How to Do Voice of Customer Research and Analysis—the Process

Understanding your customers is the foundation upon which you can build products and services that don’t just meet their needs, but also solve their problems and exceed their expectations. One of the most potent strategies for gaining this understanding is through voice of customer (VoC) research and analysis.

But what is voice of customer analysis, and how can you master the art of conducting VoC research? In this blog post, we'll guide you through the process, from gathering voice of the customer data, to analyzing it, and eventually turning it into actionable insights.

What is voice of customer analysis?

At its core, VoC analysis is a research method that involves collecting and analyzing data about your customers' expectations, preferences, and aversions. It's about tuning into the frequency of your customers' voices, understanding their needs, desires, and pain points, and using this understanding to shape your business strategy.

VoC analysis can serve as a guide for various aspects of your business—from product development and marketing to customer service and sales. It can help you understand what your customers value most about your products or services, pinpoint areas that need improvement, and uncover opportunities for innovation and growth.

The voice of customer research process

Here's a step-by-step guide to help you navigate the VoC research and analysis process:

1. Set the stage by defining your objectives

The first step in the voice of customer process is to define your objectives. What do you want to learn from your VoC research? Are you looking to improve your products or services? Do you want to enhance your customer service? Or are you trying to understand why customers are churning?

Having clear objectives will guide your research and help you focus on the most relevant voice of the customer metrics.

2. Collect voice of the customer data from a range of sources

Once you've defined your objectives, the next step is to collect voice of the customer data. There are several ways to do this, including surveys, interviews, focus groups, social media monitoring, and customer feedback forms.

When collecting VoC data, it's important to ask open-ended questions that allow customers to express their thoughts and feelings in their own words. This will give you richer and more nuanced insights than closed-ended questions.

3. Sort and analyze the data

After collecting the data, the next step is to analyze it. This involves sorting through the data, categorizing it, and looking for patterns and trends.

One effective method for analyzing VoC data is voice of customer sentiment analysis. This involves using natural language processing (NLP) algorithms to determine the sentiment behind customers' comments, whether it's positive, negative, or neutral. Another useful technique is text analytics, which involves extracting meaningful information from text data. This can help you identify common themes and topics in your VoC data.

4. Generate insights—what’s the story?

Once you've analyzed the data, the next step is to generate insights. This involves interpreting the data and drawing conclusions from it.

For example, if many customers are complaining about a specific feature of your product, this could indicate that the feature needs improvement. On the other hand, if they’re repeatedly praising one feature, that may be an indication to roll it out into other products.

5. Turn insights into action

The final step in the voice of the customer process is to take action based on your insights. This could involve making changes to your products or services, improving your customer service, or implementing new strategies to reduce customer churn.

For example, if your VoC research reveals that customers are churning because they find your product difficult to use, you might decide to improve your product's user interface or provide more user training.

Once you’ve completed these steps, it’s time to sum up your findings in a voice of the customer report.

The role of a voice of the customer report

A voice of the customer report is a document that summarizes the findings of your VoC research. It includes a detailed analysis of the data, along with the insights generated and the actions taken as a result.

A VoC report can serve as a valuable tool for communicating your findings to stakeholders, including executives, product managers, marketers, and customer service representatives. It can help them make informed decisions that align with customers' needs and expectations.

Leveraging voice of the customer techniques and analytics

There are several techniques and analytics tools that can aid in your VoC research and analysis. For example, customer journey mapping can help you understand the customer's experience from their perspective. It involves mapping out the different stages of the customer's journey, from awareness and consideration to purchase and retention.

On the analytics side, there are various tools available that can help you collect and analyze VoC data. These can automate the data collection process, analyze text data using NLP algorithms, and generate visualizations that make it easier to understand the data.

The best of these tools leverage cutting-edge AI technology, like GPT-4, to identify subtle nuances in your data. That’s why so many marketers choose Viable as a way to enhance their VoC efforts.

How Viable enhances voice of customer analysis

VoC research and analysis is a potent strategy for gaining a deep understanding of your customers, but it can often be a complex and time-consuming operation. This is where Viable steps in to streamline and enhance the process.

Viable is an AI-driven platform specifically designed to assist businesses in analyzing qualitative data, such as responses from VoC surveys, efficiently and accurately. It employs sophisticated AI algorithms to delve into your survey data, pinpoint key themes, and draw out significant insights. Viable's approach transcends basic keyword analysis, offering a comprehensive context of your customers' feedback. This allows you to comprehend not just the content of your customers' responses, but also the underlying reasons behind their feedback.

One of the standout features of Viable is its capacity to analyze data from a multitude of sources. Regardless of whether your VoC survey data originates from Zendesk, Intercom, Front, Delighted, Gong, app stores, or even other sources via Zapier or CSV files, Viable can seamlessly integrate with these platforms and scrutinize the data they produce.

In addition to this, Viable provides a weekly report detailing the most critical compliments, complaints, questions, and requests from your customers, organized by volume and urgency. Each theme in the report monitors changes over time and includes a summary, urgency score, product sub-themes, user profiles, and more. This feature offers you a holistic view of your customers' experiences and expectations, aiding you in identifying potential areas for improvement and opportunities for growth.

Furthermore, Viable is designed with user-friendliness and intuitiveness in mind, making it accessible for anyone in your organization to use. There's no requirement for expertise in data science or complex setup – you can begin extracting insights from your VoC survey data in mere minutes.

VoC research and analysis is a formidable method for understanding your customers and propelling business growth, but traditional tools only give you a surface level understanding of your findings. With Viable, you can augment this process, making it more efficient and gaining deeper insights.

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To explore how Viable can enhance your VoC research and analysis, start your free trial today.

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