Consumer Behavior

Assignment 1 - Summary of article: The Voice of the Customer

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT, RAIPUR

Name Sehgal Kunal Amitabh
Roll Number 22PGP025

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The Voice of the Customer (VoC) is a business methodology that focuses on capturing the demands
and expectations of customers regarding a product or service. It is a technique employed in product
development that aims to gather comprehensive customer desires and requirements, arrange them
in a hierarchical structure, and prioritize them based on their importance and satisfaction levels
compared to existing alternatives. The VoC process yields various outputs and benefits for product
developers, including a profound understanding of customer requirements, establishing a common
language within the team, providing inputs for design specifications, and serving as a catalyst for
product innovation.

Imagine sitting down with customers and asking them, "What do you really want from our product or
service?" Their answers form the foundation of the VoC process. It's like piecing together a puzzle,
organizing their responses into a meaningful structure that helps us prioritize their needs and make
informed decisions.

Typically, the VoC involves qualitative and quantitative market research steps. It is commonly
conducted during the early stages of new product development to gain insights into customer wants
and needs. The process entails comprehending customer needs, organizing those needs
hierarchically, determining priorities, and evaluating customer perceptions of performance.

Customer needs are descriptions, expressed in the customers' own words, of the benefits they
anticipate from a product or service. It is crucial to differentiate between customer needs and
specific solutions or physical measurements. Understanding customer needs assists in developing
effective marketing strategies and designing products that fulfil those needs.

The hierarchical structure organizes customer needs into primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.
Primary needs are high-level and strategic, guiding the overall marketing strategy. Secondary needs
are more specific and provide guidance for meeting primary needs, while tertiary needs offer
detailed information for engineering and research and development (R&D) purposes.

Prioritizing customer needs is vital for decision-making. Certain needs hold greater priority for
customers, and marketers must strike a balance between the cost of meeting a need and its
desirability to the customer. Prioritization is based on the perceived customer needs rather than
specific product features or engineering solutions.

Customer perceptions of performance refer to how customers perceive the performance of existing
products in the market. In the absence of a product, perceptions indicate how customers currently
fulfil their needs. Market research assists in gathering data on customer perceptions, which can be
visualized using tools such as snake plots.

The VoC process plays a critical role in product development and marketing. It uncovers customer
requirements, guides strategic and tactical decisions, and ensures that products are designed to
effectively meet customer needs. Examples of applying VoC include developing specialized
microprocessors based on customer needs and designing a traffic-light device to address customer
concerns about alarms in a medical setting.

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Below are a few examples of VoC.:

1. Online Shopping Experience Enhancement An e-commerce company aims to improve its

online shopping experience. They conduct VOC research by analyzing customer feedback,
conducting surveys, and monitoring social media conversations. The insights gathered reveal
that customers desire a more user-friendly interface, faster checkout process, and
personalized product recommendations. With this knowledge, the company updates its
website layout, streamlines the purchasing process, and implements a recommendation
engine, resulting in a more satisfying and tailored shopping experience for their customers.

2. Packaging Sizes for Household Cleaning Products A company producing household cleaning
products wants to determine the most suitable packaging sizes for their target market. They
utilize VOC techniques such as in-home interviews and online questionnaires to gather
insights from customers. The research indicates that customers prefer a range of packaging
sizes to accommodate different usage scenarios and storage constraints. Based on this
feedback, the company introduces various package sizes, including larger bottles for bulk
purchases and smaller ones for travel or trial purposes, meeting the diverse needs of their
customers.

3. Customized Microprocessors A technology company decides to apply the VOC process to

develop specialized microprocessors. Through customer interviews and surveys, they gather
insights into the specific requirements and challenges faced by their target customers. They
discover that customers need microprocessors with higher processing power, energy
efficiency, and compatibility with specific software applications. Armed with this information,
the company designs and produces microprocessors that precisely meet those customer
needs, resulting in enhanced performance and customer satisfaction.

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