Are you preparing to reset your budgets? 

The upcoming weeks are a crucial time to reflect on past performance and make decisions about where to allocate your budget and resources for the next 12 months. But what if I told you there is one step that could help you approach this period with far greater clarity and confidence? 

Historical data is only one piece of the puzzle, investing in a Voice of Customer (VoC) Program will provide you with the benefit of foresight.

What is a Voice of Customer (VoC) Program?

Simply put, a VoC Program is a process of listening to what your customers are saying, asking, wanting, and needing. By gathering qualitative and quantitative feedback from your customers, you can gain insights into their needs and preferences, identify areas for improvement, and make more informed decisions about where to allocate your resources.

This isn’t to be conflated with a brand survey which has little impact on your customer experience in the long term. 

A VoC Program can include survey data measuring different metrics, conducting interviews, online reviews, social listening, themes from customer support, and operational data analysis.

MI Academy has successfully implemented Voice of Customer Programs for more than 20 brands in Australia and has found that it helps leaders: 

• Better understand the targeted actions and attributes of their most loyal customers.
• Benchmark the business against competitors and their industry niche.
• Validate the desire for future projects or optimisations.
• Improve their financial performance through targeted customer-centric strategies. 
• Become more accurate with your marketing messaging across the customer journey, delivering results like three-fold revenue growth from email subscribers.

Additionally, it can improve other business metrics, such as staff engagement, customer loyalty, and decrease costs in customer service.

Why is investing in a Voice of Customer (VoC) Program so important now? 

Investing in a VoC Program is particularly crucial now, as many households are cutting back on non-essential spending due to rising economic pressures. It will come as no surprise that your post-lockdown customer is not necessarily your customer of tomorrow. You’re not the only one with budgets heading to the chopping blocks. 

In fact, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, consumers cut spending on discretionary items such as recreation and culture (down 1.4 per cent), clothing and footwear (down 2.7 per cent) and furnishings and household equipment (down 1.2 per cent). 

By understanding your customers’ needs and priorities right now, you can better align your budgeting decisions with their spending expectations, and establish a strong, customer-centric approach.

How do you implement a Voice of Customer (VoC) Program? 

Implementing a Voice of Customer (VoC) Program and embedding an unshakeable culture of customer centricity is not an overnight job. It takes careful organisational alignment, strong leadership buy-in and an open, solution-focused approach. 

A Voice of Customer Survey is a great place to start. This will help you set an internal benchmark and gather the feedback you need to lead customer-driven projects in the new financial year.

And if you need help starting? Please reach out. To date, MI Academy has helped our retailers hear the voices of more than 35,500 consumers (about twice the seating capacity of Madison Square Garden) and see first-hand the impact of allowing your customers a seat at the strategy table. 

About the author: Alita Harvey-Rodriguez is the founder and MD of MI Academy.