And you should know more about them. So let’s get inside their heads, and learn what they really think about your brand.

1. Voice of the
Customer
4imprint.com

2. Voice of the Customer: Marketing mind
reading at its best
They buy your products. They use your services. They drive your business, and
without them your business would be toast. You know who we’re talking about—
your customers. And you should know more about them. So let’s get inside their
heads, and learn what they really think about your brand. You need to know
what keeps them buying and what turns them away. Stop the guesswork and
tune in with a little marketing mind reading.
It’s called Voice of the Customer (VoC), and while not new to the marketing
landscape, it’s receiving greater attention and is changing the customer
experience (CX) landscape. The VoC method synthesizes all customer feedback
and provides a complete picture of customer desires. This qualitative and
quantitative feedback is then used to enhance customer experiences and build
better customer-brand relationships. The goal is to gather all customer feedback
from departmental silos so it can be viewed from a holistic organizational
perspective and through a customer-centric lens. Insights can be used to drive
change, break down customer barriers and solve problems.
So what’s the bottom line with VoC? When an organization’s cumulative customer
feedback is analyzed and acted upon, it can have tremendous, transformative
power. Tuning into customer wants and needs can drive business, and some
big players are taking notice. Companies like Jared® and Kay® Jewelers, Tommy
Bahama®, Delta Airlines®, Starbucks® and 7-Eleven® have incorporated VoC into
their business practices. And the 2011 State of Customer Experience Report by
Forrester found that half of large North American companies are implementing
VoC strategies1.
VoC is turning heads and gaining recognition as “the pulse of a company”2. In its
new seat as a marketing “must-have,” Gartner™ is predicting that VoC’s insight
and value will lead to increased growth and revenue3. And back in 2013 Gartner
predicted that within the next five years, VoC would be a top strategic business
investment4.
1 Burns, Megan, Harley Manning, and Jennifer Peterson. The State Of Customer Experience, 2011 Companies
Have Lofty Goals But Aren’t Doing What It Takes To Reach Them. Rep. Forrester Research, Inc., 17 Feb.
2011. Web. 13 Aug. 2014. <http://www.forrester.com/The+State+Of+Customer+Experience+2011/fulltext/-/E-RES58635>.
2 Santos, Mike. “Mobile And Social Input Impacts Voice Of The Customer Strategies.” Retail TouchPoints. N.p.,
11 Dec. 2011. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. <http://www.retailtouchpoints.com/in-store-insights/1215-mobile-and-social-input-
© 2014 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved
impacts-voice-of-the-customer-strategies>.
3 Ibid.
4 Ibid.

