P O I N T O F V I E W

Integrating Multiple Voice of the Customer SourcesCreating a holistic understanding of the customer voice

David Ensing, Ph.D. and Shelby Shire

M A R I T Z C X . C O M 2

POINT OF VIEW Integrating Multiple Voice of the Customer Sources

Today’s leading companies employ many programs to capture the customer voice.

OVERVIEWToday’s leading companies employ many programs to capture the customer voice, including customer experience surveys, mystery shops/compliance audits, and in-bound customer communications (letters, phone calls and e-mails) along with listening to customer commentary through a variety of consumer-generated or social media feedback options.

More information should lead to better insights, yet more than two-thirds of companies report that they are less than effective at integrating the results of multiple feedback sources.1 By integrating Voice of the Customer (VoC) feedback, companies greatly improve the odds of developing a comprehensive picture of the customer, identifying and implementing meaningful customer experience improvements, and raising the return on investment for their customer experience initiatives.

AT A GLANCECompanies worldwide invest more than $1 billion annually2 on measuring the customer experience. Yet, even with the enormous volume of data available and sizeable resource expenditures, many companies continue to face significant challenges:

• Creating a comprehensive view of customer feedback

• Identifying and implementing meaningful actions to improve the customer experience

• Maximizing the return on investment for their customer experience initiatives

Companies garner public praise and criticism from customers – and even non-customers – online via various review Web sites, Twitter, blogs, YouTube and other consumer-generated media sources. This chatter is accessed and used by millions of people to make purchase decisions. Companies must integrate the multiple customer experience data sources to create an informative whole.

During the last several years, MaritzCX has worked with Fortune 500 companies to integrate multiple data sources. In this paper, we discuss how integrating multiple VoC sources improves action planning and decision-making.

THE POWER OF INTEGRATION Services marketing expert Leonard Berry said, “The use of multiple approaches to customer listening is important because each has limitations as well as strengths. A combination of approaches enables a firm to tap the strengths of each and compensate for weaknesses.”3 Below are some common “current state” challenges that companies face when they rely on too few or disaggregated feedback sources, and the potential repercussions.

Companies that integrate their multiple and varied VoC sources stand to benefit in a number of ways:

• Revealing the Big Picture: Using multiple VoC sources produces a more comprehensive view of the customer experience than a single or only a few sources can provide.

• Seeing a more refined picture: When sources diverge, companies gain a more nuanced understanding of the customer experience and insight into the different needs of the different customers.

• Having more confidence in the results: When sources converge, those taking action have a higher level of confidence in decisions being made.

• Leveraging new voices: Adding consumer-generated content expands the VoC program from asking customers some questions to listening to customers’ stories. These customers decide what’s important to them and say it in their own words.

• Bringing the organization together: The additional insights gained from VoC integration force internal stakeholders out of their silos and align the organization around customer experience improvement.

CURRENT STATE POTENTIAL REPERCUSSIONS

Information resides in silos across different parts of the organization and/or has different owners. Customer Insights Teams may “own” traditional customer survey programs, operations may “own” mystery shopping efforts, and marketing may “own” social and consumer-generated media.

Efforts to maximize the return on investment are hindered.

Individual groups possess a partial, and potentially different, understanding of the customer voice. No one understands the big picture.4

Sizeable differences exist among sources in terms of their strengths and weaknesses. For example, survey data is highly predictive and reliable, but sample sizes may be relatively limited or response rates may be declining.

Too many sources make the process confusing and employees don’t know what actions to take to improve the customer experience.

VoC feedback sources may be stratified by respondent group. Company-sponsored studies may focus only on segments of the total customer population. Consumer-generated feedback may represent only a small sub-set of the customer demographics.

Efforts to understand the customer voice are stymied because it’s difficult to construct a comprehensive view of customer feedback.

M A R I T Z C X . C O M 3

POINT OF VIEW Integrating Multiple Voice of the Customer Sources

Thoughtful Synthesis

Thoughtful Synthesis refers to the practice of “looking across” multiple data sources for additional insights that cannot be gained from a single source. When many researchers think of “integration,” they think of the traditional practice of a trained analyst reviewing multiple data sources and creating a “story” of findings based on his/her judgment and experience.

