Welcome to the July issue of ValueNotes Connect.
Customers today are less loyal than they used to be, of B2B and B2C firms alike. According to a Bain survey from 2014, 68% of B2B respondents said customers were becoming less loyal. In an interesting piece in the Harvard Business Review earlier this year, titled The B2B Elements of Value, Bain identified 40 priorities that mattered most to buyers, organised into a pyramid. The article goes on to say – When B2B companies conduct a full elements analysis, they are often surprised to find big gaps between their self-assessments and customer opinions… Talk with customers to understand their experience.
But are B2B firms doing enough to engage with their customers to understand what they value the most?
Customer satisfaction surveys are much more than just getting a Net Promoter Score, or NPS (a key metric for customer loyalty). Companies must probe to understand the why of a particular score. And it's what you do with the data that counts. Addressing the qualitative comments and concerns that customers have about your firm and your product (or service) is imperative.
Typically, in a Voice of Customer (VoC) study, marketers seek to understand customer perceptions across various parameters. And at the end of the exercise, they want aggregated scores. Aggregated or average ratings tend to hide problems, and potential opportunities. Numerically low ratings from a few can get overshadowed by the majority. Yet, these could be crucial early warning signals. One size cannot fit all when it comes to VoC studies.
And finally, do have a look at our white paper based on a survey of senior decision-makers to find out if they really knew what their customers thought of their products and services.
How is the Net Promoter Score (a key metric for customer loyalty) being used? Are companies genuinely keen to listen to customers and address their concerns? Or is the customer feedback exercise mere compliance? It isn't about just the score… It's about reading between the lines and listening to what your customer really has to say; and then demonstrating your intent to address the concerns.
Typically, in a Voice of Customer (VoC) study, marketers seek to understand customer perceptions across various parameters; typically pricing, brand, quality, after sales service, and so on. And at the end of the exercise, they want aggregated scores on a numeric scale, often with comparative benchmarks for competitors. If they get a decent score or one better than the competition, they usually assume that things are fine. But are they?