3. Where should VoC be put to use? Our answer: Everywhere. It can transform your
organization from the inside out, and it has huge implications for marketing. VoC
synthesizes organizational data from any and all channels, so it only makes sense
that VoC strategy can be used to collect data and enhance customer experience
through multiple channels. Potential channels include mobile, email, SMS (short
message service), social media marketing, store-front, service enhancements,
product improvements, kiosks and a more engaged team, to name a few5. We
will touch on all of these multiple channels in this Blue Paper® but the focus will
be on mobile.
Why focus on mobile? Because what other channel can you be in your customers’
pockets, their cars, their workplace, next to their beds and on their Web browsers
all at once? Mobile is a great fit for VoC because you can collect multiple forms
of VoC feedback through various mobile platforms, and then use that data to
strengthen your mobile presence. And mobile’s importance is growing, too. It is
estimated that U.S. adults will spend 23 percent more time using a smartphone
in 2014 than the year prior6. The rising usage of smartphones and other Internet-connected
mobile devices makes a strong mobile strategy more important than
ever. In fact, a 2012 study from OpinionLab™ and Tealeaf™ found that over 80
percent of marketing and customer experience professionals say that managing
mobile customer experience is just as or more important than improving customer
experience on fixed websites7.
VoC is gaining momentum due to mobile’s data collection capabilities and
because it packs potential for serious return on investment (ROI) that makes it
worth your time. Below are four ways VoC can make a difference.
1. Customer retention: Keep your current customers by demonstrating that
your company cares about their needs and wants8.
2. Attract new customers: Improvements to products/services championed by a
strong VoC program will intrigue potential customers and drive new sales9.
3. Increase efficient decision-making: VoC heightens the awareness of your
customers’ wants to facilitate customer-centric decisions10.
5 Demou, George. “2014 Top Initiatives in Customer Experience (CX).” Avtex Blog: The Point of Interaction. N.p.,
7 Feb. 2014. Web. 1 Oct. 2014. <http://blog.avtex.com/2014/02/07/2014-top-initiatives-in-customer-experience-cx/>.
6 “Mobile Continues to Steal Share of US Adults’ Daily Time Spent with Media - EMarketer.” E-marketer. N.p., 22
Apr. 2014. Web. 27 Aug. 2014.
7 “Study by OpinionLab and Tealeaf Identifies Mobile Experience as Top Priority in 2012 – OpinionLab –
OpinionLab – Omnichannel Digital Feedback Management – Voice of Customer Feedback Anytime,
Anywhere™.” OpinionLab. N.p., 31 Jan. 2013. Web. 27 Aug. 2014. <http://www.opinionlab.com/press_release/
study-by-opinionlab-and-tealeaf-identifies-mobile-experience-as-top-priority-in-2012/>.
8 “Voice of the Customer - Medallia.” Voice of the Customer. Medallia, n.d. Web. 09 Sept. 2014. <http://www.
medallia.com/voice-of-the-customer/>.
9 McInnes, Andrew. “Allegiance Blog.” How Voice of Customer VoC Programs Really Deliver ROI Comments.
Allegiance, 21 Nov. 2013. Web. 09 Sept. 2014. <http://www.allegiance.com/blog/how-voice-of-customer-voc-programs-
© 2014 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved
really-deliver-roi/8298>.
10 Ibid.

4. 4. Build employee engagement: Implementing a VoC strategy empowers
employees to solve customer problems and re-connects the team to your
company’s mission11.
Let’s embark on our mission to master VoC, or marketing mind reading as we
like to call it. In this Blue Paper we’ll breakdown the VoC cycle into five phases:
plan, collect, interpret, react and monitor. In each phase we’ll highlight creative
integration of VoC and mobile with case studies. We’ll also give you a leg up by
providing takeaways for your own VoC program.
Phase 1: VoC program planning
Set yourself up for success. When building a VoC program, a strong foundation
is essential. Keith Schorah, founder of VoC software firm SynGro®, cautions all
would-be VoC users: “It is fundamental the VoC program has a clear, focused
strategy which is directly aligned to the organization’s commercial goals and is
designed to permeate all aspects of the business. If it doesn’t, the VoC program’s
success will be limited and most likely temporary.”12 Starting with a strong,
focused VoC strategy, provides an opportunity to gain a single view of the
customer, and the ability to re-engineer operations using root-cause analysis. This
can drive fundamental change13.
With those wise words from VoC experts, we have a checklist of seven steps for
completing the VoC cycle planning phase.
1. Audit your existing data14—Define what customer feedback data you
have, what data you are collecting and where it comes from. It doesn’t
make sense to start the collection phase if you don’t know what customer
feedback data you already have. Ask yourself and your team: What
customer touch points do you collect data from? What data is coming in
and what departments “own” it? And where is current data being stored.
2. Plan for data integration—The most impactful VoC programs integrate VoC
data and all other business data. VoC data can be used to spot trends in
existing business data that might not have been apparent if data was siloed.
In planning your VoC strategy, start by having conversations about best
methods for integrating new and existing data. Also, consider integrating
11 Robson, Andrew. “Employee Engagement: An Undervalued Source of VoC ROI.” Customer Interactions Blog.
© 2014 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved
NICE Systems, 13 Mar. 2013. Web. 09 Sept. 2014.
12 Davey, Neil. “Listen Up: How to Build a Voice of the Customer Strategy.” My Customer. N.p., 10 Apr. 2013.
Web. 15 Aug. 2014. <http://www.mycustomer.com/feature/experience/listen-how-build-voice-customer-strategy/
164752>.
13 Ibid.
14 Ibid.