Like all disciplined analysis projects, Thoughtful Synthesis is undertaken to answer specific questions and provide the data to make specific decisions. To be successful, the analyst performing Thoughtful Synthesis must possess a deep understanding of the decision-making context and the data sources being integrated. By understanding the data sources, the analyst can intuitively comprehend what is a “good” or “bad” score for each source and understand how the sources might complement or conflict with one another.

While many organizations perform Thoughtful Synthesis internally, companies may benefit from partnering with a research supplier when:

• Multiple departments share ownership of the decision. An outside perspective may provide value because the analyst can look at the material from a distance, unencumbered by an internal mindset.

• An industry-wide perspective is desired. Supplier-side researchers can tap into subject matter experts to understand the industry’s perspective on a given issue.

• Consumer-generated media will be integrated. To successfully integrate consumer- generated media, you must first harvest the content using specialized providers, search strings and other methods.

• Traditional media, academic articles or other secondary sources will be integrated.

Many companies enable their unit-managers to perform Thoughtful Synthesis by making multiple data sources available to them via an online reporting platform(s). In these cases, the unit managers look across the multiple data sources available to them to define customer-driven action items to improve customers’ experiences.

At MaritzCX, we define “VoC Integration” as: “bringing together separate customer feedback sources to create a holistic understanding of the customer voice.

USE THIS WHEN UNIT-LEVEL APPLICATIONS REGIONAL & BRAND APPLICATIONS

THOUGHTFUL SYNTHESIS

The traditional approach of analysts manually “looking across” data sources to uncover themes or findings

The objective is well defined and the effort is ad hoc in nature

The volume of data is relatively limited

The analyst understands the data sources and can intuitively compare and contrast the findings

Clarify customer-driven action items

Monitor what’s being said about the unit across multiple feedback channels

Gain a full understanding of what customers want in regards to a specific element of the customer experience

Identify future product or service innovations

Understand differences among customer segments

Uncover patterns/ tendencies across the organization

ANALYTICAL INTEGRATION

A statistical approach that reconciles the data sources for crosssource comparisons

The analysis will be repeated consistently for multiple organizational groups or multiple time periods

The volume of information is too vast to manually integrate

Data sources are largely quantitative or the company wants to quantify verbatim commentary

Monitor unit performance and clarify customer-driven action items

Compare unit performance across customer feedback channels, such as Web vs. primary surveys

Compare unit performance to peers and competitors

Identify systemic customer experience problems or areas needing improvement

Compare performance of regions or individual units

Compare overall performance to competitors

Monitor brand health

TWO INTEGRATION OPTIONS: THOUGHTFUL SYNTHESIS AND ANALYTICAL INTEGRATIONIn our experience, there are two fundamental types of integration: Thoughtful Synthesis and Analytical Integration. Each offers unique benefits, and many organizations will find themselves deploying both methods. Determining the right approach requires an understanding of the objective(s) of the integration effort, the organization and the practical availability of the data.

M A R I T Z C X . C O M 4

POINT OF VIEW Integrating Multiple Voice of the Customer Sources

ANALYTICAL INTEGRATIONAnalytical Integration is a statistical approach that reconciles data sources to enable cross-source comparisons. It is a good choice when the volume of information being integrated is too vast to manually integrate and/or the analysis needs to be completed over multiple organizational groups consistently, such as multiple regions or locations. As well, it’s often selected when several of the data sources are quantitative in nature or the company wants to quantify verbatim comments and compare those to scaled items.

Analytical Integration is an iterative process best completed by skilled researchers and statisticians due to several complicating factors:

• Sources often lack similarity in the way content is organized and must be put on an equal footing before analysis can be completed

• Differences in the sources’ timeframes may influence results

• Analytical models may be unproven and ill-specified

• Presenting the results is challenging and can cause confusion if not done well

The MaritzCX’s Voice of the Customer Integration Process provides a model for integrating multiple streams of VoC feedback that mitigates the complications cited above. In our experience, the sources being integrated, the elements of the customer experience being evaluated and the specific statistical methods being utilized may all vary from project to project. What is consistent is a repeatable and standard process, which should be applied to successfully integrate multiple information sources. Below is a table that explores the level of analysis and potential data source decisions for specific organizational objectives of Analytic Integration.

