Ever feel like you’re flying blind with your startup? Launching a product is exhilarating, but navigating the ever-changing needs of your customers can feel like walking a tightrope over a piranha pit. You may need one of the most fundamental tools in RevOps Science: a Voice of the Customer program.
This necessary business tool helps you crack the customer code so you can hear what your clients really think about your product. You’re pouring your heart and soul into this venture, but are you actually hitting the mark? Here’s where the Voice of the Customer (VoC) program steps in to find you the answer.
What is a Voice of the Customer program?
A Voice of the Customer (VoC) program is a structured approach for collecting, analyzing, and acting on customer feedback. It’s not a “RevOps-only” tool, but it’s absolutely a tool within the realm of RevOps Science. VoC programs are critical in reaching key objectives like customer alignment, revenue growth, and operational efficiency.
They’re more than surveys, kind words, and star ratings. VoC programs are full-on intelligence operations designed to extract unfiltered customer insights and turn them into profit-driving actions. A VoC program transforms the “what” and “why” from customer feedback into an action plan that boosts customer loyalty, reduces churn, and increases revenue. In essence, it feeds the intelligence engine that powers data-backed revenue ignition.
Here’s the thing: Customers will always have opinions. The difference is whether you’re smart enough to listen, analyze, and make changes before your competition does.
Why do you need a VoC program? Because you like winning.
Imagine the power of knowing exactly what customers love about your product (hello, upselling opportunities!) and what pain points are dragging you down. VoC provides valuable, actionable feedback that gives you data-backed insights with lasting impact.
As a RevOps Science function, VoC programs are powerful feedback tools that ignite startup revenue. Instead of guessing why half your work fell flat and the other half did great, you can know. Here are a few impacts of a successful program:
- Prevent customer churn before it happens. Feedback tells you what’s broken before customers leave.
- Drive revenue growth. Happy customers spend more and tell others.
- Improve products/services. Your R&D team can guess, or you can use customer insight as a cheat code.
- Boost customer loyalty. Customers stay loyal to brands that listen, adapt, and improve.
- Outpace the competition. If you’re tracking and resolving customer pain points first, your competitors are playing catch-up.
Where can you use VoC programs in your startup?
The good news is that VoC programs can be used across your startup teams. Here is why each team might use a VoC program:
- Sales Operations: To anticipate objections, track churn risks, and drive sales enablement.
- Marketing Operations: To refine messaging, inform campaigns, and identify testimonials and case study material.
- Customer Success Operations: To predict churn, refine customer health scores, and drive action on product and support issues.
- RevOps + RevOps Science: To unify the feedback data, break down departmental silos, and feed insights back to Product, Customer Success, and Marketing.
Here’s how to build a Voice of the Customer program.
Ready to ditch the guesswork?
You need a clear, no-nonsense approach if you’re serious about listening to customers and using their feedback to ignite revenue. Here’s your roadmap to building a VoC program that delivers real results:
1. Define your “whys”.
Start with purpose. Before you launch the feedback machine, step back and answer one question: Why are you listening?
What do you hope to learn? Are you:
- Identifying friction points in the user experience?
- Uncovering hidden product features that would delight your customers?
- Nailing down marketing messaging that resonates with their needs?
Clear goals will guide your VoC journey and make sure you collect the proper feedback. Without a clear “why,” you’ll collect random feedback that gets ignored. Defining your goals at the start means you’ll ask the right questions, collect the right data, and—most importantly—take action on the right insights.
2. Choose your weapons.
There’s more than one way to listen to your customer feedback. You need a tool kit, not just one feedback collection tool. Surveys (i.e. NPS, CSAT, CES, etc.), in-app feedback forms, social media engagement, and good old-fashioned customer interviews are all in your arsenal.
Pick a mix that aligns with your goals, budget, and target audience. Short, targeted surveys are great for gathering quick feedback on new features. In-depth customer interviews offer a deeper understanding of customer motivations and pain points.
3. Get those ears perked up.
Remember, customer feedback is a two-way street. If it’s hard for customers to leave feedback, they won’t bother.
Make it ridiculously easy for customers to be heard!
- Promote your surveys across your marketing channels (website, social media, email newsletter).
- Integrate post-purchase feedback forms that don’t feel like a chore to complete.
- Offer incentives, like discount codes or early access to new features, for participating in your VoC program.
- Personalize the ask, addressing them by name and explaining why their feedback matters.
The easier it is for customers to fire back their thoughts, the more data you’ll gather, and the richer your understanding of them will be.
Customer feedback isn’t “set it and forget it.” Keep experimenting with when, where, and how you ask for it. Test new channels (like SMS) and check for drop-off points in your forms.
4. Don’t just hear, analyze!
Now you have a treasure trove of customer feedback – don’t let it turn into a digital dust bunny. Turn it into action! Analyze the responses.
Look for themes, identify trends, and prioritize feedback based on the impact on your startup. Focus on the ones that increase revenue, reduce churn, or improve satisfaction. Text analysis tools can help you identify keywords and extract themes from open-ended questions.
Invest time in truly understanding the data you’ve collected. It’s the gold mine you’ll use to improve your product, marketing, and overall customer experience. You don’t have to analyze everything manually. Tools like Qualtrics, SurveyMonkey, or even text analysis software can identify keywords, group topics, and highlight the “biggest fires” to put out first.
5. Take action – show you care!
Turn insight into action. You’ve collected the feedback, analyzed it, and identified key problems. Don’t leave your customers hanging. Closing the loop and showing your customers their voice matters is crucial. Take action and make sure customers know it.
Here’s the playbook:
- Make changes based on feedback. New product features, updated workflows, or new customer service policies — whatever needs to change, do it.
- Announce it loud + proud. If you fix something, tell the world. Customers love to see that their feedback drives change.
- Create a customer-focused roadmap. Some companies share a “What We’re Working On” page that highlights changes based on customer input.
- Close the loop. Email customers back to let them know you heard them and took action. This builds loyalty and reinforces the fact that their feedback matters.
By the way, closing the loop is a must-do, not a nice-to-do. If you ask for feedback but wait to respond or act on it, customers will stop giving it to you.
The Simple Version
VoC is a looped system where feedback drives change. It’s a mindset of continuous improvement.
To build a successful Voice of the Customer (VoC) program, ask the right questions to clearly define your purpose and goals. Next, choose the right tools to collect customer feedback across multiple channels effectively. Once the data is in, analyze the feedback to turn raw information into meaningful insights. Finally, act on what you learn by implementing changes and showing customers their voices have been heard.
It’s essential to make it easy for customers to talk by removing barriers and simplifying the feedback process. Making it easier for customers to give feedback means you’ll get faster, real-time insights. Faster insights = faster product fixes = less churn = more revenue.
Build it right, and you’ll have a VoC program that powers product development, drives customer loyalty, and fuels revenue growth. Customer feedback is an asset — treat it like one.
Pro Tip: Feeling overwhelmed? You can find a wealth of resources right HERE to help you build a winning VoC program. Check out our articles and guides for expert insights and actionable strategies.
Let’s Talk Shop! Now, it’s your turn to share your knowledge! What creative ways do you gather customer feedback for your startup? Share your secrets in the comments! Let’s all learn from each other and build startups that put the “wow” in “customer experience.”
