The Importance
of Customer
Feedback

E very growing company has input and ideas coming from all different directions. There is the market demanding new features, engineering needing to adapt to new technology, the business requesting 'quick wins' to make a sale, support reporting defects, founder or CEO delivering their vision and many more. One of these inputs stands out and differs from the others, and that is the feedback received from actual users. This feedback is commonly known as Voice of Customer, and it is vital to the success of any business to not only listen, but to take helpful actions consistently and cultivate for both positive reviews and constructive feedback.

The Definition of Voice of Customer (VOC)

VOC is a culmination of your customer’s needs, expectations and requirements. It includes everything your customer says and feels about your product, company and/or services. If you imagined all of your customers in a room together with speech bubbles over their head containing all of their thoughts about you — that would be VOC.

Voice of Customer can be an entire department in a larger company, tasked specifically with diving into customer’s brains to understand who they are and what they want. In a smaller company, VOC can come from a variety of people in a variety of positions. Everyone has a hand in collecting data in order to develop a thorough understanding of who your customer is.

Collecting voice of customer (VOC) feedback is a process that needs to include capturing, owning, actioning and potentially showcasing everything your customers are saying about your business, your product, and your services. When done correctly, the positive impact this feedback can have on your company’s success is significant. It has been said that the purpose of a business is to create a customer who creates a customer. That can only happen if you are actively considering positive and negative feedback as you evolve your company. If your customers are happy and are willing to promote you to others, you will save marketing effort and shrink the sales cycle leading to more revenue and success.

Voice of Customer, whether in the form of actionable feedback or publicly available reviews, is key to your success. Let’s explore how you can capture this voice effectively and consistently and then action it quickly to maximize your desired outcomes.