{"id":29005,"date":"2021-12-07T16:27:11","date_gmt":"2021-12-07T21:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\/resources\/uncategorized\/5-steps-to-success-voice-of-the-customer\/"},"modified":"2026-06-25T10:53:34","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T14:53:34","slug":"5-steps-to-success-voice-of-the-customer","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\/resources\/white-papers\/5-steps-to-success-voice-of-the-customer\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Steps to success: Voice of the Customer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"is-style-paragraph-article is-style-paragraph-article--1 wp-block-paragraph\">Creating a positive and consistent customer experience across multiple channels is one of the biggest challenges facing businesses today, and a solid Voice of the Customer program is core to meeting this challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-paragraph-article is-style-paragraph-article--2 wp-block-paragraph\">Building such a program, however, is far from simple and failure to do it well will result in \u201cjust another customer survey\u201d. Implement it effectively, though, and you\u2019ll drive business change, deliver ROI and create competitive advantage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-paragraph-article is-style-paragraph-article--3 wp-block-paragraph\">For dedicated CEM professionals, a VoC program is simply the \u201cright thing to do\u201d. However, while some organizations just \u201cget\u201d it, for many, a lot of work is required to secure the financial and operational investment necessary to build a true VoC program. There is\u2014quite reasonably\u2014a call to demonstrate Return on Investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-paragraph-article is-style-paragraph-article--4 wp-block-paragraph\">Senior-level support is vital to the success of a VoC program. The million-dollar question is how do you secure the right level of support from the individuals in your organization who can drive the program from the top? You will know who the movers and shakers are, and to engage these individuals it is critical to understand the key business issues they need to address and then demonstrate the role your VoC program can have in helping them to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-3-font-size\">Business benefits of a VoC program<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-paragraph-article is-style-paragraph-article--5 wp-block-paragraph\">The benefits are significant; delivering an excellent customer experience is the most effective way for both B2C and B2B organizations to differentiate themselves from the competition \u2014 and VoC is a vital component in improving the customer experience. As you\u2019re building a business case to your senior team, consider which of the key benefits most apply to your company, and tie financial implications to them. Here are a few examples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Retain (and gain) customers<\/strong> A well-implemented VoC program contains alerts which enable you to re-engage with unhappy customers, resolve any outstanding issues and retain customers for longer. You\u2019ll also drive positive word of mouth and referrals as previously dissatisfied customers become your advocates.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Improve cross-sell and up-sell<\/strong>Use customer feedback to better understand how you can meet customers\u2019 needs through additional products and services. Use alerts to react quickly to create tailored offers which increase revenue with low cost of sale.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Streamline processes<\/strong>Every business, particularly those that have grown through acquisition, has legacy processes that confuse or infuriate customers. Use the Voice of the Customer, linked to the Voice of the Employee, to reduce costs by identifying broken processes, streamlining them to create better customer experiences and reducing the time your customer teams spend resolving issues.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Drive change<\/strong>Real business change requires significant external pressures, and none is stronger than the Voice of the Customer. Use what your customers tell you to guide restructuring, create more effective customer touchpoints and build consistent processes that support your teams and create a customer-centric culture.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Differentiate your company<\/strong>Customer experiences are a key differentiator for both B2B and B2C enterprises. A VoC program is a crucial part of understanding, improving and optimizing industry-leading experiences which create loyalty and positive word of mouth. As products and pricing homogenize, customer experience is fast becoming the key battleground.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-paragraph-article is-style-paragraph-article--6 wp-block-paragraph\">Once you have defined the linkage between your VoC program and the wider business objectives with key stakeholders, you need to demonstrate and measure success. If you have one, use your existing feedback program to demonstrate previous successes. It\u2019s crucial to focus on financial and operational wins early on since you\u2019re looking to achieve financial and operational support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-paragraph-article is-style-paragraph-article--7 wp-block-paragraph\">Once key stakeholders are engaged in the program, it is critical to build on this, to ensure long-term success. An important building block of this success will be your program steering group which should include senior stakeholders who can drive the program at a strategic level, support decision making, and approve budgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-3-font-size\">5 Steps to success<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-paragraph-article is-style-paragraph-article--8 wp-block-paragraph\">Forsta has created an engagement model which outlines five key stages in building a successful VoC program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2026\/02\/WB_number-1-1.svg\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:125px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Define<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Agree clear, phased objectives and success criteria. It is imperative to define the key business issues that you need to address \u2013 increasing revenue, decreasing costs through operational improvements, driving culture change \u2013 at the outset so that you can build a program that will influence key business and customer KPIs. Otherwise you run the risk of building a VoC program that languishes in a silo.