Many clients who approach our LegerCX department have reached the strategic stage of continuously collecting customer feedback to improve their journeys. The primary goal of this initiative is often to quickly reduce perceived pain points in the customer experience, seize the most profitable business opportunities, and prioritize CX (and sometimes EX, UX, UI, BX) actions that have the most impact on return on investment (ROI).
To achieve this, the question we often hear is: “Which Voice of the Customer (VoC) platform should I choose?” Indeed, the market offers many choices, and choosing a technological tool for a short, medium, and long-term project is generally not a decision to be taken lightly, as it requires the involvement of several stakeholders within your company (IT, senior management, marketing, finance, CX, etc.).
So, what questions should you ask when choosing a technology provider when it’s time to shop for a VoC platform? Here are our top 10.
1- WHAT ARE MY OBJECTIVES?
The first often overlooked step is to clearly determine the objectives related to the Voice of the Customer program you wish to implement. These must align with the company’s strategic goals. It is recommended to map out your customer journeys to identify crucial moments in the customer experience, i.e., those that, when unsatisfactory, will have a negative impact on acquisition, retention, and/or customer loyalty. Start with one or a few journeys for your pilot project to quickly prove the ROI of this initiative.
2- SURVEY PLATFORM OR VOC PLATFORM?
It is crucial to determine whether you need a survey tool or a true VoC platform. Survey platforms allow for collecting customer feedback, but their functionalities are limited in terms of design, programming, dashboards, automation, integration of operational and financial data, and multi-journey results merging. Some companies start with a small survey platform before migrating to a more comprehensive VoC platform. Consider your short, medium, and long-term needs to avoid additional costs and time losses during future transitions.
3- WHAT IT AND MARKETING REQUIREMENTS SHOULD I CONSIDER IN TERMS OF SECURITY AND SOLICITATION?
It is important to involve your IT team from the beginning of the decision-making process for a VoC platform. They are responsible for data security and providing the required information for integrations, creating data dictionaries for sending invitations, and managing recipient URLs or email addresses. Ensure compliance with marketing solicitation laws (e.g., Law 25 and Bill C-27) and locate your data on a server that complies with your country’s laws. Some platforms allow integrating an unsubscribed customer list and programming contact frequency rules to avoid over-communication with your clients.
4- WHICH TECHNOLOGICAL TOOL OFFERS THE DATA COLLECTION METHODS I NEED?
Depending on the customer journey you are targeting, data collection methods will vary. For a transactional website, you could intercept customers during error pages or cart abandonment. For in-store transactions, email or SMS surveys are appropriate. You might also want to collect unsolicited feedback on social media. Consider these needs when selecting your VoC platform. Some technologies offer all these possibilities, but license and user fees vary depending on the collection functionalities.
5- WHAT VOLUME OF FEEDBACK DO I EXPECT TO COLLECT ANNUALLY?
The costs associated with some VoC platforms vary depending on the number of feedback collected annually. It is important to estimate this volume based on existing data (e.g., number of transactions, response rate, volume of social media comments). Inquire about the requirements needed to estimate VoC technologies corresponding to your needs before making forecasts.
6- HOW MANY USERS WILL ACCESS THE PLATFORM, AND DO I NEED A HIERARCHICAL VISUALIZATION FOR THEM?
License fees for a VoC platform can vary depending on the number of users. Some platforms allow for adapting access and result visualizations based on hierarchical roles. For example, a single dashboard can be programmed for headquarters employees to view the results of all branches, while regional directors only see the branches in their region. This type of functionality saves time and costs by avoiding excessive report programming.
7- DOES THE PLATFORM MEET MY DESIGN AND PROGRAMMING FUNCTIONALITY REQUIREMENTS FOR DATA COLLECTION?
If personalizing URLs and recipient names is crucial for maximizing response rates and avoiding your emails ending up in spam, this criterion is important in your choice. If your marketing department has strict design requirements, you need to know the limitations of basic functionalities for creating invitation and questionnaire designs. Specific needs in terms of questionnaire programming (e.g., display conditions, question jumps, video or image integration, voice integration, question types) must also be considered.
8- WHAT ARE MY DATA ANALYSIS NEEDS?
Having a platform to collect customer feedback is good, but being able to quickly analyze the main causes of critical pain points is even better. Inquire about the customization capabilities of dashboards and analysis reports. Some platforms offer advanced statistical analyses, unification of customer comments in the form of themes and sentiment levels through text analysis, and the use of AI to query centralized data. Using the platform to analyze data and prioritize CX actions is highly recommended.
9- DO I WANT TO CLOSE THE FEEDBACK LOOP WITH MY CUSTOMERS AND/OR CREATE ACTION PLANS?
Some platforms offer the possibility of receiving alerts and customer management tickets, communicating with dissatisfied customers, or celebrating successes. Integration with your own CRM may be possible, and dashboards can assign specific actions following data analysis. If you want to be autonomous on this type of technology, it is important to determine if your internal resources have the required expertise. Some platforms are more user-friendly, while others require more advanced technical knowledge.
10- AM I LOOKING FOR FUTURE AUTONOMY OR EXTERNAL HELP FOR MANAGING MY VOC PLATFORM?
The choice of VoC platforms is multiple, and the ease of programming varies from one to another. Maintaining a complex platform requires constant monitoring of performance (e.g., response rates, number of sends, etc.) and specific resources to ensure the system’s proper functioning. If you want to be autonomous in the long term on this technology, it is important to determine if your internal resources have the required expertise. Some platforms are more user-friendly, while others require more advanced IT knowledge (e.g., JavaScript). LégerCX can offer training services for some of these technologies. Do not hesitate to contact us for more details.
CONCLUSION
Limiting this article to 10 questions was not easy. Indeed, there are more than 10 major questions to ask when choosing a VoC platform, but we hope this article has shed light on some important criteria. No matter where you are in the maturity of your VoC program, our team of experts is here to support you. Whether it’s to help you choose the best VoC technology, implement a VoC program, provide training services on advanced platforms, advise you on your questionnaires or dashboards, help you develop your case study to prove your ROI, or for managed or ad hoc programming services, our LégerCX VoC expert team is at your disposal. Do not hesitate to contact us.