5. VoC data with existing customer relationship management (CRM) programs
to empower your sales staff.
3. Get buy-in from key execs—Don’t forget this crucial step. Getting executive
buy-in helps get all departments on board, and even more importantly it
helps ensure that the final strategy aligns with business goals. VoC can only
drive change when it aligns with and contributes to business level goals15.
4. Make it someone’s job—Utilizing VoC to its full potential can be a
complicated undertaking. Do yourself a favor and appoint a responsible
VoC manager. The VoC manager keeps everyone on track and keeps VoC
initiatives moving forward.
5. Map the customer journey—Get a better understanding of your customers’
experiences. Start by looking at your customers’ mobile context and then
map the entire customer journey16. Mobile context includes:
a. Customer location when they use your mobile services;
b. Customer user preferences;
c. Situations users face while interacting with your organization;
d. Customer history;
e. Any personal decisions shared with you or social media networks17.
Mobile experience can be enriched using a context profile to deliver
relevant content. Delta Airlines’ app, for example, provides examples of
customer context in action. At Delta, a frequent flyer can access his or
her real-time placement on an upcoming flight wait-list18. The customer’s
situational factors such as current location and local environmental
conditions are also considered. When a flyer launches the Delta app,
Delta delivers a countdown to departure time19.
Customer context is a helpful first step in mapping the journey. Completing
a customer journey map provides the full picture of how customers
complete a transaction with your company20. Your customers’ journeys
may be complex. They might involve multiple channels and devices. Some
times customers’ experience touch areas that we, as marketers, may not be
15 Ibid.
16 Hammond, Jeffrey. “9 Challenges To Your Mobile App Strategy - InformationWeek.” InformationWeek. N.p.,
30 Apr. 2013. Web. 15 Aug. 2014. <http://www.informationweek.com/mobile/9-challenges-to-your-mobile-app-
© 2014 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved
strategy/d/d-id/1109754>.
17 Ibid.
18 Ibid.
19 Ibid.
20 Davey, Neil. “Listen Up: How to Build a Voice of the Customer Strategy.”My Customer. N.p., 10 Apr. 2013.
Web. 15 Aug. 2014. <http://www.mycustomer.com/feature/experience/listen-how-build-voice-customer-strategy/
164752>.

6. aware of. Using customer immersion tactics can help uncover any hidden
touch points. Listen to real customer calls from your call center or call into
your own call center without revealing who you are. Have your team watch
customers in one of your retail locations. Go out and purchase your product
and watch for roadblocks. Take notes on your experience and ask yourself:
a. Was my problem resolved?
b. How long did I wait?
c. What frustrations did the customers around me experience?
d. What positive attributes did my fellow customers express
© 2014 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved
as I listened?
These customer immersion exercises can help reconnect your team with
your primary audience—your customers. With a fresh perspective on your
customers, you’re ready to complete the customer journey map and add any
new touch points you discovered. The journey map matters because you will
want to monitor, measure and report on customers’ experiences at every
touch point along the way21.
6. Create an effective strategic objective—Once everyone is on board and
you have completed your customer journey map, you can define your VoC
objective. There is no point in investing resources and collecting all of this
new data without a strong objective that is both actionable and directly
tied to business goals22. Doing so helps the entire organization see the
value of VoC. A clear objective helps all departments visualize how they
can support the program23.
7. Eliminate “action loops”24—Don’t collect the data if there is not an activity
planned to test your findings. Do something with your findings and make
sure your strategy has action baked in.
Get started tip: As you work through the VoC cycle, time and time again, you
won’t use all of these planning phase tips each time. Your due diligence will
have paid off and your program will be up and running. However, we caution
you not to overlook the planning phase entirely. Each new VoC initiative will
require careful planning to make sure you are collecting the correct data for your
intended action.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid.
24 Ibid.

