A traditional visit to a customer and conducting the VoC in the environment where your product is used is usually your best option. However, a virtual VoC offers also some advantages that a traditional VoC can’t. And maybe it is not a question between one or the other. Perhaps a mixed and blended option is your best choice.
If you have never run a virtual VoC before, now is the perfect time to run your first pilot. Now, nobody will question why you are selecting this option. Now, everyone will have oversight that it is not perfect. Now, it is the perfect time to train your team.
A virtual VoC offers the following main advantages compared to a traditional:
Faster to complete
Lower cost
Increased training opportunities
The first and many times, the essential advantage is reduced time. A virtual VoC can be made in days compared to a traditional VoC that will take months. Traveling to customers is the big time consumer in a traditional VoC. To get a decent chance to meet several customers during each trip, it needs to be prepared months in advance. In a virtual VoC, you can have a meeting with a customer in Asia early in the morning, with a customer in Europe at lunchtime, and with a customer in the US in the afternoon. If you are squeezed on time, maybe a virtual VoC is your only option.
A second big advantage is the cost. Not only traveling cost can be cut out of your budget, but also the printing and distribution of Value cards. Now everything is virtual. We are also, for the time being, offering a solution that is free of charge so you can pilot your first virtual VoC at no cost. You can download our Flipbook, the Interview guide, and several program modules at no cost — perfect time to run a pilot.
Training of people has been one of the more difficult challenges to manage in a traditional VoC. It is both costly and time-consuming to bring people along to customer visits for training purposes. To add an extra person to your next web meeting with a customer for training purposes is easy. Introduce them to the customer at the beginning of the meeting and let them listen in — a simple, cheap, and fast way to train more people in your organization. And involving more people in the VoC work is crucial to get company-wide buy-in and establish data confidence.
It is turbulent times, but eventually, we will come out of this, and let’s try to be innovative in finding ways to make the best of this terrible situation. Maybe, your activity could be to run a virtual VoC pilot.
To get going, we recommend the following steps:
Download the Road Map on how to run a virtual VoC at the following link. Read and familiarize yourself with the process. The Road Map is free of charge.
Rally a small team of people in your organization who wants to participate. You don’t need to make it too formal as there are no costs involved.
Listen to the videos on customer value at the following link. Customer needs without a clear link to value are no needs, just distractions. Your probability of success will increase substantially if your VoC can be based on a clear and shared vision of what it is you are going to collect. What is a customer need, or what is a customer resource? All videos are free.
Download the Flipbook at this link. Our Flipbook consists of more than 330 Infographics. The easiest and fastest way to learn. Use the Promo code at check out, and you get it for free.
Download the Quick guide for in-depth interviewing of customers. Prepare and print your Interview cards. A fantastic tool to increase the quality of your in-depth interviews. Use the Promo code at check out, and you get it for free.
Download our free program modules at the following link. Go to our home page and listen to the educational videos on how to use them. Use the Promo code at check out, and you get them for free.
We will inform you about the next upcoming webinar once you signed up for our blog during the steps above.
Good Luck!
Ulf and Per