DYK # 5: Did you know that there are 3 phases to your VoC Insights to Action framework?
It’s time for our fifth DYK, # 5 “Did you know that there are 3 phases to your VoC Insights to Action framework?”
The “Listen - Analyze - Act” VoC Insights to Action framework is the most simplistic framework you can find, and I like it for its simplicity of 3 phases. Some frameworks include a fourth phase, “monitor”; it's implied in the 3-phase cycle that you listen to your customer continuously and monitor feedback after changes have been implemented.
So let’s look into those 3 phases:
Listen:
In the Listening phase we “listen” to our customers, and collect as much information (data) as possible about our customers when they interact with us; about their experiences, and their thoughts, and feelings about those.
Traditionally that data is collected via surveys, whereas these days we have a much wider range of data sources to draw from (check out DYK # 4 “Did you know that there are more sources of customer feedback than surveys alone?” for more information on that).
Technology has been a huge enabler for us to improve how and where we listen to our customers, improving the quality and range of data we collect.
Analyze:
In the Analyze phase we make sense of all the data we collected in the Listening phase. Whether that’s structured or unstructured data, solicited or unsolicited, we convert data into insights.
Measurement of performance also sits in this phase. We measure and track customer experiences as well as the impact our initiatives have had on the previous experiences (prior to any changes).
If you have a metric included in your program, be it CSAT, CES or NPS, the tracking and reporting of performance falls into this phase. (for more info on metrics, check out DYK # 2 “Did you know that not all CX metrics are equal?”)
Again, technology plays a crucial role for us in this stage, as the type of data we can analyze, as well as the quality of analysis has immensely improved over the last few years. Whether it’s combining different data types or sources for analysis, or analyzing unstructured data in itself.
Act:
Arguably the Acting phase is the most important one as we’re not collecting and analyzing data to look at it, but to do something with it; i.e. to act on it.
Unfortunately it’s also the phase that’s hardest to set up and maintain, which is why many organizations never make it into the act phase, and end up in a vicious circle of Listen - Analyze - Listen - Analyze… From a performance measurement point of view you can imagine that seems odd, as performance isn’t going to improve if we don’t change anything.
So why is it so hard to set this phase up successfully? Well, technology plays less of a role here, and we’re moving the acting part back into the hands of people. It becomes a conversation about the importance of customer centricity within your organization, as well as your ability to set up the right processes to enable action.
There are typically two kinds of feedback to act on:
Feedback that requires “smaller” changes that can be implemented / acted upon by a single person or departmental area within your business. It’s often a matter of giving the right insights to the right people (democratizing VoC data) in a timely manner.
And secondly, feedback that is “larger” and systemic in nature and can’t be dealt with by a single department or team. You typically require cross-departmental buy-in, and company-wide resources and budget and those types of initiatives often need to be embedded into your wider business planning to enable action.
Both kinds of feedback require you to set up processes and frameworks; obviously these are quite different in nature for both.
Each phase of the framework has its own challenges and the success of your entire framework depends on the quality of each phase.
If you would like to know more about getting your Insights to Action framework set up, and ensure you have the “Act” phase set up and running successfully, get in touch and we’ll be there to help you. We run Lunch and Learn sessions on Insights to Action as well, those are a great way to kick off the conversation and spark some thinking within your teams.
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