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Next, map the customer journey from the customer\u2019s perspective to ensure that you are prioritizing the right touchpoints. You must understand when and how they wish to engage with your brand. Identify the key \u2018Moments of Truth\u2019 for customers so that you have a clear understanding of which interactions bear the most impact on customer experience.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-pg-theme-component sm3-bottom-margin lg:xs-bottom-margin has-warm-gray-background-color has-background is-layout-flow wp-container-pg-theme-component-is-layout-b2dfdeed wp-block-pg-theme-component-is-layout-flow\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap)\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">TIP<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-paragraph-article is-style-paragraph-article--9 wp-block-paragraph\">Start with just one or two touchpoints and make sure you\u2019re asking the right questions and taking the right action. As you prove your business case, expand your program to other touchpoints until you\u2019re covering and improving every angle provided by customers. Then you\u2019re in a better position to roll out your analysis further.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2026\/02\/WB_number-2.svg\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:125px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Design<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Ensure that you design the program to deliver both tactical and strategic benefits, in line with your business objectives.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Decide what channels your customers will find most engaging (web, mobile, telephone, paper, or others) and take into account both relationship surveys, which analyze the health of the relationship on an on-going basis (once or twice a year for example), and transactional surveys which are better suited to identifying issues and process improvements at key touchpoints. Ideally there should also be a way to relate relationship surveys to transactional surveys, and vice versa, so that you can identify the critical drivers of loyalty or dissatisfaction.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Having carefully designed the most appropriate methods of data capture for your business, decide what reporting channels are required and build in closed-loop processes so that you can resolve issues as they occur.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-pg-theme-component sm3-bottom-margin lg:xs-bottom-margin has-warm-gray-background-color has-background is-layout-flow wp-container-pg-theme-component-is-layout-b2dfdeed wp-block-pg-theme-component-is-layout-flow\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap)\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-5-font-size\">TIP<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-paragraph-article is-style-paragraph-article--10 wp-block-paragraph\">Bring in stakeholders from across the company, not just those in customer-facing roles. Customer experience is impacted by sales, marketing, operations, finance and product teams. Understanding the role of each department at every touchpoint will ensure that the right team is brought together to resolve any issues identified.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2026\/02\/WB_number-3.svg\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:125px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Listen<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Use multi-channel data collection to drive high response rates and deliver deeper insight. Identify a solution that will provide a secure and highly scalable way to gather customer feedback, automate alerts, and generate tailored reports that provide stakeholders with live insight.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The most valuable insights are achieved when customer feedback is combined with other data that is available within your organization. Make sure you collect information from all sides of your organization \u2013 add VoC data to ERP and CRM platforms as well as employee feedback systems and external benchmarking data &#8211; to ensure that you are able to build a holistic, single view of the customer. What matters here is to gather robust, representative, balanced information, using appropriate and relevant channels and integrating it with your internal systems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-pg-theme-component sm3-bottom-margin lg:xs-bottom-margin has-warm-gray-background-color has-background is-layout-flow wp-container-pg-theme-component-is-layout-b2dfdeed wp-block-pg-theme-component-is-layout-flow\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap)\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-5-font-size\">TIP<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-paragraph-article is-style-paragraph-article--11 wp-block-paragraph\">Bring your customer feedback alive by combining it with data from your financial systems. This will enable you to segment your client base and understand what is critically important to each segment and how to move<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2026\/02\/WB_number-4.svg\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:125px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Analyze<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Improve business results by analyzing data and creating a clear view of the issues and opportunities. It\u2019s vital that you cater to the needs of your audience when building reports if they\u2019re going to be engaging, so provide clear dashboards to the people who need an immediate view of what\u2019s happening, but ensure there\u2019s the ability for managers to dig into the data when they need to.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>As well as analyzing quantitative data, bring in additional insight through text analytics and media such as video so you can really bring the Voice of the Customer to life, whether you\u2019re talking to front line employees or board members.