The ABC of Voice of Customer

According to the International Standards Organization (ISO 9241), usability is the extent to which a product can be used by specified users to achieve specified goals with effectiveness, efficiency, and satisfaction in a specified context of use. In other words, good usability implies that users can easily use a product and by doing so, reach their goals quickly and without meeting friction. Some aspects of usability overlap with the user experience (UX) of a system, meaning good usability should also include a good user experience.

UX is the subjective feeling a user gets when using a product, system, or service. User experiences are drawn from a user’s individual perception of different aspects of the experience such as appeal, information content, accessibility, credibility, relevance, ease of use, etc. The greater a site’s ‘experience’, the more enticing it is to users. User Experience Designers are able to offer great marketability, branding and usability through visual design.

The UI is the interface of any machine or system the end user interacts with. Through the user interface, the user operates the machine or system and receives feedback over success or failure of the given orders. In order to fulfill the requirements of good usability and user experience, a user interface needs to be usable, intuitive and, to a certain degree, fun to use.

User Centered Design (UCD) describes the development process of any kind of product or user interface that has the end user as its main focus. UCD always starts with a thorough analysis of the needs, expectations, and limitations of the user. The design process is iterative and involves repetitive user testing to validate each step of the process.

Voice of the Customer (VoC) is the process of collecting insights into customers’ wants and needs through their own words. It began as a way to link customer needs to performance measures in Japanese product development, but currently, it’s a popular method of market research and customer feedback collection for top performing companies in many verticals. The Voice of the Customer can be captured through various methods: surveys, emails, chat transcripts, phone calls, social media interactions, etc. The insights collected can be further translated into clear business objectives that will help bridge the gap between customer expectations and the organization’s offerings.

Companies that are customer-centric, focus on what their users want to accomplish and develop a deep understanding of their needs and preferences. They design products and experiences that fulfill and exceed customers’ expectations. To discover what customers prefer and what elements in the product or service work best for them is subject of continuous product improvement. Mature digital companies maintain a perspective on customers that’s contributed to by all departments that in some form interact with customers. Because of this, central customer relationship management is crucial.

Customer experience can be defined as your customers’ perceptions of their relationship with your organization resulting from all interactions during the customer journey. Customer experience involves designing and reacting to a customer’s interactions in order to either meet or exceed their expectations. In doing so, the objective is to increase customer satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy. This includes your customer’s ability to have a helpful, pleasant, and positive total experience with your organization. Differentiating your product or service by offering a great CX does not only help increase your revenue and sales, but also help you gain competitive advantage.

The omni-channel experience is a multi-channel approach to connecting to customers in a way that creates an integrated and cohesive customer experience no matter the point of interaction between an organization and the customer. In comparison to a multi-channel experience, an omnichannel experience requires a deeper degree of integration and alignment between organizational departments and functions across an organization in terms of messaging, goals, objectives, and design across each channel and device.

The customer journey is the cumulative sum of experiences that customers go through when interacting with an organization. Instead of looking at just a part of a transaction or experience, the customer journey documents the full experience as the customer moves through various touch-points from awareness to engagement and purchase.

The Digital Customer Experience (DCX) ecompasses all interactions between an organization and its customers experienced through a digital interface like a computer, smartphone or tablet. As customer interactions become primarily digital, the quality of these digital impressions has a defining impact on your overall customer experience. For example, digital issues such as a slow performing website or recurrent app crashes will negatively influence your conversion rates, customer satisfaction and brand reputation.

User Feedback is any qualitative or quantitative response or reaction, usually made up of evaluative or corrective information, from a customer or user about a particular action or process they experienced with the organization they are interacting with. User feedback can be prompted (solicited) or unpromoted (unsolicited) and freely given by the user or customer. User feedback is one of the building blocks to determining customer insights.

A survey is a data collection instrument used for capturing insights and feedback from a sample of participants. Used to acquire statistical data, surveys are a useful tool for conducting research on given areas of interest, validating assumptions and identifying patterns and trends. If you want to get a better understanding of your customers, the least you can do is send them a survey. Surveys can collect both quantitative and qualitative insights which will help you make better decisions and increase customer satisfaction.

Omnichannel feedback is feedback collected by organizations among multiple channels and touchpoints. By creating a holistic overview of the feedback collection process, businesses can get a deeper understanding of their customers and ultimately build a better customer experience. As customers have come to expect consistent and connected experiences, brands must make sure they engage with customers at all points during the customer journey.

Real-time feedback is a method of qualitative data collection, by which website visitors or app users can express their opinion regarding a specific element or functionality of your digital touch points anytime and anywhere. Real-time feedback enables organizations to detect issues or bugs in a timely manner, improve customer experience and avoid revenue loss.

Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a measure used for determining the engagement and loyalty of customers. The score is calculated by simply asking customers “How likely are you to share {x} with your friends and family?”, presenting them with a 0-10 scale to answer. NPS is based on the principle that every company’s customers can be divided into three categories: those who score 0-6 are Detractors, 7-8 scores are Passives, and 9-10 scores are Promoters.

Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) is a measure used for determining the level of satisfaction as a result of a specific interaction with an organization. The score is calculated by asking customers a question such as “How satisfied are you with the experience?” rated on a scale from 1-10 (the scale can vary depending on your organizational objectives). CSAT can be used for measuring customer experience at various touch points during the customer journey.

Customer Effort Score (CES) is a customer satisfaction measurement that evaluates the ease of an experience with an organization. CES is mostly used at precise moments or with isolated user experiences for measuring customer effort. It is measured by asking a single question “How easy was it to solve your problem today?” scored on a scale from 1 (low effort) to 5 (high effort).

Customer retention is the ability of an organization to retain customers over a given period of time. It’s a measure of customer loyalty and it assesses an organization’s capacity of satisfying its customers by creating positive experiences. In most cases, retaining existing customers is less expensive than acquiring new ones. As a result, investing in a customer loyalty program can help you increase customer lifetime value and ultimately profits on the long term.

Customer loyalty is the result of a series of positive customer experiences with a brand and translates into constant and repeated purchases over an extended period of time. Customer loyalty is a key objective of customer relationship management and a measure for a company’s success. Loyal customers tend to purchase more often, spend a greater share of their wallet and also recommend their favorite products and services to their friends and family.

Customer insights are key intuitive understandings about your customers garnered through analyzing and mining user feedback and data analytics. This includes any instance of understanding the motivations, thoughts, behavior, requirements, needs and/or wants of the customer - which can be proven true through qualitative or quantitative data.