How to Build Better Voice of Customer Programs

We recently sat down with Danie Feld, the Director of CX Operations at Open Late Collective. A bit of background on Danie– after starting in Chicago as a CX associate at RX Bar and climbing the ranks, she pursued a master’s degree in counseling, worked with Feastables, and is now leading CX at Open Late Collective!

Emily from Hark picked her brain on some of the hottest topics in the world of CX and VoC... 

• Her biggest challenges in collecting customer feedback

• Strategies for making customer insights valuable for leadership

• Exciting discoveries from their Voice of Customer (VoC) program

• How their customers love to communicate

• Danie’s dream improvements for customer experience

Emily (Hark): How are you managing the voice of customer programs across different industries and brands?

Danie (OLC): VoC is something that isn’t handed to CX teams, but it’s something you have to figure out is important, and then learn how to do it. So what we've had to do as a collective is come up with our own way of reporting on the things that we want to report on, on a weekly and monthly basis.

Emily: What are the main challenges in getting customer feedback and how do you overcome those challenges?

Danie: I would say the main challenge is getting customers to actually give you feedback. I think it's challenging because historically and traditionally the stat that you rely on, especially in the CX world is CSAT.

It can be challenging to gauge metrics like CSAT because it relies on the customer to interact with a survey and often there isn’t an incentive to do so. We employ other sources like NPS, product reviews, and even incentive-driven surveys to overcome this challenge. 

Emily: How do you get leadership buy-in for VOC programs?

Danie: I think that sometimes CX leaders can underestimate the amount of power or influence that they can have.

Historically CX teams are just people that solve tickets quickly and make people happy. And luckily, now it's seen as a lot more than just support. Like looking at website experiences, it showed me all these like different touch points that are important.

And the main drivers of how customers actually feel about your brand, if they're ordering from your website or if they're going through retail, CX are the people that customers are talking to. 

Having leaders who understand the importance of the customer experience is really critical. But if tasked with convincing leadership of CX's importance, I'd first understand what matters to them, what do they want to see, what would be interesting or impactful to them, and then present relevant data and insights to get their buy-in. 

Emily: What is your one piece of advice to all CX leaders out there?

Danie: It's important for CX leaders to feel empowered, to step out of their comfort zone a little bit. Learn how to look at data, learn how to digest data in a way that can be actionable. It’s important to be able to look at numbers and validate the findings of the data. Even if you are not very good at handling numbers or data, you have to get out of your comfort zone to make that impact. 

Emily: What's been your most interesting discovery while implementing these programs?

Danie: It’s always interesting when you're pulling a bunch of data and then you uncover a pain point that you weren't aware of. Or you see a certain trend that leads you down this one rabbit hole which leads you to discover a problem on your website. Like the customers can't use a checkout function - something we wouldn’t normally know on a day-to-day basis. 

I've been able to uncover trends that have influenced R&D decisions or developed new products based on customer feedback. When you find out something that you weren't necessarily looking for and it leads to an impactful change- that's always surprising.

Emily: How do your customers like to communicate with you?

Danie: Customers love a frictionless, omni-channel experience. I do too! We like to be everywhere that we can. It's our philosophy that customers really shouldn't have to work hard to get in contact with the team. We work across many channels, including email, SMS, chat, help centers, and social platforms.

Getting in contact with a brand can easily make or break a customer’s first impression with that brand and it requires a little bit of flexibility. Luckily all platforms support omni-channel, so it's not hard to have everything all in one place.

Emily: In a dream world with no constraints, what changes would you make to improve CX?

Danie: I'm with a lot of CX people in saying that I truly just don't understand what happens sometimes when a package leaves a warehouse so I want my own personal expert on all carriers and have them be a phone call away! 

Someone I can reach at all hours who can tell me exactly where a package is and why. Or just the ability to teleport packages to customers. Is that too much to ask for?

📚 Freshly Baked at Hark

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Before we go, here are some quick tips for aspiring CX pros:

• Wow Leadership with Data: When chatting with the big bosses, always come with data in hand. Customize your reports to spotlight what they care about. 

• Nail Omnichannel Communication: Make sure your customers can reach you easily via email, SMS, chat, help centers, and social platforms. A smooth experience = happy customers.

• Build Strong Relationships: Show your customers you’re listening and committed to getting better. Engaging with them through feedback strengthens your bond.

Thought for the week: stay curious and innovate 

That’s all for today! See you next week 🙂