How to Create a Voice of the Customer Program with the Help of AI

Between social media, online reviews, and other sources across the internet, businesses have more ways than ever to understand how their customers are feeling. One effective strategy to harness these insights into customer preferences and expectations is by implementing a voice of customer (VoC) process. VoC is a research technique that gathers and analyzes customer feedback to improve products, services, and the overall customer experience. With recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, optimizing your VoC process has become more efficient and precise than ever before.

In this blog post, we'll discuss how to create an AI-powered VoC process using advanced tools like Viable's generative analysis platform, and how AI can help you extract actionable insights from customer feedback and build a customer-centric organization.

The evolution of the voice of customer process

A robust VoC process enables businesses to capture, analyze, and act on customer feedback across various channels, such as surveys, social media, and customer support interactions. Over the years, the VoC process has evolved significantly, driven by advancements in technology, the proliferation of customer interaction channels, and the growing importance of customer experience as a key competitive differentiator.

In the early stages of VoC programs, businesses relied on manual methods to collect and analyze customer feedback, such as paper surveys, focus groups, and one-on-one interviews. These traditional approaches were often time-consuming and limited in scope, making it difficult to gain a comprehensive understanding of customer sentiment and preferences.

The rise of digital channels and the internet brought about new opportunities for businesses to interact with their customers and gather feedback. Online surveys, email campaigns, and social media monitoring enabled organizations to collect customer feedback more quickly and at a larger scale. However, the analysis of this data remained mostly manual, involving considerable effort and resources to process and derive insights. The good news is that’s changing as cutting-edge AI tools streamline the process.

The value of AI in a modern voice of customer process

Traditional VoC methods, which rely on manual data processing and simple analytics tools, can be labor-intensive, time-consuming, and susceptible to human error. In contrast, AI-driven solutions can quickly and accurately process large amounts of customer feedback, uncovering patterns and trends that may be challenging to detect manually. By automating and refining the VoC process with AI, businesses can obtain valuable insights more rapidly and reliably, leading to better decision-making and enhanced customer experiences.

Viable's generative analysis platform is a prime example of how AI can revolutionize the VoC process. The platform is designed to analyze unstructured data, such as open-ended survey responses, social media mentions, and customer reviews, providing valuable insights into customer sentiment, preferences, and behavior.

By leveraging AI-powered tools, businesses can now analyze vast amounts of structured and unstructured data in real-time. These advanced analysis capabilities enable organizations to gain deeper insights into customer sentiment, preferences, and behavior, facilitating more targeted and impactful improvements in products, services, and marketing strategies.

Moreover, AI-driven VoC solutions also enable businesses to better understand the nuances of customer feedback, identifying subtle trends and shifts in customer sentiment that could signal emerging opportunities or challenges. This increased sensitivity to customer needs and preferences empowers organizations to respond more proactively to customer feedback, ultimately leading to improved customer satisfaction, loyalty, and overall business performance.

Developing an AI-enhanced voice of customer process with Viable

To create an effective AI-powered VoC process using Viable's generative analysis platform, follow these steps:

Step 1: Establish clear objectives and scope

Before collecting customer feedback, determine the objectives and scope of your VoC program. Define what you want to achieve, such as increasing customer satisfaction, identifying product issues, or discovering new market opportunities. Decide which customer segments, channels, and touchpoints you want to focus on.

Step 2: Implement data collection methods aligned with your goals

With your objectives and scope defined, design and implement data collection methods that align with your VoC program's goals. This may include creating customer surveys, monitoring social media mentions, or analyzing customer support interactions. Ensure that your data collection methods capture relevant customer feedback.

Step 3: Prepare and organize your customer feedback data for analysis

After collecting customer feedback, it’s time to organize and prepare it for analysis. This may involve consolidating data from multiple sources, removing duplicates, and formatting the data consistently. Viable's platform has a number of 2-click direct integrations, making this a seamless process. Our AI can also accept CSV files, Zapier integrations, and API integrations, making it easy to import and export your customer feedback data for analysis.

Step 4: Set up analysis parameters

Viable's AI-powered generative analysis platform streamlines the process of creating analysis parameters, saving you time and effort. The platform automatically generates categories, themes, and urgency levels based on customer feedback data, presenting insights in an easy-to-read dashboard. If you prefer a more hands-on approach to your VoC process, you can customize your reports based on your company or team objective, metadata tags, or other filters such as customer segment, region, or product hierarchy.

Step 5: Analyze customer feedback data

With your data prepared and analysis parameters set, you can begin analyzing your customer feedback using Viable's generative analysis tools. The platform processes your data, identifying patterns, trends, and key insights that can inform your decision-making process.

Step 6: Review and interpret the results

After the analysis is complete, examine the results and interpret the findings. Viable's platform provides visualizations such as charts and graphs to help you better understand the data. Look for patterns or trends in the data and consider how these insights can inform your marketing strategies, product development, or customer service initiatives.

Step 7: Implement changes and monitor outcomes based on your analysis

Leverage the insights derived from Viable's platform to make data-driven decisions and implement changes in your marketing, sales, or support strategies. Monitor the impact of these changes on customer satisfaction, retention, and other key performance indicators to measure the effectiveness of your AI-enhanced VoC process.

Step 8: Continuously refine your VoC process

An effective VoC process should be dynamic and adaptable, evolving over time to address changing customer needs and preferences. Regularly review and update your VoC objectives, scope, and data collection methods to ensure they remain aligned with your organization's goals. Continuously analyze and act on customer feedback to drive ongoing improvements in customer satisfaction and business performance.

Embracing AI for a better voice of customer process

Incorporating AI into your VoC process can significantly enhance your ability to understand and address customer needs. By leveraging Viable's AI-powered generative analysis platform, you can efficiently and accurately process customer feedback, uncovering valuable insights to inform your decision-making process. Embracing AI can lead to improved customer satisfaction, loyalty, and overall business success over time.

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