A strong voice of the customer becomes your business advantage. Collecting customer feedback is just the tipping point. You need to understand, prioritize, and act on what your customers are really telling you. In this blog, we will discuss the four major pillars of VoC, benefits of a VoC program, and how you can build a data-backed, revenue-generating VoC strategy in the industry.
What is A Voice of the Customer (VoC)?
Your customers are constantly speaking through multiple touchpoints. You collect direct feedback using customer surveys, support ticket interactions, satisfaction metrics on apps, and user generated testimonials. Voice of the customer (VoC) gathers, analyzes and acts on this customer feedback that comes through multiple channels. This will help companies understand their experiences, needs, preferences, and pain points. VoC is about connecting insights to action across the entire customer journey.
A complete VoC program is often on-going so that a business stays aligned with evolving customer expectations.
A 2023 study states that companies with robust VoC programs see 10-15% higher customer retention and 20% revenue growth.
Here is why voice of the customer matters:
VoC is not a “nice-to-have.” It’s your most powerful customer retention and innovation engine. Data shows that:
- Customer-first companies grow 1.6x faster than those that don’t (Forrester).
- 41% of companies with mature VoC programs report greater customer retention (Aberdeen Group).
- Fiserv increased their NPS by 10 points using conversational VoC tools (Business Insider).
Reasons Why the Voice Of the Customer (VoC) is Important
A well-executed Voice of the Customer program brings measurable, strategic benefits that go beyond feedback collection. Here are the key advantages:
1. Customer- centric decision making
The strategies in a voice of customer program are based on customers’ needs rather than assumptions. VoC data eliminates guesswork. Businesses can focus on features and improvements that have the biggest impact.
For example: A confusing checkout process can create a high churn rate for online shoppers. Ecommerce brands can dramatically reduce cart abandonment by creating a seamless checkout function and boost satisfaction scores. This leads to greater loyalty and long-term retention. Upgrading features to ease a user’s pain points can drive long-term retention and loyalty. This in turn can get you better scores on customer satisfaction surveys.
2. Data-driven product innovation
VoC insights identifies unmet needs, feature requests, and sources of churn. Whether it’s a mobile app update or a new product launch, acting on real customer input accelerates innovation.Starbucks, a multinational beverage brand, introduced plant-based menu options after VoC data revealed a growing demand.
3. Higher customer retention rates
VoC personalization helps brands deliver relevant and timely experiences. Customers who feel understood and valued are far more likely to stay. According to Bain & Company, companies that effectively use VoC strategies enjoy NPS scores that are 10–20 points higher than their competitors. These brands build deeper emotional connections and repeat business.
4. Revenue growth and competitive advantage
VoC isn’t just about satisfaction—it’s a path to profitability. When you understand your customers better than your competitors do, you can tailor offerings, reduce churn, and strengthen your market position. Satisfied customers become brand advocates, creating organic word-of-mouth that fuels sustainable growth.
The 4 Pillars of a High-Impact VoC Program
1. Capture feedback across the entire customer journey
Modern customers interact with your brand in many ways. Your VoC strategy must get a true 360° view of customer sentiment across all touchpoints:
- Active feedback (solicited): Surveys (NPS, CSAT, CES), interviews, polls
- Passive feedback: Support tickets, chat logs, emails
- Indirect feedback (unsolicited): Reviews, social media mentions, forum discussions
2. Combine structured and unstructured feedback
VoC success comes from balancing data types:
- Structured data gives you measurable benchmarks: NPS, CSAT, CES scores
- Unstructured data delivers emotional and contextual depth: open-ended responses, conversations, and stories
Merren’s AI-powered tools now let you analyze both in real time. You can surface emerging trends, pain points, and customer intents with more precision than ever.
3. Leverage conversational feedback and AI analysis
Traditional surveys are rigid but the new era of VoC is conversational:
- Smart survey tools prompt follow-up questions based on responses
- AI identifies themes, sentiment, urgency, and patterns
- Feedback becomes more natural, nuanced, and actionable
A leading example: Fiserv used AI-powered VoC tools to reduce feedback noise and increase meaningful responses by 35%. This resulted in sharper customer insights and faster action.
4. Close the loop with customers and internal teams
Feedback without action kills trust. Mature VoC programs prioritize:
- Internal loops: Share insights with product, marketing, and support teams
- External loops: Let customers know what changed because of their feedback
- Use feedback dashboards and alerts to respond to real-time issues
How to Build a Voice of the Customer Strategy That Performs
These three critical questions help you align your program with business objectives, identify the right metrics, and select suitable tools.
1. What are the primary objectives of the VoC program?
An effective VoC program will have clear goals. Objectives typically fall into two categories:
- Benchmarking: Benchmarking gathers standardized data via quantitative questions. Businesses can measure performance across timelines or against similar competitors. Benchmarking may not help teams understand the “why” behind emotional metrics and feedback.
- Continuous improvement: This approach looks at the root causes of customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction. Surveys blend numerical metrics with open-ended questions for more actionable insights.
Common goals for a VoC program include:
- Enhancing customer satisfaction and retention
- Attracting new customers
- Improving brand perception (use this brand awareness survey template)
- Identifying cost-saving opportunities
- Increasing customer lifetime value.
2. What satisfaction metrics are suitable?
The choice of metrics should reflect your program’s objectives and provide actionable insights. Popular metrics include:
- Net Promoter Score (NPS): Measures transactional and relational customer loyalty and likelihood to recommend your brand.
