What is the Voice of the Customer (VoC)?

A customer walks into a restaurant chain branch, she orders her usual tuna sandwich as she does every other day. Since she is a frequent visitor, there shouldn’t be any surprises during this specific experience. But there is a difference, she is in a restaurant branch which she hasn’t visited before.

She receives her sandwich and settles down in one of the booths. Her first bite is the decision maker. Immediately her taste buds tell her that something is not right. The bread is stale, the filling is all wrong. She’s pissed. Naturally, the initial reaction is to complain – so she turns to Social Media.

Two days later, the CEO (Chief Executive Officer) of the restaurant chain in question gets a call from his wife who tells him about a Facebook post which went viral (over 500 shares) and has now reached news publications as well. The restaurant chain’s brand image is compromised. Any strategic move by the CEO and his company will cause the PR situation to worsen – more fuel to the fire. “If only I could have known that she was unhappy two days ago, I could have apologized and made amends,” says the CEO.

Let’s look at this situation with the introduction of Emojot.

The customer is unhappy. She sees a card on the table where she is sitting saying “Tell us how you feel”. She’s intrigued and visits the link. With the ability to immediately express how she feels – her negative sentiments are received through the restaurant’s Emotion Sensor®.

Immediately, the CEO and the CXO (Chief Experience Officer) of the restaurant chain are alerted via WhatsApp and Email – they view the analytics on the cloud-based dashboard and acknowledges:

  • the problem with the quality of the sandwich (as the customer has given open feedback)
  • the location of the respective restaurant chain
  • the time and other sentiment based responses of the customer
  • the name and contact details of the customer

Then and thereafter viewing the analytics on his smartphone, the CXO calls the customer and apologizes for the incident. The restaurant’s Customer Experience team contacts the branch and instructs instructions to provide a new tuna sandwich, a slice of cake and a hot beverage. The customer is feeling warm and great, she appreciates the compassionate apology from the CXO. 😊

Two days later, the customer receives an email from the CEO, with an official apology and a coupon for a case of wine. She is delighted! The wine arrives and she immediately shares her positive sentiments with social media, tagging the restaurant chain as well. The situation is calm.

The Voice of the Customer is a very powerful trait of the customer. In this digital age, the ability to voice one’s opinion is simple and when the public, can influence the image of any brand or person. The two examples above clearly establish the capability of the VOC. With the ability to be instantly reactive, the CXO/CEO can make immediate strategic decisions to effectively manage a situation and thus ensure that all stakeholders are content and satisfied.