The Challenges of Running a Successful VoC Program

Improving the customer experience and interactions is one of the most challenging aspects of call center management. The Voice of the Customer (VoC) is becoming increasingly important, and call centers are shaping their customer experience programs and benchmarks around this methodology.

Very simply, VoC encompasses customers' feedback about their experiences with and expectations for a company's products and services. It centers on customer needs, understandings and expectations, as well as product improvement.

For call center managers, setting up and maintaining a successful VoC program can be a challenging endeavor, yet vitally important to maintaining successful customer interactions. One of the biggest barriers to success is missing context about the customer experience.

Customer context is essential to understanding the customer experience. Metrics like customer location, the device or method they are using to communicate and what they are trying to accomplish during their interactions are crucial for a VoC program. And yet many customers don't provide that information, leaving agents to guess how to route and process particular VoC interactions.

Setting up a VoC program with built-in customer context metrics is essential. Call center managers will also benefit from acting quickly when it comes to processing customer feedback and commentary.

Survey bias can be another major barrier to a successful VoC program. Surveys should ideally be anonymous and impersonal to achieve the best results, while also including enough detail and clarification to ensure an accurate response.

“Leaving no room for guessing is essential, especially when benchmarking,” Michael Sena, founder of consultancy Senacea, told CMSWire. “Instead of asking the client how much would they pay for a coffee, it's better to ask how much would they pay for a double organic espresso consumed inside a non-chain café in downtown Chicago.”

Finally, a lack of commitment throughout the call center organization can be a barrier to a successful VoC program. While the customer experience often begins and ends with front-line agents and managers, dedication to VoC initiatives must be a company-wide endeavor, from agents all the way through to the CEO.

When the entire organization is on the same page about VoC, it will become an important part of company culture. And that means VoC initiatives will become a priority, and programs will have the biggest chance of achieving success.

Edited by Maurice Nagle