7. Phase 2: VoC data collection
Get the insights you want from customer feedback by understanding what the
data entails and making the right data collection decisions. Let’s break down
what’s inside customer feedback. Upon collection, customer feedback becomes
a detailed set of customer needs and wants in their own words25. We’ll use
hypothetical customer feedback from a restaurant, a clothing boutique and a
consumer product goods company to illustrate this concept.
Restaurant example—“I enjoyed the meal, but service was slow and the wait staff
lacked personality.”
Clothing boutique example—“Loved the colors you put out this season, but
when I was in the store I had trouble locating my size. Luckily, your great sales
staff was available to help me out.”
Consumer product goods example—“Product worked well, but it took me
a while to figure out how to use it. Great packaging though!”
In just one to two sentences, we learned about the quality of a meal, personality
and helpfulness of wait staff/sales staff, store layout and product placement
effectiveness, product functionality and product-use learning curve. We didn’t
just learn about products and services, we got a glimpse of the customers’
expectations, needs and requirements.
So what data do you need? It depends on your VoC goals. Use your data audit
and customer journey map to determine what information you are missing?
You also want to consider what data might be helpful in executing current or
future initiatives.
Once you decide what data you need, it is time to determine what collection
methods will produce the desired information. Think about the collection
method and the collection channel. And don’t forget about mobile. Your mobile
presence can provide the data you are looking for. Mobile technology gives us an
entirely new venue for collecting VoC feedback from customers via social media
monitoring, enterprise feedback management, website interactions, surveys,
speech analytics, text mining and Web analytics to provide a holistic view of your
customer’s voice26.
25 Gaskin, Steven P., Abbie Griffin, John R. Hauser, Gerald M. Katz, and Robert L. Klein. “Voice of the Customer.”
(2011): n. pag. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Web. 21 Aug. 2014. <http://web.mit.edu/hauser/www/
Papers/Gaskin_Griffin_Hauser_et_al%20VOC%20Encyclopedia%202011.pdf>.
26 “Voice of the Customer (VOC).” IT Glossary. Gartner, Inc., n.d. Web. 13 Aug. 2014. <http%3A%2F%2Fwww.
gartner.com%2Fit-glossary%2Fvoice-of-the-customer-voc%2F>.
© 2014 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved

8. You can get creative in your data collection, too. Supplement traditional
interviews by asking social media followers to participate in Skype® or Google+®
interviews. Considering surveys to collect feedback? Use online surveys via
your mobile website or app. Data from your Web analytics and social media
interactions provide essential data at other touch points, too. In the interpret
phase we will discuss tools to help you dissect your data.
Signet Jewelers, owners of both Jared and Kay Jewelers, gives us a peek at how
the right VoC data can make a difference for multiple marketing initiatives. A few
years ago, Signet embarked on its own VoC journey—unsure what they would
discover. Using customer segmentation analysis, surveys and in-store observations,
the team, in partnership with IBM Interactive®, identified opportunities to
replicate the in-store experience in an online environment27. Using this new
customer data, Signet designed and developed an intuitive website experience for
customers. New social media profiles and a mobile website were also launched28.
Customers can now compare items side-by-side, talk to a sales representative and
check their credit balance no matter where they are shopping from—inside the
store, online or via mobile29. The company is head over heels in love with the VoC
strategy because following launch, 2012 holiday sales increased 49 percent over
the same period in 201130.
Get started tip: Base data collection on the customer journey map you created
in the planning phase to ensure that you are capturing data at as many touch
points as possible. Can’t hit all of your touch points? Start by gathering data
that helps support your VoC objective.
Phase 3: Data interpretation
You’ve been collecting data. Now what? First, data organization and then, data
prioritization. Random categorization doesn’t get us very far in understanding
what the data means. But luckily, Griffin and Hauser, VoC research pioneers,
created a customer feedback analysis framework to help. In this framework all
customer needs are categorized as primary, secondary and tertiary31. Primary
needs are composed of the ten top-level needs articulated by customers32. For
example, if you were on the marketing team for a local restaurant looking to
incorporate the VoC into a marketing plan, your customers’ hypothetical primary
needs could be:
27 Berg, Neal. “The Omni-Channel Retail Experience, or How Kay and Jared Jewelers Upped Sales
49%.” MarketingProfs. N.p., 4 Apr. 2013. Web. 27 Aug. 2014. <http://www.marketingprofs.com/
articles/2013/10473/the-omni-channel-retail-experience-or-how-kay-and-jared-jewelers-upped-sales-49>.
28 Ibid.
29 Ibid.
30 Ibid.
31 Griffin, Abbie, and John R. Hauser. “The Voice of the Customer.” Marketing Science 12.1 (1993): 1-27. JSTOR.
© 2014 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved
Web. 25 Aug. 2014.
32 Ibid.

