Get with the VoC Program
Some brands get away with taking a casual approach to their customer experience. But, unless you’re one of those imaginary organizations, you’re probably not getting away with anything. In today’s Age of the Customer, intelligent companies have a distinct advantage over their lackadaisical counterparts. Fortunately for companies that aren’t as “with the program” (the Voice of the Customer [VoC] program that is), there are facets common to all successful brands, which can be learned and adopted with relative ease.
1. Culture
Change Employee Behavior. Transform Your Brand.
At the root of every intelligent brand’s success is the right frame of mind. Without it, priorities are out of place, employee buy-in is non-existent, and positive change is near impossible. The right corporate mindset is everything. The wants, needs, and expectations of the customer should influence every decision your brand makes. Smart brands factor the customer into every company equation. In order to put the customer at the center of everything, change must come from the top and trickle down to the location level. Intelligent organizations align company culture with company goals. As technology advances and the customer experience evolves, combining employee engagement with the ability to adapt to the changing customer ecosystem is vital to the survival of your brand.
2. Organization
See the Complete Customer View
Silos are the bane of your customer experience. Collaboration and data sharing across all departments and levels of management, on the other hand, are a necessity for taking effective action on customer insights and creating a consistent experience across every customer
touchpoint. You wouldn’t drive your car without full visibility of your surroundings. Likewise, you shouldn’t operate your business without a complete 360° view of your customer experience. However your brand decides to stay connected, understanding and sharing customer knowledge is an essential step to becoming a more astute organization.
3. Automation
The Customer Experience Happens in Real Time
Customers are constantly interacting with your brand. This is where advanced VoC technology really comes into play. To accommodate each interaction, your brand should implement an automated system of rule-based algorithms that triggers actions like personalized communication, targeted offers, and cross-departmental notifications. One way brands are focusing less on data collection and analysis and devoting more time and resources to brand strategy is through the adoption of an automated VoC program. In addition to saving your brand valuable time, a VoC program also enables you to act on customer insights in real time and better meet customer expectations.
4. Identification
Know Your Customers
Intelligent organizations know their customers intimately. No matter the channel, device, touchpoint, or business location, the smartest brands have some level of understanding about individual customer preferences and behaviors. By creating unique identifiers for each customer, your brand can produce a seamless and consistently great experience across every customer touchpoint. These identifiers enable brands from every industry to sidestep the pains of manually tying together customer interactions with disparate databases. A targeted campaign that relies on closed-loop marketing, for instance, isn’t exactly targeting anything without customer identifiers. Your brand requires those unique bits of customer information to run an effective campaign and maximize your ROI.
Be Smarter than Your Competitors
Your brand is unique and will face challenges specific to your organization. Incorporating these customer-centric elements into the framework of your brand will aid you in your quest to become a more savvy organization. While the process of transforming your brand won’t be instantaneous (or accomplished without employee buy-in from every level of your organization), with proper investment and VoC program commitment, your brand will reach its full potential to become a top performer in your industry. Be committed. Be flexible. Be patient. Becoming a more intelligent organization rewards both you and your customers.