Companies that do not have a Voice of the Customer (VoC) program in place are doing themselves a disservice. Without analysis of the customers’ perspective, how can organizations evaluate their customer experience (CX) strategies and improve upon them?
VoC is the process of capturing customer opinions, feedback, preferences, expectations, and plans through the use of interviews, survey tools, passive data, and AI/analytics. The goal is to use that information to improve the customer and agent experience, boost business metrics, or gain a competitive advantage. Companies may use dashboards, automated workflow, and alerts based on policies. And, artificial intelligence may play a role by taking action based on feedback or predictions.
Adoption of VoC programs is becoming a growing area of focus. Though only 41.5% of organizations in Metrigy’s CX and Workforce Optimization: 2021-22 research study have a VoC plan in place, another 30.7% plan to implement one this year.
Success Metrics
When companies use VoC, they discovered measurable improvements in their business metrics. In our study, we identified a “success group.” Those in the success group had to have improvements in at least two of the following business metrics:
- Revenue increased by at least 41.7%
- Costs decreased by at least 2.3%
- Customer ratings improved by at least 53.6%
- Employee satisfaction improved by at least 64.9%
- Agent productivity improved by at least 45.8%
We also asked research participants to rate their VoC providers using a 1- to 4-scale, where 4 = Excellent, 3 = Good, 2 = Just OK, and 1 = Poor.
They rated their providers in the following areas:
- Programming configurability of the survey tool
- Response time to problems and questions
- Ease of programming
- Customization of the tool
- Integration with business apps
- Reporting and output capabilities
- Artificial intelligence capabilities
- Cost of the tool/platform
VoC Top Providers
Numerous companies provide VoC tools and platforms. In our study, we received input on 15 providers. By evaluating vendors based on both business success and customer ratings, Metrigy was able to identify providers that are delivering across the board. They are helping their customers improve their business metrics through the use of their products and services—the ultimate goal of any technology strategy. And, overall sentiment among the customers is high.
We issue a MetriStar Top Provider award to those who achieve success in both business success and customer sentiment. Verint won the MetriStar Top Provider for Voice of the Customer Platforms 2021—and among all VoC providers, it had the highest percentage of its customers (72.7%) in the research success group. Specifically, Verint customers saw revenue increase by 40.5%, customer ratings improve by 118%, and agent efficiency rise by 61.2%.
Verint customers also were pleased with the platform, with an overall rating of 3.33. Verint’s highest ratings were in reporting and output capabilities (3.64) and ease of programming (3.51). These are two crucial areas of VoC platforms, as they address the ease with which organizations can quickly program a survey or questionnaire to get feedback—and then the ability to receive output to conduct analysis. Once the analysis is complete, it’s vital for companies to take action and make adjustments to regularly improve CX.
Based on customer input, Verint is well-positioned to deliver a solid VoC platform.
