroyed by perceived indifference from your company.

Stacy Sherman, Founder at doingcxright.com:

“Customer satisfaction and loyalty do not happen automatically or overnight. It requires intentional focus and engaged employees who COMMUNICATE to customers on a timely basis. Even if there’s no information available to tell customers who are waiting for status updates, let them know you haven’t forgotten about them. Email, text, or best of all, pick up the phone and call as they’ll appreciate the follow-up. Silence is never an option!”

Make it Easy

Sometimes, gaining your customers’ loyalty isn’t about making a deep emotional connection or offering something nobody else has. It’s just about making it easier for your customer.

Brands that engage easily on social media, offer convenient delivery options, and offer other conveniences make it simple for their customers to work with them. They are more likely to get repeat customers that have no reason to go anywhere else.

Shep Hyken, customer service/experience expert and author of The Convenience Revolution:

“Be the easiest (as in most convenient) company to do business with. Be accessible when and where the customer needs you. Use technology to create a better experience when applicable. In other words, reduce or eliminate friction. The brand that is the most convenient and easiest to do business with has an amazing competitive advantage that can disrupt competition and create fierce loyalty.” 

Focus on the Customer Journey

Every experience that a given customer has with your brand affects their customer experience and resulting loyalty. Customer satisfaction shouldn’t be an afterthought at the end of a purchase. It should be a carefully thought-out aspect of every interaction a customer has with your company. Consider each customer’s experience on social media, at brick and mortar locations, and online. 

Adam Toporek, Customer Service Keynote Speaker, at Customers That Stick:

“Evaluate your customer journey to identify and anticipate the customer’s emotions at key touchpoints. Design the experience to prevent negative emotions and to help facilitate the positive, emotionally resonant experiences that generate loyalty.”

Click Here to Read 18 More CX expert Views

If you want your company to have loyal customers who spend more, buy more often, and keep coming back more consistently, you should put effort into building a strong brand loyalty campaign. Consider hiring brand ambassadors to help you build a strong strategy. Loyal customers are well worth an investment.

Differentiate Your Brand By Being Customer Led

Differentiate Your Brand By Being Customer Led

by | Aug 23, 2020 | CX Top Rated

Are you customer-led? That’s the theme of my conversations with podcast host, Bill Staikos. The show explores the symbiotic relationship between the customer and employee experience and reveals how companies are creating leaders and cultures maniacal about the customer.  


What You’ll Hear from our conversations on “Be Customer Led”

Bill and I talk about a ton of different and important topics, including what ignited my career in the CX field, and how two “wow” moments transformed my professional career from Marketing into CX; the key attributes that can differentiate CX leaders, CX measurement, where the CX function should sit in the org, and more to elevate your customer experience skills.

We also talk about our shared love of Shep Hyken. The audio cut out for a min at 48:18, but you’ll get to hear my personal story about my interaction with Shep.

Press Play Below To Hear How To Be Customer Led 

Please let us know what you think and what resonates most.

Listen To Stacy Sherman Talk About Customer Experience on Be Customer Led Podcast

After listening to the podcast, let me know what you think. Your views matter to me! Feel free to comment below or email me anytime.

Achieving Customer Happiness Even During Turbulent Times

Achieving Customer Happiness Even During Turbulent Times

by | Jun 28, 2020 | CX Top Rated

What can energy suppliers and utilities learn from leading tech firms about driving customer happiness? Consumers are expecting the same speed and clarity of service and vendor responsiveness from their utility providers as they experience with their online shopping, taxi bookings, and fast food orders.

There are clear steps that Energy & Utility companies can take to improve customer happiness, which Sarah Nicastro and Stacy Sherman discuss on her Mindfuel podcast.

Even if you work in a different industry, the customer experience best practices and methodologies shared will benefit you.  At the end of the day, people buy from people they like and trust. And, happiness comes from authentic brand experiences.

 

Learn how to increase customer happiness fueled by engaged employees.

 

Listen Now to Mindfuel Podcast Below.

What are your views about creating customer and employee happiness? I’d love to hear.

 

If you like this interview, watch another one I had with Sarah Nicastro about “IS NPS is a good measurement of customer satisfaction?” Listen to Podcast HERE and access the show transcript.