In many cases, organizations have a wealth of company-sponsored feedback channels, including primary surveys, mystery shops/audits, in-bound customer comments, and employee feedback. When determining which of these to include in Analytical Integration, consider:

• What is being measured by each source – Do the sources measure the same customer experience elements? While the sources likely won’t measure exactly the same things in the same way, some level of commonality is foundational to making cross-source comparisons.

• The total volume of data available by source for each potential level of analysis. How much is available for each dealership, branch, store or hotel? How much is available at the regional level and how much at the brand level? Sample sizes need to be robust enough to provide stable results.

• How frequently new data are made available – Is information updated in real-time, hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, etc? How well do the various time frames match across sources? Time frames need to be similar enough for comparisons and not add bias to the result

For Analytical Integration to succeed, we recommend consulting with the various stewards of the company-endorsed data sources early in the integration process to tap into their tacit knowledge about the data sources.

ORGANIZATION’S OBJECTIVE LEVEL OF ANALYSIS POTENTIAL DATA SOURCES

Identify systemic customer experience improvement opportunities

Individual unit (dealership, branch, store, hotel, etc.)Roll-up to regions or brand

Primary customer experience surveysMystery shopsConsumer-generated/social mediaIn-bound customer comments

Compare performance of regions or individual units

Individual unit (dealership, branch, store, hotel, etc.)Roll-up to regions or brand

Primary customer experience surveysMystery shopsConsumer-generated/social mediaIn-bound customer comments

Compare performance to competitors Individual unit (dealership, branch, store, hotel, etc.)Roll-up to regions or brand

Primary customer surveysConsumer-generated/social mediaTraditional media

Monitor brand chatter Brand Primary customer surveysConsumer-generated/ social mediaTraditional media

M A R I T Z C X . C O M 5

POINT OF VIEW Integrating Multiple Voice of the Customer Sources

MANAGING SOCIAL MEDIAReview Web sites, blogs, Twitter and other social media sites offer customers an alternative to company-sponsored surveys and an information source to tap into when deciding what brand to buy or what store to visit. In our experience, there are two distinct types of online chatter:

1. Online sites designed to collect customer reviews: TripAdvisor, Yelp and similar sites are designed expressly to collect customer feedback and share it with others. Customers submitting reviews via these sites often provide a rating and open-ended comments about their experience. In many cases, these ratings and comments are tied to a specific product or unit location (dealership, branch, hotel or store).

2. Customer blogs, Twitter Tweets, Facebook status messages, customer-created videos, etc.: This is the more broad-based consumer-generated content posted anywhere on the Internet by anyone and about anything.

Rating sites are fairly straightforward to integrate, but the broader social media landscape may prove more challenging:

• Content may be highly variable – in format, length, depth and accuracy

• Some sources may be more relevant and important to include than others

• It can be difficult to accurately pin specific comments to specific locations

• Because the writers’ demographics are largely unknown, social media content can be difficult to fit into traditional analytical frames, such as customer segments

Consumer-generated content is fundamentally different from feedback channels under a company’s control and requires special tools to harvest and analyze. Typically, we find that consumer-generated media can broaden the horizon significantly, amplifying and clarifying the results of survey research. A critical element for success, however, is a measurement platform that collects the appropriate comments and weights them properly.

Before integrating social media feedback, we recommend completing a social media assessment. During this process, evaluate the volume of consumer-generated content available, the portion of it that is focused on experience-related elements, how well you can attribute comments to individual locations, the topics included, and sentiment. Based on the results, you can more accurately set expectations about the value of social media commentary at the unit and brand levels and the relative worthiness of the social media sources.

Typically, we find that consumer-generated media can broaden the horizon significantly, amplifying and clarifying the results of survey research. A critical element for success, however, is a measurement platform that collects the appropriate comments and weights them properly.

