Building a system for the Voice of the Customer.
Today we will deep dive into the world of Voice of Customer, which is a fancy way of saying gather customer feedback. But there is more to it.
B2B Product teams shape their products with input from a variety of sources. One of the key sources of input, especially for existing and mature product teams, is customer feedback.
Customer feedback is the most important source of input for the product team. Yes, they still need market analysis and competitive comparisons, but direct feedback from customers is invaluable.
To underscore its significance, let’s dive into the essential elements of creating a system for capturing customer feedback for your product. So, whether you’re already collecting customer feedback or just starting to consider its implementation, read on to discover how it can be the key to unlocking your product’s success.
There are many sources for obtaining customer feedback. Here are a few of them:
1:1 customer feedback – Product managers get most of their inputs from direct meetings with customers. Feedback can also come via emails.
Customer Advisory board – Many companies put together this group of their valuable and frequent customers. They meet quarterly and discuss industry trends as well as the product. This is an important source of input.
Support tickets – Analyzing support tickets also yields significant inputs, including any process improvement ideas.
Sales feedback – Sales is the frontline of customer interaction and has to answer a ton of questions during the purchase process. These questions are an important source of input.
Customer success feedback – After sales, customer success is the next point of connection. They can provide inputs related to friction in onboarding, how customers are or are not getting value, and what is working or not.
Community feedback – Some companies have built their own communities and discussion groups. Customers talk to other customers for best practices and how to solve specific problems. As a PM, you can also provide your insights and input into this group. The discussions provide valuable clues about your product and company. There are 3rd party sites like G2 or Capterra that also are good sources of inputs.
Partner feedback – Many partners provide services and have a good handle on the issues faced by customers. This feedback is even more valuable as you also have to align the partner, in addition to the customer.
NPS and Surveys – Feedback from customers via surveys can be useful.
In-app feedback tools – Feedback from internal capture mechanisms inside the product can yield very specific product-related issues. These will likely be bugs or how-to questions.
Usage and adoption data generated internally – There is always usage data that a PM can analyze as indirect feedback.
Social Media – Finally, many users are active on social media such as Linkedin, X (Twitter), Reddit, Quora. Occasionally, you may get input that is actionable, although much of the feedback in this forum is about the company and their policies, especially negative news about the company.
With so many input sources, it is imperative to have a system in place to capture, analyze, and take action on these inputs. Without a structure in place, the feedback will get lost, customers will feel they are not being heard, and it becomes challenging to prioritize as you are unable to parse through some important signals.
What does it take to implement the customer feedback process?
Let’s define what success looks like. Imagine you have a robust process for gathering inputs from customers using various relevant methods. You analyze these inputs and prioritize them regularly. You inform the customers about your decisions regarding the feedback, and then you take that feedback back to your internal stakeholders. In addition to generating product ideas, it also helps in other areas of the company as we will see below.
If you don’t plan to act on customer feedback consistently, don’t bother setting a process in the first place. Otherwise, customers will get frustrated that they provided input, but no action was taken. Your internal stakeholders will get frustrated, especially sales, as they might think that these customer meetings are futile.
There are three steps to an effective feedback process.
Catalog the feedback
Analyze and prioritize
Share the feedback
Catalog the feedback
You need to create a system where you can capture and document the feedback in a single place. This allows for traceability and easier prioritization. It could be as simple as a spreadsheet, or a complicated artifact in Jira.
Some PMs suggest to add a JIRA ticket for each feedback. I advise against that. This is raw feedback and is not quite actionable. Adding to JIRA gives the message that we can act on it. Far from it. Also, there could be multiple feedback that may result in a single requirement. Leaving them as separate JIRA creates a risk that similar feedback is not seen together.
Here is a rough set of questions on the topics you will discuss with your customers. A template is included at the end of this article.
Get basic information about the customer upfront
Size, industry, headcount, Location
How long have they been a customer
Type of business
Attendees, title, role
Interview Questions
What are the key use cases for which the product is being used?
What changed from before and after using the product ?
What should we keep doing ?
What areas need improvement ?
What friction exists ?
What are you not able to do ?
Other topics they would like to share
You should work with your customer success teams to solicit customers. They will likely avoid customers who are at risk. Try to get customers who have been using the product for longer than a year. Do not include new customers, such as those who started in the last 6 months. They may still be in the onboarding phase and may have yet to realize the value to provide feedback. There is no fixed number of customers to talk to; your success team will be a better judge of how many they can provide on a regular basis.
