VOC & Lessons Learned

Mike Hirsch

Hello GGR Community! I am a Program Manager in ProServ overseeing Data/Reporting/Operations for a Global Talent Acquisition Suite co and I am looking to develop a robust VOC / Lessons Learned program for groups going through and coming out of Implementation. I have a basic template but I know this Community can help me do more. 

Questions:
1) What key data points do you recommend I include?
2) What template style have you seen be the most success?
3) I want to give customers a score coming out of Implementation and i'm not keen on using NPS, what other scoring methods are out there? 
4) I realize this will evolve over time but need to start small, what are my non negotiables when rolling this out?

Thank you! 
Mike

Brian Hartley

Hey @Mike Hirsch - I would recommend giving @Steve Bernstein a shout.  This is what his group specializes in

Mike Hirsch

Thanks Brian! On it!

Steve Bernstein

Hi @Mike Hirsch -- Glad to hear you are moving forward with a feedback program, and I'd be happy to assist.  Some thoughts as a reply to your questions, and there are several other considerations that might be better to discuss live, and we can either arrange a 1:1 or create up a live collaboration session to include the community.  
1. There's a big difference between "technical implementation" and "customer onboarding" and since I don't know enough about your company/business and associated processes some high-level guidance:
 - How do you know when an implementation is "done" -- what are the indicators that would trigger an assessment-questionnaire (nay, survey!!) to be sent? Many times we use a question such as, "To what extent do you feel ready to start acquiring value from [system]?" or something similar. That is, just understanding "satisfaction" about the experience is quite insufficient and you'll want to ask something about what the outcome of the implementation experience is supposed to represent.
 - Don't worry about the aggregate score (in fact, we generally recommend using a simple "Top 3 Box" score of whatever your "overall" question is per the bullet point above.  That is, if you ask a question about the overall outcome, then you would just measure the percentage of respondents (or better is percentage of invitations/contacts as the denominator so you incorporate the fact that participation/response rate is totally the name of the game) that rated the outcome at least an 8 or higher on a 0-10 scale.
- Speaking of scale, please check out this article https://waypointgroup.org/why-a-0-10-scale-is-your-best-option/ 
- What customer persona are involved? You'll most likely need to have some persona-driven logic to ensure the right people get the right questions. We'll often include a question at the top, something like, "In order to ensure this questionnaire makes most efficient use of your time to ask the right questions, please select the sentence that best describes your relationship with [company] "

2. Regarding templates: Just make sure it's a responsive questionnaire so you can handle desktop/mobile/etc.  Grids work very well on desktop, but not on mobile where you'll want the questions presented one-at-a-time.

3. You will want to ensure you have high-customer participation -- think 80%+. Chucking an automated email over the wall and hoping for responses won't work because the responses that come back won't represent your work and therefore "un-trustworthy." Humanize the effort wherever possible.

4. Recognize that the root-cause of any issues often happen from some "upstream" event that set expectations. Getting to root-cause is important, so a follow-up process will be key. In order to prioritize where (what parts of the implementation experience) you'll be acquiring root-cause, make sure you have an analytic platform that can do this for you. Needn't be expensive (our "Waypoint's TopBox" product starts at $1k), but doing this in excel will be far too time-consuming and won't allow the internal collaboration you probably seek.

5. Beyond the "overall" score, you'll want to include other questions around the experience, such as making effective use of their time, demonstrating leadership, providing expertise, etc. But again, persona-based questions should be important to make good use of their time and help to show that you care.

There are quite a lot of other considerations, but this doesn't mean it needs to be complex and expensive. But we always say that it's critical for any "customer experience program" (of which your intended process is a part) MUST exemplify the type of experience you want for your customers. I wouldn't throw out something half-baked, but I would suggest to start small and plan to iterate.

Please let me know where I can provide more clarity. I always enjoy helping and thanks for the mention, @Brian Hartley!  

/Steve
steveb@waypointgroup.org

Mike Gospe

Hi Mike,

This is such a great question. Steve Bernstein is one the best, and his answers are spot on. (Steve is a trusted colleague and advisor to me and my team at KickStart Alliance.)

In addition to the data you collect, there is nothing like conducting a set of customer interviews and capturing the words and the sentiment behind the words (their tone, passion) behind the words. Interviews are extremely powerful, especially when you can use the customer's own words when summarizing your observations.  (This also keeps you out of using company jargon; you are using customer words.) Understanding the customer story because you have had a conversation can be very compelling. Ultimately, you need/want both qualitative and quantitative data. Here are a couple of blog posts with some advice on how to interview customers.

* How to interview your C-Suite Customers

* Voice of the Customer Interviews in a COVID-19 World

My team and I are experts at interviewing customers for win/loss, churn, and Customer Advisory Boards. Happy to share additional best practices or answer questions to help you as you get started.

Hope this is helpful,

Best,

Mike Gospe
KickStart Alliance
(www.kickstartall.com)

Steve Bernstein

Really good points, @Mike Gospe (and thanks for the compliment --  you know I count on you as well!).  Starting with customer interviews is often a great way to start so you can better capture what's important (and, as Mike said, be sure to use the right words!) to include elsewhere, especially as you scale/automate. Even if you know you'll need a tool, there's nothing like hearing directly from the customer.
/Steve

David Ellin

@Mike Hirsch, great program overview from @Steve Bernstein so I'll get more granular on the data items.

I'd suggest starting with your audience in mind. Are they executives (needing high-level info) or managers (needing detailed information)? What time frames for reporting updates are most beneficial to drive action? How are you creating accountability and reporting on that (IE: movement of action items based on the data)?

Data Points: Ask your audience what will help them most. This is something many program managers simply don't do but what a great way to start (#collaboration). Don't ask them what they want to see...ask them what they're trying to accomplish. Then figure out what data they need to see to help them drive their business and accomplish their goals. Some thoughts based on level (summary vs. detail): NPS (or other since you don't like NPS), Transactional or Pulse Survey responses, survey response rate, customer verbatim comments, # support tickets per period, the average time to closure for support tickets, renewal information (# pending renewals for period, % churn (yes, I've seen customers churn during implementation and onboarding), churn by reason code, etc.

The template style should also suit your audience. If they're visual people, you should have a visual representation of the data and trends. If they're numbers folks, they may want spreadsheets. Most important: use the data to draw insights and provide those. That's what I'd expect a great Program Manager to do. Create the insights and feed those to your audience.