Voice of the Customer Panel
The Definition:
VoC Panels are a wonderful way to conduct qualitative and quantitative research quickly & efficiently. Through participant recruitment and building a pool of always ready individuals, researchers have the ability to tap a wide array of customers and user persona attributes on a periodic basis to give feedback on a range of product design concepts. Sessions with a Customer Panel can be held remotely, on-site, or at 3rd party locations. Additionally, Customer Panels provide the benefit of saving research budgets by by-passing recruitment costs (time and money) in future studies.
The Ask:
Build and create a customer panel with 500 current client end users, with enough participants to tap for a research project once a month. Ensure the participant pool has a mix of call center agents, supervisors, executives, and project managers to design and research for specific persona attributes.
The Recruiting Process:
Call center management hierarchy exists to ensure that all the activities are being performed by employees in the appropriate manner and the flow of information is being carried out in the most effective way. With the call center employee hierarchy in place, I had to think outside of the box and begin the process by visiting Cogito’s current clients in-person. By meeting site directors and call center managers face-to-face, sharing information about my role, and discussing how important the end user input is to design creation and product optimization, I was able to build rapport and trust. Through these relationships with call center management, I was able to secure and commit end user participants for research studies.
Most call center agents have an average tenure of 6 months with the company and call center supervisors typically have a tenure of 2 years. Armed with this knowledge, I had to recruit double the number of end users I would typically employ. At each call center, I attempted to secure and commit at least 25 call center agents, 7 - 10 supervisors, and 3 - 4 individuals from management (Supervisor Manager, Site Director, Cogito Project manager, Call Center Executive).
Panel Flow:
Benefits of the Panel for Customers:
Connection - Feeling connected to with Cogito employees by developing relationships, trust, and connection with Cogito team.
Engagement - Ability to Engage with the look, feel, and direction of the product enabling end users to feel intimately connected with the product by creating transparent and authentic conversations.
Needs are heard - Acknowledgement and understanding from Cogito of what drives the client’s business and the tools/ features that are needed to arrive at those goals.
Benefits of the Panel for Design & Product Team:
Insights into which clients are loyal/invested in Cogito
Ease of Access to pre-qualified “research ready” participants
Creating a “buzz” and growing number of brand advocates
Cost effectiveness & Quick Turnaround (typically 1 -2 week turnaround depending on time of year)
High Quality of responses as the clients know our product and their industry intimately.