When it comes to voice of the customer or customer experience programs, choosing the right metrics can be difficult. With so many different questions to answer it’s not uncommon for people to get stuck on irrelevant detail. Unfortunately, it’s hang-ups like this that can lead to programs stalling and, eventually, dissolving. 

To prevent such outcomes, it is important to understand that the success of a VoC program stems from action taken from customer feedback and metrics simply act as a baseline to measure improvement against.

Businesses should choose metrics that provide the right information for their unique business needs. The most successful VoC programs implement a combination of metrics based on departments, goals, feedback channels, and/or brand standards.

Available Metrics

Metrics commonly used in Voice of the Customer programs include:

• Net Promoter Score (NPS) - measures satisfaction and customer loyalty by the customer's willingness to refer your business to a friend. It helps segment customers into 3 categories: Promoters, Passives, and Detractors.

• Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) - a traditional measurement that allows a customer to express their satisfaction/dissatisfaction with a particular product, service, or transaction.

• Overall Satisfaction (OSAT) - a measurement to gauge customers’ overall satisfaction with a company, service, product, or transaction.

• Customer Effort Score (CES) - measures the effort the customer must put forth to complete a transaction to their satisfaction.

• Purchase Propensity - a measurement that provides the likelihood that a customer will repurchase, expand, or renew with your company for products or services in the future.

• Top Box (top 3/top2) - rather than a true VoC metric, Top Box is a way to interpret other metrics by grouping the top two or three response categories together to display the results as if they are one single result.