9. © 2014 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved
• Restaurant selection
• Getting to the restaurant
• Food options and menu
• Restaurant building
• Restaurant interior
• Restaurant experience
These needs may carry enough weight to be used in setting a strategic
organizational or marketing direction. Secondary needs are considered tactical
because they expand the primary need, and provide an approach for satisfying
the primary need. Using our sample restaurant again, secondary needs could
resemble the following:
• Restaurant selection: Easy-to-access menu information online and
table availability
• Getting to the restaurant: Good location and accessible, safe parking
• Food options and menu: Food quality, entrée specials and menu options
for diners with dietary restrictions
• Restaurant building: Outdoor signage and indoor traffic flow
• Inside the restaurant: Clean restrooms and great atmosphere
• Restaurant experience: Helpful, friendly wait staff and a fun experience
Looking only at the restaurant selection category, the secondary needs reveal why
customers might choose the restaurant over another if it is easy to access menu
information online and they can get a table. Our restaurant team can then use
those requirements in their efforts to drive restaurant traffic.
Moving on to the third category, the tertiary needs. These needs are more
operational in nature and provide details for making physical changes to the
product, service or surrounding messaging33. Back to our restaurant again,
a tertiary need might be an updated, mobile-friendly website or customer
experience training for wait staff.
Want even deeper analysis and interpretation? Many VoC vendors provide tools
to increase your mind reading power with deeper analysis and interpretation.
Many of the online survey tools you are familiar with have some interpretation
capabilities built right in. Graphical representation of your data results is common
and some track your customer satisfaction score over time34. Text mining is also
a great tool for increased richness in survey data and other Web content. These
software tools identify themes and relationships between survey text and other
33 Ibid.
34 Beard, Ross. “9 Customer Feedback Software Tools: Comparison & Review.” Client Heartbeat Blog. Client
Heartbeat, 14 July 2014. Web. 10 Sept. 2014. <http://blog.clientheartbeat.com/customer-feedback-software/>.

10. content. Social media monitoring tools are helpful for interacting with customer
thoughts in the social sphere. Additional tools embedded within a monitoring
system vary by vendor, and some offer sentiment analysis or opinion mining.
Accessing the feelings behind a tweet, comment or review, gives you more
profound understanding of your customers’ thoughts and intent. Depending on
the complexities of your in-office data analysis procedures you may also want
to run this data against existing business data to identify new opportunities or
confirm trends.
No team can tackle all customer needs at once, nor would they want to. And not
all wants and needs carry the same weight. After you complete categorization
and any interpretation, all customer needs can be prioritized. After prioritization,
the recently interpreted VoC data is ready for use in the reaction phase.
Getting started: Great news! You don’t have to purchase expensive interpretation
software programs. Uncover the meaning in VoC data by organizing customer
feedback by primary, secondary and tertiary needs. Look into additional
interpretation tools, and make sure to incorporate any data analysis capabilities
your team has. Before partnering with vendors offering VoC data interpretation
solutions, use caution. It is acknowledged that this market is still young and that
marketers should be careful when choosing vendors.
Phase 4: The reaction phase
You’ve collected and interpreted your data, and wow—you’ve learned a ton
about your customers. What’s next? It is time to put what you’ve learned to
use. This phase is two-fold because your team will use your data to implement
actions baked into the VoC process during the planning phase. You may also be
reacting to surprises that emerged from the data during the interpretation phase.
Be prepared to tackle both planned and unplanned action. When executing
planned initiatives or reacting to a customer issue the data uncovered, both are
opportunities for your team to improve overall customer experience. And that is
the real beauty and power of the VoC cycle—a force that pushes your company to
become increasingly customer-centric with every pass through the cycle.
This phase is a chance to utilize your team’s creative juices. Your brand is
one-of-a-kind, and you solve problems for your customer in a completely
organic way. And if you haven’t been, the use of VoC is the perfect opportunity
to start. Your customers have an organic perspective about your performance.
And your team knows your organization like no one else. When using VoC to
improve customer experience, let the data guide you to creative solutions for
eliminating pain points. Help your customers have a fun, engaging and organic
brand experience.
© 2014 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved

