Customer feedback can make or break a business. Yet, most companies still grapple with how to effectively collect and use customer insights. According to the CallMiner 2023 CX Landscape Report, the majority of teams still collect mostly solicited feedback (71% in 2023 vs. 79% in 2022) from their customers. Half of organizations say they lack effective communication between departments when aligning on CX data and customer feedback, and 43% admit to a lack of clarity on how to act on data insights.

A Salesforce survey confirms that many teams are contending with too much data: 33% of business leaders said they can’t generate meaningful insights from their data, and 30% said they were overwhelmed by the sheer volume.

Whitepaper

The CX Data Paradox

This whitepaper explores how to collect – and act on – the right customer insights in the age of information overload

So how do you cut through the noise and use customer data to drive meaningful business improvements?

Combining solicited and unsolicited customer feedback

An over-reliance on solicited feedback, like surveys and customer reviews, neglects the gold mine of unsolicited feedback you don’t have to ask for. Unsolicited feedback – such as the conversations that happen in your contact center, social engagements, and more – often contains the most actionable insights. Channels like surveys, while valuable, typically focus on the highs and lows — leaving a whole middle ground of feedback undiscovered.

This unsolicited data can be applied to a wide variety of business outcomes, ranging from contact center agent coaching and performance improvements, to compliance adherence, to marketing and sales effectiveness, to product innovation.

Not to mention, unsolicited feedback can make your surveys better. For example, you could segment contact center data by customers who called about a specific product type, to survey them with more targeted questions. The two types of feedback can often work in tandem to provide a more holistic view of the customer.

Analyzing this feedback at scale is the critical part of extracting practical insights and unlocking value for your team.

Unlocking value from customer insights

How do you collect and analyze unsolicited feedback without overwhelming your team? That’s where AI and automation can help identify the most valuable insights. Despite the availability of technology, a balance between automated and manual processes remains elusive for many.

According to the CallMiner CX Landscape Report, there is a slightly greater emphasis on automated (55%) vs. manual (45%) tasks, but not by much. However, those that do automate data analysis are able to use this data to make better business decisions (61% vs. 51% in organizations where processes are more manual).

Most contact centers today do manual quality assurance (QA) monitoring. Typical QA analysts can often only listen to 3 to 5 random calls per agent, per month — less than 1% of overall interactions. By analyzing all of the interactions, contact center managers can give agents a clearer picture of what works and what needs improvement via automated scorecards and data-driven coaching recommendations. And, the results are measurable, which makes it easier to convince others to expand use cases of this technology to other areas.

Proven solutions like AI-based conversation intelligence analyze 100% of omnichannel customer interactions, instead of the fraction of contacts that can be analyzed manually. Starting small with a use case, such as QA, is a great path to unlocking immediate value.

The power of conversation intelligence

Integrating both solicited and unsolicited feedback — and analyzing it at scale— is key to truly understanding the voice of the customer (VoC). Starting with targeted applications like QA and gradually expanding the use of conversation intelligence can reveal profound insights, leading to cross-departmental improvements and unexpected business outcomes.

Navigate the complexities of customer feedback in today's data-saturated world isn’t easy. By focusing on unsolicited feedback and leveraging the right workflows, you can unlock deeper insights that drive meaningful, measurable change across the organization.