Text Analytic Capabilities Let Organizations Extract Value from Verbatim Commentary

Today, text analytic tools make it relatively easy to discover insights and details that were previously untapped. There are several tools that quickly and automatically scrutinize text documents, extracting terms and concepts for analysis. Generally speaking, we can use text analytic software to “mine” freely for insights, seeing whatever might appear. Or, we can program the software with a coding structure and the system will automatically code for those concepts, essentially translating the textual feedback into a form that is equal to traditional survey data.

A critical element for success, however, is a measurement platform that collects the appropriate comments and weights them properly.

M A R I T Z C X . C O M 6

POINT OF VIEW Integrating Multiple Voice of the Customer Sources

For the integration project to be successful, we must devise a single categorization structure against which all sources will be compared. Initial categories are usually based on those items being evaluated across multiple feedback sources.

By developing a master list of customer experience categories and mapping the data to them, we maximize the value of the multiple sources of customer feedback and mitigate the weakness of any single feedback source. The end result is an approach that allows all available sources of customer feedback to be compared and used to identify the highest priority areas for improvement. Arriving at a comprehensive, yet simple, common category framework and mapping structure is the single most important critical success factor.

Evaluate Convergence and Divergence

The next step is to determine how well the sources tell a consistent story. Convergence across sources helps those taking action have greater confidence in the results. In other words, if the primary surveys, mystery shops and consumer-generated social media feedback all indicate that “staff friendliness” is a problem, the manager would know that it’s an issue worthy of action.

Divergence between sources is also useful and can lead to important insights, such as, helping managers understand when their teams are performing inconsistently. One customer segment might receive excellent service while another receives consistently poor service.

In this case, the manager can coach team members on how to provide better customer experiences to all customer populations. As well, we may find a source diverges from other sources because it tells a different part of the customer experience story, measures something different or provides insight into different customer groups.

Communicate Findings

Communicating findings is a lesson in making the complex simple. The volume of data can be enormous and new tools may be required to visually tell the holistic customer feedback story. Integrating multiple data streams can help organizations gain more value from customer feedback sources – if the results are presented in a manner that help managers and employees understand the feedback and know “what to do” to improve the customer experience.

When delivering insights, create simple-to- understand dashboards to help managers quickly and easily grasp which areas are ripe for change.

SUMMARYIntegrating multiple sources of VoC data is one way for your organization to better leverage existing investments in primary research, make sense of the social media landscape and improve action planning. Integrating results across multiple sources requires well-defined objectives and a deep understanding of your company’s context and the data sources available. As well, Analytical Integration requires significant statistical acumen and technological skill. Whether your integration project requires Thoughtful Synthesis or Analytical Integration, MaritzCX has experience helping companies like yours successfully integrate multiple VoC sources for a more holistic understanding of the customer voice.

When several sources tell the same story, those taking action believe the findings and have confidence that they are making the right moves to improve the customer experience.

Integrating multiple sources of VoC data is one way for your organization to better leverage existing investments in primary research, make sense of the social media landscape and improve action planning.

References1 Maritz Research Voice of the Customer Challenges and Practices Survey, 2010.2 Maritz Research estimate based upon data from Inside Research and ESOMAR.3 Berry, L. L. (1995). On Great Service. New York: Free Press; p.33.4 Temkin, B. (2009). Voice of the Customer: The Next Generation. Forrester Research.

AUTHORS: Dave Ensing, Ph.D. and Shelby Shire

M A R I T Z C X . C O M 7

POINT OF VIEW Integrating Multiple Voice of the Customer Sources

DATA SOURCE STRENGTHS LIMITATIONS

CUSTOMER AND MARKET SURVEYS

With regard to measuring and managing customer experience, the most common types of surveys include transactional or event-driven surveys, “total customer experience” or relationship surveys, and benchmarking surveys.

• Furnishes precise answers to specific questions.• Yields results that are more projectable to an

entire customer population or market at-large than virtually any other feedback source.

• Provides measures that are useful for benchmarking and/or making competitive comparisons, and for tracking customer experience over time.