11. Sound a little intimidating? No worries. You are now reading your customers’
minds … to some extent. You’ve got this. But we wouldn’t leave you without
some tools to help facilitate these creative solutions. Tommy Bahama is one brand
using a Customer Experience Management (CEM) tool to react to any unexpected
VoC data in the moment. With the goal of improving the overall in-store and
online shopper experience, Tommy Bahama installed “listening” kiosks connected
to its CEM tool throughout the store in the second quarter of 201435. These
kiosks allow customers to provide feedback without seeking a sales associate.
The feedback is then provided in real-time to the store teams who can jump in
and resolve issues before the customer leaves the store. This real-time reaction
approach is helping Tommy Bahama improve brand loyalty.
Speaking of brand loyalty, many of us have earned a gold star or two by
paying for delicious frothy beverages with our Starbucks app, and Starbucks
is using VoC to facilitate an in-app loyalty program and in-store experiences.
Starbucks uses their website, www.mystarbucksidea.com, to collect masses of
VoC data. Customers submit ideas for improvements, and then the Starbucks
team continuously reports on how those ideas make an impact. One recently
implemented “My Starbucks Ideas” is being used to improve customers’ mobile
experience. The new feature sends app users email reminders of their earned
free drinks within the loyalty program36. This example demonstrates how
creativity can influence data collection and reaction within the VoC process.
7-Eleven is another example of a company using multiple tools and creativity
to collect and react to VoC data. 7-Eleven wanted to build greater emotional
attachment among customers to boost customer engagement and sales. To reach
this objective they launched real-time CRM technology tied to a customer loyalty
program within their mobile app37. The company crowd-sourced VoC research,
and discovered that many customers have favorite Slurpee™ flavors, but didn’t
know what flavors were available in each store38. Once this was identified as a
pain point for customers, the 7-Eleven team started collecting daily flavor data
from franchise locations and rolling the data into the mobile app for customer
use. This new functionality cost the 7-Eleven team very little to develop, but it
solved a big pain point dealing with one of their most popular products. 7-Eleven
demonstrates that all organizations can get actionable customer feedback even if
customers spend little time or money in the company’s physical and digital space.
35 Floretta, Alicia. “Tommy Bahama Collects Real-Time Feedback With Medallia - Retail TouchPoints.” Tommy
Bahama Collects Real-Time Feedback With Medallia - Retail TouchPoints. Retail Touchpoints, 11 July 2014.
Web. 11 Sept. 2014. <http://www.retailtouchpoints.com/features/retail-success-stories/tommy-bahama-collects-real-
© 2014 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved
time-feedback-with-medallia>.
36 Starbucks Coffee.” Ideas In Action Blog. Starbucks, 7 Aug. 2014. Web. 03 Sept. 2014. <http://blogs.starbucks.
com/blogs/Customer/default.aspx>.
37 De Haff, Michelle. “How the Voice of the Customer Is Driving Strategy Inside 7-Eleven - Medallia.” Medallia.
N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Aug. 2014. <http://blog.medallia.com/customer-experience/voice-of-the-customer-driving-strategy-
inside-7-eleven/>.
38 Ibid.