How To Get a CX Job (even if you’re new to the field)

How To Get a CX Job (even if you’re new to the field)

by | Jun 18, 2020 | CX Job Skills

Customer Experience is NOT a fad. It’s here to stay and in fact, CX is a booming profession. I am thrilled because it means people care to create satisfaction for the greater good. Tons of companies are recruiting more than ever to fill CX job functions. More universities are expanding their curriculums to include customer experience as well.

While there’s much demand for talent, how do people get A CX job if they don’t have prior experience?

This is the theme of my conversation with Eric Melcor, who has experienced a rollercoaster ride when shifting his career to CX. Our discussion was fascinating because we come from different backgrounds yet ended up with the same customer experience passion. Eric was kind enough to write about our conversation to provide advice for others who are unsure where to begin their CX journey.

The following summary was originally featured on Elevate My CX.

“Skate To Where The Puck Is Going, Not Where It Has Been”

Eric’s Story: I panicked when I interviewed for my first CX role. Well, it wasn’t the kind of panic like the house was on fire. It was more like the feeling of having the opportunity to speak on stage at the Apollo and addressing a large audience who was there to hear what I had to say.

The worst part was that I had no real CX experience on my resume. No stories I could share of how I was able to improve customer satisfaction rate or how I launched a Voice of the Customer program. And yet, inevitably, going into the interview I had a plan to awe the hiring manager with my desire and motivation for the role which could heavily factor his decision to take a chance on me. Would someone take a chance and hire an individual with no formal CX experience or job titles listed on his resume?

How To Land Your Dream CX Job (With Advice From A customer experience Expert)

Although I had never held a CX position before going into the interview, I did possess a few things that gave me a fighting chance to increase the possibilities of making a stellar impression. For instance, I had internet access. I know, this may not seem like a huge advantage considering just about everyone is online these days. But with Senior Google came the ability to read online customer reviews about the brand and their competitors. Doing this allowed me to have a good understanding of what customers generally were frustrated about, what they liked, and how the company I was interviewing for compared to other companies in terms of customer satisfaction in their industry.

Armed with this information, I could talk about some of the ways the company could improve the customer experience based on actual complaints.I also went the extra mile of showing a table I had put together of the overall online review ratings that the company and its main competitors had on all the major review sites.

In addition to researching the brand’s online reputation, I was able to pretend I was a potential buyer and critique the shopping experience with the brand and a couple of its competitors. By going to the competitor’s websites, I submitted my contact information on their lead form so I could see what the onboarding experience was like. As I went through each process, I recorded what happened along the way and wrote down my thoughts on what each brand did well and what ideas we (the company I was interviewing for) could learn from. During the interview I was able to share my thoughts about the onboarding experience with the brand and two of its main competitors:

  • “Competitor A does a real nice job with their automatic email response. The tone, layout, benefits (outlined in bullets), and use of video in their auto email response is first rate. (see below). They also leave an automated (robo) voice mail which helps reduce customer acquisition cost.”
  • “Competitor B does a nice job utilizing text. In addition to calling the customer, they follow-up with a text that I think is effective – “Hi Eric this is Joreen with Company B trying to get a hold of you about the form you filled out on our website. Give me a call (877 404-41xx) option 1 ask for Joreen.”

>So, with a nice suit, polished shoes and actual examples I could share of the research I had conducted, I set off for my first ever interview for a customer experience role. Would I get it?

Advice From Customer Experience Expert Stacy Sherman On How To Get Your Next Role In CX

Customer Experience is a growing field. Many people like myself “fell into it” years ago when terms like CX and VOC (voice of customer) didn’t exist. Others are now first learning how to deliver customer excellence. CX is a rewarding career path, and I’m so glad you are on the journey. In order to get a CX job or elevate your career, you need to be a knowledgeable thought leader. Here are a few tips to get you started.

Attend A Certification Course At A Prestigious University

Knowing that Customer Experience is a brand differentiator, various schools are launching educational programs to elevate people’s CX skills. I’ve taken both online and class-room led programs and highly recommend you do the same. You’ll learn all about creating personas, journey maps, measurement, culture, and much more to increase your success in the world of CX. Contact me to learn about my experiences and help you pick the right curriculum that fits your learning needs at schools like University of Irvine in California, George Washington University, and others. Because of my Board positions, I have unadvertised promotion codes that significantly reduce tuition costs. More details here.

