Voice Of Customer Is Not A Synonym For Customer Research
Voice of customer programs (VoC) are not the same as customer research. That may sound obvious, but it has been my experience that the difference between the two is often not well understood by #CX Teams.
That is why, in the latest edition of the CX Patterns podcast and newsletter, I wanted to talk with Lily Vitale from CyberArk about the value of customer research, how to do it well, and how to help your colleagues understand the difference between feedback surveys and actual research with customers.
Breadth: Customer Research Is A Portfolio Of Methods
There are far more methods for understanding customers that are part of a robust customer research program
VoC is not the totality of customer understanding - it's just the start.
It's a starting point for understanding customers' context, customers' expectations, customers' needs, not the totality of understanding the needs.
The metaphor I come back to again and again is that voice of customer point you in the general direction, but it's customer research that helps you walk the path.
Depth Defines Research Done Well
In our conversation, Lily stressed the importance of going deeper than the initial VoC insights which is where qualitiative research methods are so valuable. Exploring the why behind statements, exploring the context of customers's needs and expectations.
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Customers' scores on a survey or comments in verbatim fields are a wonderful starting point, but should be just that, the beginning of your exploration of their experience needs.
With qualitiative, it's possible to ask follow-up questions
Years ago, I was working on improving an experience
But luckily, we conducted research interviews with customers to better understand their needs before we designed the solution. Faster wasn't their primary motivation. Control over scheduling was. We had asked them if the process was too slow and they had said yes. We hadn't thought to ask them if they wanted more control over the process. They could only tell us that in the unstructured conversation.
We redesigned the experience with a focus on control, and customer satisfaction scores
That's the power of customer research.
That's why it pairs well with VoC.
That's why qualitative research is not at risk of being made redundant.
Customers can't and shouldn't have to tell you everything you need to fix their experience - the right research methods let them show you.
Chief Financial Officer at Quill.com (Staples Company)
6 个月Sam - This is great and would love to pick your brain more on this - I connected with you via Linkedin - Let's chat. Vipin
Consulting and V.o.C. research in b2b markets leading to insight and actionable strategies and tactics. Providing marketing research for b2b. This makes market research actionable and enables better business decisions
6 个月In depth discussions with customers is key
Offer Strategy Lead, Senior CX Consultant. ????????????
6 个月????
Journey Management Advisor | Guiding organisations on their path to customer-centricity | Keynote speaker ??? | Founder of JourneyOps & Spark Design ??
6 个月Great post! Thanks for sharing. It's also good to remember that people who give customer feedback don't necessarily represent the entire customer base or their sentiments. Also, you tend to get the extremes, whether positive or negative. Qualitative research methods provide a much richer understanding of your customers' evident and hidden needs and challenges. These insights help you design leaps in experience rather than fix minor problems. Still, for many organisations, customer feedback and survey data are all they have to start with. It's far better than relying solely on internal assumptions.?
Building Brands and Driving Growth
6 个月Excellent insights! Great summary for us laypeople. I would add another layer that commonly get conflated in these discussions is Market Research. Understanding your existing customers is not a proxy for understanding the market/TAM.