12. Getting started tip: The action your team takes in this phase will vary based on
what the data reveals about customer pain points and satisfaction. Take this
opportunity to better your company and please your customers. Feel inspired by
the examples above in that a dose of creativity can go a long way in improving
the experience you offer up to customers.
Phase 5: Monitoring
Time to demonstrate the value of your VoC program with mind-reading
measurement and analysis. In this phase we see the importance of tying your
actions to overall business goals. As you monitor data being collected and
customer response to your customer experience efforts, metrics are a must.
How else will you measure whether or not your action is improving the
customer journey?
Many of the collection, interpretation and reaction tools we discussed include
dashboards to help you monitor data and progress at all times. Before launching
your VoC program, make sure to use existing respondent data to benchmark
against new data and metrics. Benchmarking should help you visualize progress as
your VoC program takes off.
Wondering how to decide what metrics matter and how to prove the worth of
your VoC program? It isn’t so complicated. Use metrics that match your overall
strategic objective and tie the program to key business goals. Without overall
objective measurement, you cannot really demonstrate your program’s impact.
When aligning metrics with business goals, remember that money talks and
that it is always important to continuously demonstrate ROI. Consider including
commercial measures such as average customer spend, share of wallet, account
profitability etc. Including these financial elements may help your VoC program
prove its worth39.
Additionally, embedding measurement at every customer touch point can help
your team identify specific pain points and systemic problems. When trying
to quantify the overall customer journey, go beyond customer satisfaction.
Measure customer expectation. Why? Customer satisfaction does not prove
customer loyalty. The myth that customer satisfaction equates to customer
loyalty was debunked back in 1995 by a Harvard Business Review® study. The
study looked at satisfied bank account holders compared to unsatisfied account
holders. Researchers, Thomas and Sasser, found that in one year, 5.8 percent of
unsatisfied customers closed their accounts and 6 percent of extremely satisfied
© 2014 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved
39 Ibid.

13. customers closed their accounts40. This demonstrates that satisfied customers
don’t guarantee loyal customers. Therefore, customer expectation might be a
more helpful metric. Asking your customers if your service line or new feature
implemented during the reaction phase meets their expectations is more telling
than customer satisfaction metrics41.
In the digital realm, Google® Digital Marketing Evangelist, Avinash Kaushik,
recommends metrics in at least the acquisition, behavior and outcomes touch
points of a customer’s digital journey42. In each phase Kaushik recommends the
metrics outlined in the following figure.
Figure 2. Metrics in three phases across the digital customer journey43
There are so many metrics available. The important thing is to find out what
matters to your business and measure, measure, measure.
Getting started: Demonstrating value and ROI of a VoC program is no small task,
but let your overall objective, business goals and customer journey direct you and
help choose the right metrics to monitor your VoC progress. Remember this is by
no means a definitive listing of metrics, but instead a listing of some metrics that
could potentially be helpful.
Ready to implement your own VoC cycle?
As you analyze results from your monitor phase, your team can now take
everything you learned throughout the VoC cycle to start the cycle anew. Working
through the cycle time and time again can help create more engaged customers,
a staff connected with your organizational mission and continued organizational
transformation in your quest to become a customer-centric company. You might
not be a VoC expert yet, but you are now equipped with the knowledge to
40 Jones, Thomas O., and W. Earl Sasser, Jr. “Why Satisfied Customers Defect.”Harvard Business Review. N.p., Nov.
1995. Web. 28 Aug. 2014. <http://hbr.org/1995/11/why-satisfied-customers-defect/ar/1>.
41 Beard, Ross. “Customer Satisfaction Metrics: 6 Metrics You Need to Be Tracking.” Client Heartbeat Blog. N.p.,
2 Sept. 2013. Web. 28 Aug. 2014. <http://blog.clientheartbeat.com/customer-satisfaction-metrics-6-metrics-you-
© 2014 4imprint, Inc. All rights reserved
need-to-be-tracking/>.
42 Kaushik, Avinash. “Best Metrics For Digital Marketing: Rock Your Own And Rent Strategies.” Occams Razor
by Avinash Kaushik. Google, 25 Mar. 2014. Web. 28 Aug. 2014. <http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/best-web-metrics-
digital-marketing-own-rent-strategies/>.
43 Ibid.

14. start some key conversations that will help your company determine if
implementing a VoC program is a good fit. Remember that VoC is not the
silver bullet for organizational and mobile improvement. However, with
increasing technology, the consumer voice is louder than ever, and the
use of consumer feedback for continuous improvement can help guide an
organization into the customer-centric future if implemented correctly.
4imprint serves more than 100,000 businesses with innovative promotional items throughout the United States,
Canada, United Kingdom and Ireland. Its product offerings include giveaways, business gifts, personalized gifts,
embroidered apparel, promotional pens, travel mugs, tote bags, water bottles, Post-it Notes, custom calendars,
and many other promotional items. For additional information, log on to www.4imprint.com.
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