Customers today expect more and settle for less. With endless options at their fingertips, loyalty isn't guaranteed; it’s earned through consistent,Â
Thoughtful experiences. That’s why businesses that truly listen to their customers (and act on what they hear) are pulling ahead. Voice of the customer (VoC) programs, or structured approaches to capturing, analyzing, and responding to customer feedback, are a fantastic way to get ahead.
When done well, VoC doesn’t just fix problems, it fuels growth, sharpens your competitive edge, and creates customers who stay loyal and tell others. But let’s be honest, VoC is easier said than done. Maybe your team is collecting feedback but struggling to make sense of it. Or you’ve got the data, but turning it into meaningful action feels like chasing your tail.
The good news? We’re here to help. As a business centered around customer voices, we have tried and proven strategies to collect customer feedback and use it to drive meaningful change. We'll spotlight real-world companies doing VoC right and share practical tips to help you turn insights into results.
Voice of the customer (VoC) is a structured, continuous approach to understanding your customers' needs, expectations, and experiences. While customer feedback might come in one-off surveys or passive comment boxes, VoC is intentional. It’s about creating a system that captures what customers are saying and turns that input into meaningful action.
VoC programs gather customer insights from three main sources:
Companies that invest in a robust VoC strategy see measurable improvements in customer retention, product-market fit, net promoter score (NPS), and overall satisfaction. It’s the difference between guessing what your customers want and knowing.
There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to the voice of the customer. The most effective programs use a mix of techniques to capture feedback at different stages of the customer journey, balancing scale with depth, and data with context. Below are some of the most powerful methods, along with real-world examples of how companies are putting them to work.
What it is: Structured surveys sent to customers to gather opinions, preferences, or feedback about specific experiences. These can be delivered via email, SMS, or in-app prompts.
When to use it: Great for collecting feedback at scale, especially after key customer interactions like purchases, support calls, or onboarding.
Example: Big Blue Bug Solutions, an expert in pest control in New England, sends surveys to customers shortly after service visits, immediately analyzes feedback, and shares it with supervisors. Using this approach, Big Blue increased its survey response rates by 20%, with over 4,000 responses in 2024. They also earned an NPS score of 80, well above industry standard.Â
What it is: One-on-one or group discussions with customers to explore their needs, challenges, and perceptions in more detail.
When to use it: For gathering rich, qualitative insights, especially when launching a new product, testing a concept, or refining messaging.
Example: Southwest Airlines employs focus groups to understand customer needs and preferences, helping them to improve their service and refine their brand identity.Â
What it is: Tracking and analyzing brand mentions, comments, and conversations on platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, and Reddit.
When to use it: Best for identifying trends, gauging customer sentiment, and spotting issues you might not hear about through official channels.
Example: JetBlue is known for its responsive and proactive approach on Twitter. By monitoring customer posts, they resolve complaints in real time and use feedback to inform service training and onboard improvements.
What it is: Embedded feedback tools on websites or apps that allow customers to share quick feedback, usually through a comment box, emoji rating, or thumbs up/down.
When to use it: Useful for collecting real-time input during the digital experience, without interrupting the flow.
Example: Canva includes a “Was this helpful?” widget on their help center articles. The responses help their team continuously improve customer support content and reduce inbound tickets.
What it is: Quick, targeted surveys that measure customer loyalty (NPS) or satisfaction with a specific interaction (CSAT).
When to use it: Perfect for tracking trends over time and identifying areas that need improvement.
Example: Most AskNicely customers consistently track NPS & CSAT scores to stay in tune with how customers feel at every touchpoint. By collecting this feedback in real time, they can spot issues early, coach teams effectively, and celebrate what’s working.
“We can immediately respond to our customers' feedback and find out what went wrong or what we didn't do or what we missed, and not just continue on with the status quo and assume everything is just ok." – Rachael Molino, Supervisor, Office Pride, AskNicely customer.Â
Get started with our NPS & CSAT survey templates below:Â
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CSAT:
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What it is: Observing how customers interact with a product, app, or website to uncover friction points and usability issues.
