Why are employees still such an untapped resource when it comes to understanding and improving the customer experience? Front-line team members have an incredible depth of knowledge about what frustrates – or delights – customers, and they have an unrivalled opportunity to gather feedback from customers directly. The Voice of the Customer through the employee (VoCE) provides insight that is easy to acquire, but is often missing from Voice of the Customer (VoC) programs.
VoC is a powerful driver for change that helps create differentiation in competitive markets, and it has become essential to capture and understand that customer voice. Perhaps you have already mapped your customer journey, defined key touchpoints, and identified channels to gather feedback. Better still, you may be taking action on the customer insights rolling in, but if you haven’t yet tapped VoCE, you’re still missing a trick.
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Does your VoC program capture insights from hard-to-reach customers?
Even if you have email addresses, phone numbers, and past purchase data for every customer, a well-defined VoC program is challenging to build. When businesses don’t know who their customers are, or need insights from people who didn’t buy from them, building up a clear picture can seem daunting. Loyalty schemes and incentives to join mailing lists help, but sometimes, particularly in the retail industry, the people who hold the most insight are virtually unreachable.
Don’t let these voices remain silent.
Consider this example: a leading retailer runs a “non-buyer” survey in its stores. As people leave the premises without making a purchase, an employee asks them to complete a very short survey. This survey, on a tablet device, helps the retailer understand the purpose of the customer’s visit and what prevented him or her from making a purchase on that occasion. By harnessing the mobile channel, rather than the old clipboard and paper approach, customers are more inclined to complete the survey which is slick, speedy and highly engaging. In addition, the feedback is channelled directly into the main VoC program, avoiding a silo or delay which might prevent trends from being identified.
Action item: Use the right channel for the job. Mobile opens up retail and hospitality environments, while web and IVR are highly effective for contact centers.
Customers don’t always pass on their experiences
Despite customer journey mapping and the increased range of channels available to provide feedback, sometimes customers just don’t – either because they don’t think of it, or the appropriate channel isn’t available in the moment.
For example, in a retail environment, there might be a messy display that puts customers off, the shelves might be empty, or the lines too long. Some customers might be inclined to speak to a staff member, or contact the company about it later, but in many cases they won’t. However, they probably will tell their friends, complain on Facebook, and may well not return to the store.
Employees who see these situations, but who aren’t in a position to immediately resolve them should have a mechanism to provide details which are integrated into the wider VoC program. Better still, a picture paints a thousand words, so enable your employees to use their mobile devices to upload photos of what’s going on via a feedback app on their phone.
One large company has gathered thousands of pieces of this rich data, helping to build up a clear picture of the customer experiences taking place on the ground daily. Escalating this data to a regional or area manager can help to resolve recurring problems and prevent negative word of mouth.
Action items:
Employees can recognize customer feedback patterns
Customers who provide feedback are only able to talk about their own experience – which is, of course, what you want to understand. However, employees on the front line who speak to many customers every day (particularly those in contact centers) are perfectly placed to recognize patterns in what customers say to them directly. Not only can they identify that the same issues may be arising time and again, but they can help to understand which underlying processes are failing and therefore are causing issues. In many cases, your root-cause analysis would identify the problem but by asking your employees to complete short surveys around what they hear from customers, you can act more quickly and resolve issues faster.
Action items:
The dual benefits of gathering the Voice of the Customer through your employees
As well as delivering insight that enhances a VoC program, enabling employees to provide feedback about customer experiences engages and empowers those employees. Using the information they provide to drive change is an incredibly powerful way of proving to your employees that you’re listening to them, supporting them and helping them to do their jobs better. Your VoCE activities should be implemented across the company; make it an integral part of your VoC program that in turn becomes part of your company’s culture. By engaging employees in this way, you will not only be able to enhance your customers’ experiences, encouraging them to return and do business with you again, but you will also improve the experience of your employees, making them more likely to take pride in their work, remain with your business and continue to delight customers in future.