Customer Diaries: Why you should go off-script
Learnings from a global Voice of the Customer program.
A classic debate in software development – process-driven, structured development vs. flexible, adaptable, on-the-go software – has an echo in Customer Experience measurement.
Does a structured, formal, usually online, survey deliver more value than a one-on-one interview, where the conversation can depart from the script and wander into unexpected territories? Leaving aside the obvious differences in cost-efficiency, scalability, consistency, and standardization, which method produces a more useful understanding of the ‘voice’ of the customer?
While quantitative data with a standard set of questions is critical for measuring change over time, at Amdocs we especially value the qualitative data that is gleaned in one-on-one interviews.
Here’s why:
Because of the level of trust, the professional respect and the emotional connections with our interviewees that we have nurtured over many years. Our small team of VoC consultants has developed an intimacy with the companies and stakeholders that we interview. We know them and they know us – each of us has interviewed some stakeholders for many years in succession.
That helps in understanding what they really think, regardless of corporate hierarchy, politics and commercials. Lets us learn what the Amdocs relationship means to their companies and to them personally. And provides insights that can be clarified and discussed, and that are less prone to misinterpretation.
And it breeds trust. Trust that their feedback will reach the right places and will be addressed, that their discussions are secure, that Amdocs invests a serious effort, so that the process is a genuine exercise to do better. They also know that we understand their businesses, that we are familiar with the tech journeys they have pursued in the past and that they are pursuing now. With their triumphs and successes as well as their disappointments.
"Discussion allows us to move beyond a score for Product A, and rating the skill and expertise of Team B, becoming instead a dialog about how they feel as Amdocs customers; what they value about the relationship and how they expect that to evolve."
Discussion allows us to move beyond a score for Product A, and rating the skill and expertise of Team B, becoming instead a dialog about how they feel as Amdocs customers; what they value about the relationship and how they expect that to evolve.
Of course, scores are important – that is what allows us to compare results across customers, products and teams, and to focus on how our customers see and measure success.
But the ‘Voice of the Customer’ is also about how we make them feel: Do we amaze them? Do they feel our commitment? Do they believe that we can be partners for their growth and success?
That’s hard to measure in a check-the-box questionnaire. Yes, structure drives consistency, measurability and scalability – and those are all important. But so is the ability to roam, to go off-script, to venture into areas that are not on the check list but get raised by the customer.
A much-cited metaphor from our interviewees is that their relationship with Amdocs is like a marriage – sometimes passionate and loving, and sometimes challenging – despite the goodwill and commitment on both sides.
If your personal relationship was challenging – would you prefer your partner to ‘fill a form’ – or would you prefer a real, honest, and open discussion?
The Amdocs Voice of the Customer is a comprehensive program for measuring and improving our customers’ experience across all aspects of their engagement with us: people, products, processes, services, value, quality, ease of doing business, strategic alignment and more. It’s one of the key programs run by the Customer Centricity team at Amdocs in support of our customers’ journeys throughout their engagement with us.
