“Do-it-yourself” may be the best way to accomplish those weekend projects around the house. Who hasn’t been tempted to take on a project ourselves, with full confidence that we have the combination of knowledge, ability, expert ‘assistance’ and time to get the job done?  Plus, we can save money in the process.

But the same rationale doesn’t apply when it comes to planning and implementing a comprehensive Voice of the Customer (VOC) program for your financial institution.

Why DIY-ing Customer Surveys is the Wrong Approach

I don’t have to tell you that an effective voice of the customer program is not the same as painting the bathroom. It’s not a one-off project, but a long-term strategy whose goal is to improve how a customer experiences all aspects of your financial institution, enhancing customer satisfaction and value over time.

It requires development of a strategy, building a program, selecting the right tools to gather customer feedback, interpreting the data, applying it to the appropriate customer touchpoints and monitoring your progress.

Financial institutions considering a do-it-yourself solution may focus their efforts on a VOC software package, believing it will be easy to integrate into a customer experience program. After all, technology has made us all ‘experts’ at utilizing software programs that take our raw data and spit out a finished report.

Questions to Ask When Vetting a Customer Survey Software Solution

But while off-the-shelf software solutions are the right choice for some jobs, they can also over-promise and under-deliver, making your investment of time and money a losing proposition. Voice of the customer software is no different. It can lead managers to take on a project that’s better left to those who are true experts in the field of measuring and analyzing customer experience, and working with you to develop a program to act on the results over the long term.  Below are some questions to ask when vetting a software solution:

  • Does it identify the key drivers of customer satisfaction and their related metrics?
  • Does it give you detailed feedback from your own account holders?
  • Is it translatable into action items for your team?
  • Does it create benchmarks so that you can track your performance over time?
  • Does it work with you to interpret the data, identify trends and pinpoint areas for improvement?
  • Will it provide guidance on employee areas where you need to focus coaching and training efforts?

Additional Items to Think of When Selecting a Provider

The thing is, a software package won’t answer all your questions or consult with you about your financial institution’s goals and objectives. It won’t build a customized VOC program that responds directly to your account holder base, your customer satisfaction feedback and your customer experience challenges.

So, while it’s possible to manage a VOC program internally, being able to rely on the expertise and support of an experienced partner can help ensure the soundness of your strategy, process and results, keeping you focused on continuous improvement in customer satisfaction and loyalty.

And that’s better than do-it-yourself any day.

> Learn more about improving performance using account holder insight