When to use it: Best for optimizing digital experiences, improving feature adoption, and reducing customer churn caused by confusing interfaces.
Example: Spotify runs frequent usability tests when introducing new features, like AI-generated playlists or social sharing options. By watching how users interact (or get stuck), they fine-tune the experience before a full rollout.
Collecting customer feedback is just the first step. The real value of a voice of the customer program comes from what you do with that information. And yet, many teams hit a wall here. Drowning in comments, unsure where to focus, or stuck in spreadsheet chaos — it’s a common challenge. But with the right approach, turning feedback into action becomes not only possible but powerful.
Here are five best practices to help you make the most of your VoC data:
Instead of getting lost in individual comments, categorize feedback into common themes, like onboarding, pricing, support experience, or product usability. This makes it easier to spot recurring issues and prioritize what matters most to your customers.
Sifting through all of your customer feedback can be daunting. NiceAI's feedback summaries take the hassle out of this process by condensing feedback into concise, actionable insights. These summaries highlight key trends and patterns, empowering your team to make quick, data-driven decisions and stay ahead of customer expectations.
Voice of the Customer data is too valuable to be tucked away in a single department. When feedback stays siloed, whether in customer service, product, or marketing, opportunities get missed, priorities get misaligned, and patients feel the disconnect.
To drive real change, VoC insights need to flow across the entire organization. Share key learnings with marketing to refine messaging, with operations to improve flow, with the product team to enhance features, and with frontline staff to streamline the customer experience. When everyone is working from the same feedback truth, you create a unified customer strategy rooted in real needs, not assumptions.
For example, a dermatology clinic might notice recurring feedback about long wait times and rushed consultations. Marketing can adjust appointment expectations in email reminders, operations can rework scheduling to reduce bottlenecks, and clinicians can receive coaching on how to balance efficiency with empathy. That’s the power of alignment: every part of the team working together to deliver a better patient experience, guided by what customers are saying.
Not every piece of customer feedback requires a full-scale transformation. Some suggestions might point to quick fixes that could significantly improve the experience with minimal effort, while others might require larger investments of time or resources. The key is to be strategic in your response by using a simple prioritization matrix that evaluates potential improvements by their effort (how much work it will take) and impact (how much it will affect customer satisfaction).
Start by categorizing feedback into four buckets:
Prioritizing this way ensures you're working smarter, not harder. Quick wins not only improve customer satisfaction but also boost internal morale and demonstrate to your team and your customers that feedback leads to action. Over time, that builds trust and creates space to tackle bigger, more complex improvements with confidence.
Collecting feedback is only part of the customer experience puzzle. What truly makes a difference is how you respond and how quickly. This process is known as the feedback loop: gathering input from customers, analyzing it to identify what needs to change, taking action, and then communicating those changes back to the customer. Closing the loop shows people that their voices are heard and that their opinions drive real improvements.
A customer experience platform helps you manage this process efficiently by turning feedback into insights and assigning follow-up actions to the right people in real time. Instead of letting valuable input get lost in inboxes or spreadsheets, a CX platform helps you track, respond to, and learn from every piece of feedback. The faster you close the loop, the more trust you build with your customers, and the more likely they are to stay loyal to your brand.
One of the easiest ways to unlock insights is to ask the right questions in a consistent format. A simple, structured template ensures you’re gathering the data you need, without reinventing the wheel every time.
Looking for a place to start? Download AskNicely’s free voice of the customer template to capture feedback in a consistent, structured format.
Turning customer feedback into real-world improvements doesn’t have to be complicated. AskNicely is purpose-built to help frontline teams gather feedback, spot customer pain points, and take meaningful action, without adding extra workload. It’s how you close the gap between what customers say and what actually gets done.
With AskNicely, you can:
“We're able now to get in front of promoters and detractors and deal with the situation as it comes through automated and quickly." – Kate McQueen, Director of Revenue Operations, IntelliShift
Whether you’re just starting your Voice of the Customer journey or looking to level up your program, AskNicely helps you do it better, faster, and with lasting impact.
