Communicate, Communicate, Communicate — To All Internal Stakeholders — Or You Will Regret It

Simply put, communication is the next make-or-break element of a successful VoC program.

A great VoC program communicator has the same mindset as a marketing professional. You have to think about marketing VoC to your organization the same way you would market a new product or service to your customers.

At the onset of the program, communicate what VoC is, why it’s important, how it will drive business results, and what touchpoints you will focus on.

Once VoC has begun, companies often share results with the entire organization.

This way, every employee knows the company’s NPS, the number of problems experienced by customers, and the speed at which teams were able to solve them.

I’ve seen companies do actual internal marketing campaigns, with posters in every office, intranet articles and blog posts written by executives, and town hall meetings — complete with skits demonstrating good and bad customer experiences!

Employees see the positive and negative experiences reported by customers, and with so many bright posters lighting up the office, they are excited and informed!

Some of our clients also have daily or weekly team briefings to keep everyone current with what’s going on with the customer experience and VoC.

Once customer feedback via VoC begins to roll in, you are not done! Communication must continue.

Users need to know how to log in to your VoC software platform and how to handle customer complaints about a recent experience. They need to know how to open these cases, how to use email templates to follow up, and when a phone call to the customer will be necessary.

It’s also important that they know what they are authorized to do to save the customer. For example, can they provide a discount or a free product?

And if there was any doubt about the difference between VoC and market research, the communication element should make this difference clear.

Market researchers are centrally located in one department. One person or team will initiate the study, collect data, analyze the results, and present the results to a few people within the organization.

VoC is operational and touches the whole organization, including those delivering the service or supporting the customer.

Remember, it’s impossible to overcommunicate to your team about the benefits of using customer feedback to make operational improvements.

Sean McDade, PhD is the author of Listen or Die: 40 Lessons That Turn Customer Feedback Into Gold. He founded PeopleMetrics in 2001 and is the architect of the company’s customer experience management (CEM) software platform. As CEO, he guides the company’s vision and strategy. Sean has over 20 years of experience helping companies measure and improve the customer experience. Earlier in his career, he spent five years at the Gallup Organization, where he was the practice leader of their consulting division. His company offers CEM software with advanced machine learning solutions and hands-on analytical support to help companies make sense of their CX data. Sean holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration with a specialization in marketing science from Temple University in Philadelphia. He has published eight articles in peer-reviewed scholarly journals and has taught over 25 marketing classes. Sean was named a 40 under 40 award recipient of the Philadelphia region. He is an active Angel Investor, including investments in Tender Greens, CloudMine and Sidecar.