• May be analyzed statistically to develop models that predict or simulate customer behaviors and/or selected market results.

• Resources required to design, administer, analyze and distribute survey results can be considerable.

• Not always “customer-friendly,” may be a source of customer irritation and/or alienation if not managed carefully.

• Survey measures do not always yield enough information to be actionable.

• In many programs, competitive information is not available.

MYSTERY SHOPPING/ AUDIT

People, who often pose as customers, complete actual product or service encounters and record the incidence of specific events or customer contact associate behaviors. While not “real” customers, mystery shoppers view the product/service experience from the “customer’s side of the looking glass.”

• Provides compliance monitoring with product/service delivery standards and specifications.

• Lets marketers examine the gap between promises made through advertising/sales promotion and actual service delivery.

• May be used to assess conformance to company standards, particularly those items to which customers may not pay conscious attention (e.g., signage).

• Limited project-ability – while mystery shoppers view product/service experiences from the “customer’s side of the table,” they are not real customers. As well, sample sizes are often small.

• Criteria used by mystery shoppers must be founded upon actual customer expectations, needs and requirements.

• Continuous efforts to keep criteria consistent with evolving customer needs and requirements must be undertaken.

INDIVIDUAL CUSTOMER COMMUNICATIONS AND COMPLAINTS

Another common source of data consists of direct, often unsolicited, feedback from individual customers via comment cards, letters of commendation and complaint, and feedback provided via Web sites, toll- free numbers and emails.

• Provides direct, first-hand customer accounts and perspectives, often rich in detail.

• Offers retrospective insights into what customers want or expect regarding a product or service experience.

• Provides an opportunity to probe for additional detail and clarity regarding customer expectations.

• Furnishes “second chance” opportunities to satisfy and strengthen customer relationships.

• Customers must take the initiative to provide the company with information and insights.

• Can not be generalized to the population of customers at large, largely because complainers are not typical customers.

• Tend to focus on dissatisfaction.

PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS – CONSUMER-GENERATED MEDIA

Consumer-generated/ social media is a quickly emerging source of customer feedback. Anyone connected to the Internet can build or tarnish your company, locations and teams.

• Provides direct, first-hand customer accounts and perspectives, often rich in detail.

• Offers retrospective insights into what customers want or expect regarding a product or service experience.

• Negative posts often furnish “second chance” opportunities to satisfy and strengthen customer relationships.

• Customers must take the initiative to to post comments.• Blogs and other public communications may or may

not represent the sentiments of an entire customer population, as bloggers may not be typical customers.

• Bloggers may be biased toward or even paid to endorse certain companies or products. Often information at the unit-level is lacking or out-of-date.

PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS – TRADITIONAL MEDIA

Customers and prospects develop an opinion of and expectation about your company based on what is published by leading print and broadcast media.

• Sets consumer expectations relative to your company and the experience that will be delivered across all units, influencing the eventual ratings provided by customers.

• Are relatively easy to obtain.• May identify product and service related issues

systemic to the organization.

• Many news articles will not be relevant to customer experience topics.

• Customers themselves have little opportunity to influence the content of the media reports.

OBSERVATIONS BY CUSTOMER

Contact Associates Those individuals having direct contact with customers are a rich source of customer feedback, as they interact with customers every day. These individuals include salespeople; customer service and contact representatives; distributors, dealers, resellers, and other partners; and field service and repair technicians.

• Delivers an “informed” perspective of customer experiences.

• Are relatively easy to obtain.• Corroborates and reinforces issues identified

from direct customer feedback.• May help identify root causes of – and potential

solutions to – customer problems and complaints.

• The data are “second hand” and subject to filtering and screening. For example, there often are conflicts of interest in the case of intermediaries – that which is “good for the customer” is not always convenient or feasible for dealers or retailers. When employees sense this conflict, they may withhold information or dilute the importance of it.

• Customer contact associates’ perceptions of the relative importance of different product and service features may be inaccurate. Thus, attempts to prioritize customer issues based upon associates’ perceptions alone can lead to misguided allocation of organizational resources.

APPENDIX: STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF VOICE OF THE CUSTOMER SOURCES

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