Inviting customer feedback sounds like the right thing to do. However we know that when a colleague says “Joe I want to give you some feedback”, our nervous system responds in ways similar to when we are under attack! We are programmed to defend. Be prepared for a myriad of excuses right across the organisation that point the finger at others, that explain things away and that serve to maintain the status quo.

Even if you accept that feedback is “learning” you also have to accept that “learning = change” (if nothing changes then it is not learning). If you ask for feedback then do nothing with it, be prepared, it may be the motivation for your customers to leave.

Hence, test your ambitions. A Voice of the Customer project has to be viewed as a change to the way we do things. If fear of resistance from others as a result of feedback is holding you back then you have to question your real motives and ambitions.

Your Voice of the Customer programme will throw up a whole load of rich assessments. Before looking to industrialise the collation and interpretation of feedback, share a sample of customer verbatims with people at all levels in the business and, from this, craft a vision of the future in a clear and simple manner.

Test this with all employees (not just your peers or executive team). The message should ring true for everyone.

This post is an excerpt from our latest Briefing Paper:

In the final installment of our 12 trends in Voice of the Customer for 2012 we discuss the grow of social and how organisations will begin make their customer experience efforts part of their company strategy while empowering people throughout the organisation to use customer insight effectively.

Making it fit with the people in the organisation

Over the past number of years the methods of data collection and analysis have begun to reach a level of maturity. The focus will begin to move to how the people throughout the organisation use the information generated by voice of the customer programs and how they interact with the customers themselves to make the solution fit.

Becoming part of Company Strategy

Many companies such as GlaxoSmithKline have begun to use customer satisfaction data as the basis for their employee’s remuneration packages.This trend will continue with customer satisfaction eventually getting profit parity within organisations and strategic decisions being made based on customer insight provided by a Voice of the Customer program.

Making Sense of Social

Social media has grown as a customer feedback channel within Voice of the customer systems. The trend in 2012 will be for companies to do more than just react to feedback given through social media. Being proactive will become the focus to ensure the deeper issues within the company are resolved. Part of this will be linking customer’s social media profiles to their profiles within the system in order to gain a deeper insight into their feedback.