In general, there are 4 types of customers:
Recent customers (e.g., those who started in the last 6 months): They may still be in onboarding and may have yet to realize the value to provide feedback. Do not interview them yet.
Satisfied customers: These are good to target.
Dissatisfied customers but not at risk: These customers will also be a valuable source of input.
At-Risk customers: These are customers who are really struggling and may even churn, and customer success is trying hard to get them on track. This is not a
good time to engage them until they are in a safer zone.
Analyze and Prioritize
The next step is to analyze and discuss the feedback. You may want to involve engineering and get their input in certain cases. The goal here is to assess the importance of the feedback. Your product priorities are driven by your objectives first. Weigh each input against your objectives and prioritize accordingly.
Create a single place to catalog all the feedback. In many companies, customer feedback is usually scattered in documents, emails, or other repositories. Putting it in one place creates a single system of record.
Some feedback may be quick to analyze, but some may take days or weeks to analyze. Once the analysis is finished, create a conclusion for each feedback. These could be one of the following:
Urgent fix – sometimes you may get an urgent requirement or multiple customers reporting the same thing. In this case you may want to add this to your backlog for an upcoming release.
Backlog – You have determined that a specific requirement is important and you add that to your backlog. You will prioritize as you normally would do in relation to other items in the backlog.
Later – You have determined this is an important requirement but does not align to current product objectives. So you put it in the roadmap for a future iteration
Not Do – Some requirements are so wacky that you will likely never do them
Need analysis – Occasionally you will get inputs that require some more analysis but eventually ensure to put them in the backlog with the right status.
Not Product Related – You will also get input that may not be product related e.g. improving onboarding, adding support content, create videos etc. These should go to the right stakeholders.
Also, make sure to tag each requirement according to some theme. When this theme is prioritized in the future, you can just filter items within that theme.
Sharing the feedback
Now that you have analyzed and prioritized, it’s time to put it into action.
One thing I recommend is to share the feedback with the entire company. Make the catalog available to the entire company so they can see the feedback as well as the action items. This signals transparency and trust in the product team and creates alignment in the company, eliminating siloed thinking.
Next, share your action items on the feedback with the relevant customers who provided the input. The customers will appreciate you, and it ensures that they feel heard. It could be as simple as, “Thank you for your input regarding your feedback on [topic]. We discussed this internally and have added this to our roadmap.”
Customer feedback is not just for product ideas, but also to improve overall customer experience. Share the relevant bits with your stakeholders.
🛠️ Product Enhancement: Gather a plethora of product ideas, including new features or improvements. Be cautious of availability bias or recency bias. Just because you heard it from the customer, does not make it an immediate priority. Capture all feedback and prioritize according to your standard routines.
📢 Amplify Sales Messaging: When customers express positivity, equip your sales team with these insights to enhance their presentations to prospects. Transform positive experiences into compelling testimonials that resonate with potential customers.
📣 Strengthen your Messaging and Positioning: Leverage customer feedback highlighting what’s working and your product’s strengths. Collaborate with the marketing team to refine messaging and positioning. Craft new website copy and materials based on where customers find value, amplifying positive input to benefit the entire customer base.
📖 Fuel for Blogging and Content Copy: Discover best practices and insights shared by customers. Utilize these gems as inspiration for engaging blog content and other materials that offer value and insights to your audience.
🤝 Empower Support: If you’ve provided solutions or resolved specific issues during the meeting, update your support team. This enables them to assist other customers facing similar challenges. Identify stumbling blocks and guide support on how to address them for future reference.
🚀 Efficient Onboarding and Customer Success: Customers may reveal friction points they encounter. Collaborate with Customer Success and onboarding teams to make necessary adjustments, ensuring future customers embark on a smoother journey with your product.
📚Documentation and FAQ Enrichment: Share pertinent feedback with the documentation team to augment content and update FAQs. Keeping these resources up-to-date helps customers find the information they need, reducing support inquiries and enhancing the user experience.
Conclusion
Customer feedback isn’t just a resource, it’s a testament to commitment to clients, a concrete demonstration that we’re not just listening, but actively responding to their needs. A robust customer feedback process provides significant benefits.
Builds trust: Actively capturing and utilizing customer feedback builds trust with your clients.
First source of input: It positions customers as your first source of input, ensuring their voices are heard.
Validation of your roadmap: Customer feedback serves as a powerful validation of your product roadmap, aligning development efforts with real needs and expectations.
You have their back: By actively listening to and addressing their feedback, you demonstrate that you have their back, fostering long-term partnerships essential for success.
You can download this Customer Feedback Template and tweak it for your purpose. It’s free.