- Customer Effort Score (CES): Evaluates how easy it is for customers to interact with your business.
- Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT): Tracks overall satisfaction with products or services.
- Collect open-ended question responses to learn the why behind each numerical rating. Open-ended questions help you assess sentiments, reasons and candid opinions across experiences.
3. How do you measure brand success?
A successful VoC program drives tangible improvements. Assess the impact of customer feedback by monitoring key metrics and identifying areas of progress. Evaluate if the changes address customer pain points that are aligned with company goals
- Minimizing customer churn and close the feedback loop
- Catering to feasible requests and closing complaint tickets
- Assess negative reviews and turning detractors into brand advocates
- Gathering positive feedback and maintaining online reputation
- Creating active omnichannel platform to address customer issues in a timely manner
This is The 6-Step VoC Framework That Help You Shine
Ready to create your own Voice of Customer Program? Follow the 6 actionable steps:
Step 1: set clear VoC goals
What is the goal of this VoC program?
- Do you want to identify churn rate and reduce it?
- How can you improve the customer onboarding process?
- How can you increase repurchases?
Align your VoC metrics (e.g. NPS, churn, support tickets) with business outcomes.
Step 2: Identify survey channels
Map your customer journey and select the right survey channels to listen to your customers: Merren CX offers responsive survey channels that bring a high response rate.
- Native WhatsApp surveys, native messenger surveys
- AI-powered voice surveys
- Chatbots
- Dynamic emails and SMS
Additionally, people are proactive and share solicited and unsolicited feedback across multiple channels. Assess responses from every active touchpoint including third party review websites. This includes:
- Customer feedback surveys
- Social media mentions
- Customer support interactions
- Google business reviews
- Website third party reviews
- Community conversations.
Step 3: Ask the right questions
Design your feedback to dig deeper:
- What almost stopped you from making a purchase today?
- What’s one thing we could do to serve you better?
- How likely are you to recommend us to a friend? ( standard Net Promoter Score question)
Step 4: Use AI and analytics tools
AI-powered tools can streamline unstructured data and help you make sense of this data. This includes frustration metrics, pain points and themes that may otherwise go unnoticed. Use natural language processing (NLP) and topic modeling to detect churn signals and urgency, identify improvement opportunities.
Step 5: Encourage cross-department collaboration
Take input from various departments of marketing, sales, customer support, and beyond. Teams can work together and create coordinated strategies to address challenges and deliver a consistent customer experience. Don’t silo VoC in customer service. Loop in:
- Product for feature requests
- Marketing for messaging issues
- Sales for customer objections
Pro tip: Employee experience (EX) is directly tied to the customer experience (CX). Employees provide valuable context about customer interactions. Identify obstacles in processes or technology, and highlight opportunities for improvement. Engaged employees are more likely to deliver exceptional customer service, creating a ripple effect of satisfaction.
Step 6: Act, iterate and communicate
VoC is a feedback loop. Use agile workflows to:
- Implement quick wins
- A/B test improvements
- Tell your customers what changed and why
5 Challenges of a Voice of Customer Program
Organizations often face challenges in executing these programs effectively. Here are some common challenges and practical solutions to address them.
Customers can ignore repetitive surveys
Personalize survey invitations with customer names and context (e.g., “Tell us about your recent purchase”). People love an incentive! Offer survey incentives such as discounts or gift cards to encourage survey participation. Additionally, keep surveys short (3-5 questions) to respect customers’ time.
Large feedback volumes can overwhelm teams
Volumes of customer response without automated systems can delay CX teams. Merren’s AI-driven analytics can help you process feedback in real-time. You can automate text analysis to identify key themes (eg: frequent complaints about delivery). Schedule regular data reviews to stay focused on actionable insights.
Disconnected departments hinder actionable VoC insights
Centralize feedback data in a CRM so that all departments can access the same information. Use collaborative tools to enable real-time communication and teamwork.
Delayed action increases customer churn rate
Delayed responses to complaints can increase customer churn rates. There is a risk of getting a negative online reputation in return. To avert this, develop clear action plans with assigned responsibilities. Keep customers informed about the changes they can expect and the expected time-frame.
Skewed data from limited channels can biased analysis
Collect responses from omnichannel platforms to reach diverse customer segments. Apply analytical methods like random sampling and cross-validation to reduce bias. Train your team to identify and mitigate unconscious bias during data collection and interpretation.
Tools That Power Modern VoC
Invest in tools to streamline your Voice of the Customer Program. Choose tools that match your business size and complexity :
- Merren: Merren CX is an AI-powered customer feedback platform that enables market research with qualitative and quantitative tools.Try Merren’s 14-day free trial.
- Qualtrics: Enterprise feedback management.
- Medallia: Customer and employee experience analytics.
- Thematic: AI-driven text analysis.
FAQs About Voice of the Customer Programs
How does a VoC program improve revenue?
By addressing customer needs, VoC programs boost satisfaction, retention, and referrals, leading to higher revenue.
What metrics should I track in a VoC program?
Track NPS, CSAT, CES, and qualitative insights to measure loyalty, satisfaction, and ease of interaction.
Create a Successful VoC Program with Merren CX
Merren can streamline and automate this process for you with smart CRM integrations. You can focus on the bigger picture while Merren takes care of the technical aspects. Our AI Survey Builder and AI analytics will give you real time insight on the CX dashboard. Choose from our omnichannel platforms and 200+ survey templates. Find out here with a 14 day free trial.