Participate In CX Discussions & Find A Mentor

There are many blogs and communities that offer high-value content, networking, and career growth opportunities. The more articles you read on different CX topics, the more exposure you gain to the language and concepts used in the field. After reading for a while, I recommend reviewing your LinkedIn profile and updating your skills and descriptions. Think about how you can write about your experiences incorporating the industry language and related insights. If you need help with telling your story as you likely have done CX work and not realize it, contact me for coaching. I know what companies are looking for as I hire professionals in my corporate job.

Build Your CX Resource Library

I recommend reading CX Books to help you learn from different experts. Also listen to podcasts as they provide a wealth of information in a short amount of time. Some of my favorites include:

  • Shep Hyken’s Radio Show. Listen to us talk about the power of wow moments.
  • Crack The Customer Code by Adam Toporek & Jeannie Walters. Listen to us discuss How to Effectively Create a Customer-Centric culture.
  • Voices of CX by Mary Drummond. Listen to us discuss CX & ways to engage the front line.
  • Amplified CX by Janelle Mansfield. Listen and understand how to leverage Voice of Customer insights.
  • My Customer. Listen to the episode about journey mapping, best practices and techniques.

Attend CX Conferences And Online Webinars

I cannot stress this enough. There are many to choose from, no matter what industry you work in today. You do not always need to travel. When you sign up for my newsletter, you’ll get instant access to a top 10 list of reputable CX events.

I leave you with this. THINK about the customer in every aspect of your job. Own it regardless of what industry you work in and what role you have. If you are an engineer, for instance, you are preventing bad customer experiences before they ever occur. If you are a marketer, you are communicating experience promises to the customer to drive brand loyalty and growth. Once you start thinking like a CX professional, you will begin talking like one and people will notice. In turn, this will lead to new profitable opportunities.

Back to Eric:

Did I Land The CX Job?

Going into an interview can be one of the most stressful, yet exciting things any of us ever do. When I landed my first interview for a Customer Experience role, at first, I really had no idea what I was going to talk about. So, with a little creativity and willingness to roll up the sleeves, I decided to put myself in the buyer’s shoes and pretend I was shopping for the project. After learning what others had said about the company I was interviewing for and its competitors, and going through the onboarding experience, I was more than ready to demonstrate my enthusiasm and drive for the role. I could give my opinion on what areas the company was weak in and what needed the most attention.

Doing the simple exercise of researching online customer reviews and pretending I was a customer made preparing for the interview for my first Customer Experience position a piece of cake. And did I get the job?

You bet I did. And once I landed the role, I put the same kind of effort and preparation into creating a CX roadmap and strategy template, but that’s another story.

Eric Melchor is an expert CX Mystery shopper and runs an eccentric customer experience site at ElevateMyCX. Like a bank robber casing a bank, he’ll show you where your online customer journey is vulnerable and how small changes can lead to a lot more sales, less churn, and more engagement. Learn the 31 key touchpoints in a customer journey that a CX Mystery should assess when you download free cheat sheet at ElevateMyCX.com.

Stacy Sherman is a Customer Experience Leader, Strategist, Practitioner, and Digital Marketer. She’s known for humanizing business and differentiating brands beyond price. Stacy doesn’t just talk about it. She’s DOING it every day as Director of CX and Employee Engagement at Schindler Elevator Corporation, previously at Verizon, Martha Stewart Crafts, AT&T and other brands. When Stacy’s not at work, she’s coaching, blogging, podcasting, writing for Forbes and Advising as CX Founding Board Member at several universities. She’s on a mission to help connect people and inspire great authentic customer experiences (CX) fueled by motivated, happy employees. It’s the reason she started DoingCXRight®‬, which is a journey based framework that maximizes satisfaction through a practical approach. It entails both heart and science — combining proven methodologies to create real brand affinity, loyalty, and a competitive edge that delivers results. Learn More about Stacy and her CX mission to help people like you.