voice of customer

Definition

Customer feedback and insights captured through surveys, reviews, support tickets, and other channels that reveal their needs and preferences. Abbreviated VOC, it's all the complaints and suggestions companies collect and then ignore.

Example Usage

Our voice of customer research clearly shows people want lower prices and better features, so we're raising prices and adding features nobody asked for.

Origin

Quality management concept from the 1990s, adapted from Total Quality Management practices

Fun Fact

Companies that use voice of customer insights see 55% higher customer retention rates, assuming they actually act on what they learn.

Source: Customer experience and market research terminology

Related Terms

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incrementality

The measure of whether your marketing actually caused additional sales or just took credit for purchases that would've happened anyway. It's the uncomfortable question that keeps attribution models honest and marketers defensive.

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When someone explicitly gives permission to receive marketing communications, theoretically because they actually want them. A legal requirement dressed up as customer courtesy.

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viral coefficient

The number of new users each existing user generates through referrals, where anything above 1.0 means exponential growth. It's the mathematical expression of every marketer's fantasy: growth that doesn't require advertising.

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retargeting pixel

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publicity

The art of getting people to pay attention to something through media coverage, press releases, and strategic information drops, ideally without having to pay for advertising. It's what happens when your brand does something newsworthy enough that journalists actually care to write about it. Unlike advertising, publicity is theoretically "earned," though publicists would argue they work pretty hard to make it look effortless.

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Content Marketing

The art of selling things to people by pretending you're not selling things to people. You write a helpful blog post about productivity tips, and somehow by the end, the reader is buying your project management software.

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