Voice of the Customer/Employee
"Voice of" methodology, applied to either customers or employees, really is a fundamentally different way of conducting customer and employee research.
On the surface, many of the elements may look the same -- gathering data through telephone surveys for instance. It is what is beneath that surface, hidden from view, where the differences are. Typically, these differences lie in the methods of data gathering, analysis and interpretation that highlight areas of practical importance to the business rather than mere statistical significance.
If you would like to learn more about Voice of the Customer (VoC) or Voice of the Employee ( VoE), go to our website dedicated to these important products.
Latest Research Confirms VoC Approach
The evidence keeps piling up in support of Voice of the Customer/Employee methods used by Converge in conducting customer and employee research.
Latest research conducted for the US Government, specifically the Internal Revenue Service and the General Accountability Office, confirms what users of Voice of the Customer (VoC) and Voice of the Employee (VoE) users have known for some time -- comparing data across organizational units (other organizations or branches) does not improve performance. The research recommends that the IRS end the practice of measuring customer service across various field units and using the comparative branch information to identify strength and weakness areas.
In the research, branches of the IRS that used this benchmarking approach ultimately saw customer satisfaction go down and complaints rise. As a control, other branches of the IRS used their customer satisfaction data to identify problems and target areas requiring improvement within their own branch. These branches saw performance, measured in terms of customer satisfaction, go up. These branches of the IRS saw other performance metrics, including recoveries of monies owed, rise as well.
We could have helped them avoid this predicatable outcome. Users of VoC and VoE from Converge have heard us repeat this message too many times. Comparing your customer satisfaction or employee satisfaction data to external (or internal) benchmarks simply doesn't work. There are some statistically technical reasons for this (which we will gladly discuss with you any time you are having trouble sleeping) as well as some not so technical reasons, not the least of which is that doing so misses the whole point of doing the research. The bottom line, however, is this -- gathering data from your customers should identify specific issues with your organization, issues that can then be addressed by changing processes or product designs.
It really is, just that simple.
