Voice of the Customer platforms have long been a mainstay in our industry, used by countless Customer Experience Professionals to steer customer journeys and relationships. We have always believed they add great value and are a significant portion of the CX platform market worth of $12.4 billion in 2023.
In my previous article, as part of this series, I sought your help to understand what CX Professionals need from VoC platforms and whether they currently meet your needs. To my surprise, it turned out many CX Professionals are not satisfied with their platforms. Today I will unpack why this is and suggest how we fix it.
The survey results
To conduct my survey and generate data, I asked respondents to rate 28 activities. These activities describe the VoC process of Gather, Analyse, Share, Act and the support required to use platforms successfully.
Although it was a small survey, the data clearly show that less than half of respondents feel that VoC features provided are good enough. Added to the quarter that feel features are missing, this suggests that over half of professionals are dissatisfied with their platforms. For each activity, I asked whether it is: provided by the platform; good enough; and, if provided but not used, whether the respondent could anticipate a future use.
Interestingly, respondents consistently considered only three activities good enough:
- Gather – multiple sources of feedback.
- Gather – import historical data.
- Analyse – determine sentiment (i.e., positive, neutral, negative) from feedback.
In my opinion, I don’t believe these activities deliver the best value of the Voice of the Customer.
On the flip side, these six activities scored very poorly – being missing or universally considered not good enough:
- Analyse – analyses speech and video.
- Share – specific topic reports, e.g., moments of truth.
- Act – support A/B testing.
- Act – demonstrate the impact of change.
- Support – the design and implementation of processes and roles.
- Support – change management.
The poor performance in the last five activities is particularly disappointing. Without them, we (as a profession) cannot deliver or demonstrate value. It emphasises that text analysis alone is not a solution. We need support to share and use insights. Today, I want to explore why businesses spend millions (collectively) on software that does not meet its needs.
Why are VoC platforms failing to delight?
One respondent (a consultant) suggested that the absence of a ‘cohesive Voice of the Customer strategy’ leads to ineffective platform usage. As you will see I tend to agree with this view, but wanted to find out what colleagues think before making up my mind.
I spoke with several people, some who completed the survey and others whose viewpoints always give me something to think about. Everyone I spoke with offered different insights into these findings, suggesting numerous reasons why the platforms fall short:
- Perhaps, to impress decision makers, platforms prioritise data presentation over providing actionable insights, to create ‘simple reporting’.
- Platforms often focus on the Inner Loop (resolving immediate client issues and engaging with detractors) rather than the Outer Loop (making systemic changes to prevent reoccurring issues), let alone the Innovation Loop. Why would they do that? Well, the Inner is easier to manage and can be handled within App or with integrations. And the business results from the Inner Loop are quicker to realise as detractors turn into promoters.
- Platforms strive to keep clients within the app. But this makes deep analysis and storytelling difficult. Exporting data to Business Intelligence tools to create comprehensive reports often results in flat data that doesn’t reveal much.
- Platforms are not intuitive, relying on complex functionalities (often upsold) to deliver the value professionals need.
- Despite claims of data democratisation, stakeholders’ needs and data literacy are not adequately addressed. While playing with charts is possible, few people are comfortable with them. There is an alternative: I know a platform that has long provided ‘plain English’ insights and the advent of Generative AI has encouraged more of this. However, few platforms create reports that guide non-specialists through the data and insights effectively enough to advocate for change.
But is it simpler than this?
I resonate with these observations but believe the primary cause of dissatisfaction is that platforms are often purchased poorly. What do I mean by that? I’d like to point out an example of good practice highlighted by one survey respondent. She and her team are managing Voice of the Customer manually to understand their company’s needs better.
When making a significant purchase like a house or car, you probably take a similar approach. You might list your needs, consult others, and research the market. Yet, many VoC investment decisions lack this rigor. The consultant who emphasised a VoC strategy and the professional managing VoC manually are highlighting this issue.
As part of my research for this article I spoke to a salesperson outside this industry. He said, “If someone offers to buy my product, I don’t talk them out of it. I know they might be happier if I did, but we are both pressured to make a quick sale and implementation. The regrets come later.”
I believe the survey results reveal buyer’s remorse.
What’s next?
I’ve noticed that some practitioners have narrowed the definition of Voice of the Customer to merely Voice of the Survey. This narrowing is unhelpful and further divides an already misunderstood and underappreciated discipline. What’s more, last year opened the door on a new phenomena. As people became excited about the ability of ‘anyone’ to pop social media comments and reviews into a generative AI, we started to hear about the death of the survey. This year the two trends seem to have come together to predict the end of VoC in favour or something faster, smarter but mainly ‘newer’.
Call me old-fashioned, but I’d like to get the basics right and instead evolve Voice of the Customer into a tool for the modern CX Professional. So, I say, regardless of our roles in the VoC ecosystem, we must collaborate to ensure businesses see a return on their investment in our discipline.
I think it’s time to propose a definition and evolution for Voice of the Customer…