It seems that everywhere we go businesses want to ask us questions. Retailers including Boots, Sainsbury and Co-op display questions on their chip & pin terminals asking things like – Did I know I can pay bills in store? Was the queue time acceptable? Was the store clean and tidy? Would I buy a TV from them if they started selling them?

Voice of Customer is big again and accessible through channels that weren’t available before. Who thought we would be answering questions on terminals while waiting for our shopping to be packed?!

But what happens to the data?

Voice of Customer has been around for a while and if you want a truly customer centric business it always should be. Business Intelligence and Customer Insight appear to be making a resurgence…not simply asking the questions but knowing what to do with the information collected.
At what point does the voice of your customers become loud enough to make a change? This can be dependent on a variety of business factors; financial investment available, appetite to change, financial returns and current business strategy.
BBC’s Wonders of the Universe, for example, received over 100 complaints for the soundtrack being too loud which prompted the BBC to re-edit the remaining episodes. Is this good customer service or not? Considering 3.6 million viewers watch the programme…that’s only 0.003% of the viewing population who complained!

Thousands of people complain about mobile phone contract terms and conditions and over a million people marched against a war but their voices don’t seem to be heard. Mary Portas’ Secret Shopper series showedt that company owners aren’t willing to look in the mirror and recognise their own flaws. By recognising Voice of Customer as constructive criticism companies are given an opportunity to take action and flourish. Alternatively it can be a great way to collect real-time positive feedback.

Do businesses really want to listen to their customers? Or are they only listening to those that match their agenda?