Temkin Group Research Finds That Voice Of The Customer Programs Will Radically Change Market Research Industry

Online, April 10, 2011 (Newswire.com) - In a new research report called "Voice Of The Customer Programs Grow Up", Temkin Group examines the evolution of customer feedback efforts from annual customer satisfaction surveys to closed-loop voice of the customer programs.

"Most companies have collected customer feedback for years, but they've done almost nothing with it. New voice of the customer programs embed customer insight into decisions and actions" stated Bruce Temkin, Customer Experience Transformist and Managing Partner of Temkin Group.

The research shows that only 51% of large companies feel that their current voice of the customer efforts are either "good" or "excellent. Only one of the 105 companies that completed Temkin Group's voice of the customer assessment ended up being classified at the highest level or maturity while more than 60 were in the earliest stages of maturity.

As voice of the customer programs evolve, Temkin Group expects them to become closed-loop processes composed of what it calls the Six Ds: Detect, Disseminate, Diagnose, Discuss, Design, and Deploy. The research also identifies 20 leading-edge practices across the Six Ds such as "Social Media Integration," "Role-Based Reporting," "End-User Drill-Down Enablement" and "Promoter Activation."

Large organizations that want to improve their voice of the customer programs will increasingly need infrastructure for automating the collection, analysis, reporting, and workflow across multiple channels and multiple organizations. That's why Temkin Group expects to see an increase in demand for vendors that delver what it calls Customer Insight and Action (CIA) platform.

The report also identifies how these new practices will radically change how market research organizations operate within and outside of large companies. Many companies have traditionally used customer satisfaction programs that survey customers on an annual basis, but these programs are quickly being replaced by more real-time and operationally-oriented voice of the customer programs.

According to Temkin: "Market research organizations need to adapt to emerging voice of the customer practices or they will find themselves left behind; obsolete relics of the past."
This report can be accessed from the Temkin Group website at http://www.temkingroup.com or from the blog, Customer Expeirence Matters.

For more information about Temkin Group, visit http://www.temkingroup.com.