Harnessing The Voice Of Your Customers To Transform Retention

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Manu Mathew is CEO ⁘ Co-Founder of Cohora , a platform that helps brands drive customer growth, retention and advocacy through engagement.

In this reality, companies must retain customers better. It's one of the primary ways businesses can compete and differentiate themselves. Retaining more customers means a higher return on investment (ROI) for every marketing campaign and sales dollar spent. When customers stay longer, they are also more likely to become brand ambassadors and generate high-quality prospects, who then also have the potential to become long-term advocates for the business. This is the holy grail—a self-sustaining virtuous cycle of great customers who contribute to healthy profit margins.

The key to customer retention today lies not just in selling high-quality products and services—brands must listen more to customers and incorporate their feedback into product development and product experiences. In other words, building a sophisticated Voice of the Customer (VoC) program is vital to enhancing customer loyalty and driving sustained growth.

In fact, research from Gartner reveals that eight in ten companies expect to compete primarily based on customer experience (CX). In a world where people can almost always find what they want, it's brands that fulfill that need in the best possible way that will win.

Building a dedicated VoC program is a worthwhile endeavor, especially for direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands. VoC programs provide an avenue for systematically gathering and analyzing customer feedback at scale. They aim to figure out what customers want so that product teams can continue improving offerings and delivering value. Put simply, VoC programs are designed to both illuminate customer desires and act accordingly.

When customers see their preferences reflected in products, the chances of them switching to another brand drop significantly. The Aberdeen Group reports that VoC programs can boost customer retention by up to 55%. Shoppers today consistently reward brands that listen.