Voice of the Customer drives improvement

Bradley Savoy April 30, 2008

I recently came across two interesting launches by Starbucks and Chrysler that are utilizing both social networking and a voice of the customer approach to drive improvements in their customer experience and a further extension of their brands.

My Starbucks Idea is a social networking Voice of the customer site that acts as a forum for Starbucks customers to rant and rave about the Starbucks experience and drive improvements to their products. Chris Bruzzo, CTO of Starbucks states that he hopes the site “Fosters authenticity, transparency, and encourages our customers to be part of shaping the future of Starbucks. Over 200,000 ideas have been generate in just over a month, and one of the recent results of this effort is the advent of the “splash stick” which solves that pesky problem of having your coffee splash out of the sip hole in your cup.

Chrysler Listens is another example of listening to the voice of the customer and empowering them to drive improvements. Chrysler has created a Chief Customer Officer position to encourage collaboration with customers and employees. Chrysler claims 400 improvements have been made thus far through this program.

These are just a couple of examples of companies realizing how powerful the voice of the customer is in driving improvement with their products. The Voice of the Customer approach is a Six Sigma concept of continuous improvement to a process or experience. An organization seeks to capture requirements and/or feedback from the various customers to consistently provide them with a world-class experience. The process is all about being proactive and constantly innovative to capture the changing requirements of customers over time.

This same Voice of the Customer approach can be applied to building and sustaining your Employer Brand, as we do with Hodes QTrac. Your organization needs to begin by asking itself some simple, but fundamental questions: Why do people consider working for your company? Why do they join? Why do they stay, and why do they leave? Fortunately, there are hundreds, sometimes even thousands, of people just waiting to give you an answer. They’re called employees, and you need only ask them.

Posted in Human Resources Analytics