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-pg-theme-component sm3-bottom-margin lg:xs-bottom-margin has-warm-gray-background-color has-background is-layout-flow wp-container-pg-theme-component-is-layout-b2dfdeed wp-block-pg-theme-component-is-layout-flow\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap)\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-5-font-size\">TIP<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-paragraph-article is-style-paragraph-article--12 wp-block-paragraph\">Focus on sharing and celebrating results as often as you can to build a sense of community around the Voice of the Customer. Use positive customer feedback to reward and recognize your best team members, and use negative comments as an opportunity to train and develop those who may need a little help<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2026\/02\/WB_number-5-2.svg\" alt=\"\" style=\"width:125px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-4-font-size\">Act<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Beyond the analysis, it\u2019s vital to ensure real change takes place. From a tactical perspective, this means using alerts, for example about dissatisfied customers or poorly performing team members to improve problem resolution and retention, or about happy customers to motivate your employees and leverage positive word of mouth.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>To achieve strategic results, undertake root cause analysis to identify the cause of issues that occur regularly. For example, by redesigning a key touchpoint, such as your website, or even your reception area, you may be able to dramatically reduce customer complaints or increase satisfaction. Once you understand what improvement activity needs to take place, prioritize it and make it the responsibility of a member of your steering group.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>As well as making these changes, use your VoC solution to monitor the changes that are taking place so you\u2019re able to measure the results. This will also help individuals see how their actions have a real, immediate impact on customers so they can change their own behavior to drive great experiences.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-pg-theme-component sm3-bottom-margin lg:xs-bottom-margin has-warm-gray-background-color has-background is-layout-flow wp-container-pg-theme-component-is-layout-b2dfdeed wp-block-pg-theme-component-is-layout-flow\" style=\"padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--gap)\">\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-5-font-size\">TIP<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-paragraph-article is-style-paragraph-article--13 wp-block-paragraph\">Have a predefined budget for the smaller changes that you need to make. This will speed up the process of implementing many of your activities by avoiding the need for board approval for everything. If you can make your business case easily and ensure budget and operational approval within your steering group, you\u2019ll see results faster \u2013 further proving the case for your overall program.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-h-3-font-size\">What&#8217;s next?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-paragraph-article is-style-paragraph-article--14 wp-block-paragraph\">A VoC program needs to evolve and change with your organization. Review your goals and revise them to keep up with the changing demands of your markets. Be prepared to examine all aspects of this program on a regular basis with a cross-functional team of experts to seek continuous improvements, to re-focus on new issues as they arise and to adjust your business priorities along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-paragraph-article is-style-paragraph-article--15 wp-block-paragraph\">There is a lot to consider, but don\u2019t let that put you off taking those first vital steps. By starting small, making sure you\u2019re getting it right, and taking action when you need to, you\u2019ll learn the lessons unique to your business and will be able to grow and develop the program effectively. The ultimate proof point of a VoC program is change, so set achievable goals, implement in stages and use the Voice of the Customer to make your company more competitive, one step at a time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"is-style-paragraph-intro is-style-paragraph-intro--16 wp-block-paragraph\">To find out how Forsta can set you on the path to VoC success, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\">www.forsta.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Creating a positive and consistent customer experience across multiple channels is one of the biggest challenges facing businesses today, and a solid Voice of the Customer program is core to meeting this challenge. Building such a program, however, is far from simple and failure to do it well will result in \u201cjust another customer survey\u201d. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":29006,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"disable_featured_image":false,"temp_reference":0,"temp_parent":0,"pathfactory_url":"https:\/\/library.forsta.com\/c\/ebook-voice-of-custo?x=vkyXU4","webinar_link":"","webinar_link_text":"","start_date":"","start_time":"","end_date":"","end_time":""},"resource-category":[217],"resource-topic":[219],"class_list":["post-29005","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resource-category-white-papers","resource-topic-customer-experience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource\/29005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/resource"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource\/29005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43625,"href":"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource\/29005\/revisions\/43625"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29006"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"resource-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource-category?post=29005"},{"taxonomy":"resource-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.forsta.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource-topic?post=29005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}