B2B Versus B2C in VoC

In the research for the Temkin Group report Prepare for Next Generation Voice of the Customer Programs, more than 200 large organizations completed our VoC program competency and maturity assessment. This tool uses 30 questions to gauge the effectiveness of these efforts across the 6 Ds of a VoC program: Detect, Disseminate, Diagnose, Discuss, Design, and Deploy. The tool also identifies the level of maturity of these programs.

I took a closer look at the results from the 75 B2B companies and 62 B2C companies that completed our VoC assessment.

B2BvB2C VoC MaturityThe data shows that:

  • B2B firms have more mature VoC programs. Over half of the B2B programs with formal VoC programs are at least Analyzers, the third stage of VoC maturity. B2C firms are slightly less at 47%.
  • All competencies need work. Across all six Ds, only a small portion of B2C and B2B firms—ranging from 10% to to 26%—are rated as good or very good.
  • B2C is best at Discuss. B2C firms perform the best at communicating feedback in a cross-functional setting. This is also the place where they most outperform B2B firms.
  • B2B is best at Discuss and Disseminate. B2B firms get the highest score, 21%, for these two phases.
  • Design is weak for both B2B and B2C. Very few B2B or B2C companies are good at using user-centered approaches for making improvements based on voC insights.

The bottom line: B2B and B2C Need to Improve VoC

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I am a customer experience transformist, helping large organizations improve business results by changing how they deal with customers. As part of this focus, I examine strategy, culture, interaction design, customer service, branding and leadership practices. I am also a fanatical student of business, so this blog provides an outlet for sharing insights from my ongoing educational journey. Simply put, I am passionate about spotting emerging best practices and helping companies master them. And, as many people know, I love to speak about these topics in almost any forum. My “title” is Managing Partner of the Temkin Group, a customer experience research and consulting firm that helps organizations become more customer-centric. Our goal is simple: accelerate the path to delighting customers. I am also the co-founder and Emeritus Chair of the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to the success of CX professionals.

One thought on “B2B Versus B2C in VoC”

  1. Thanks for giving us some insights to the differences between B2B and B2C maturity in Voice of the Customer. We used the Temkin Group’s 4 stages of VoC maturity as a question in the 2012 ClearAction Business-to-Business Customer Experience Management Best Practices Study: 1) collecting data, 2) analyzing data, 3) collaborating cross-functionally for continuous improvement, 4) transforming business-as-usual to truly customer-centric operations. Here’s a description of the findings: http://clearaction.biz/blog/increasing-customer-focus-voice-customer-business-results/ — this article is a commentary on the “Design” finding that you mention in your article above: “Very few B2B or B2C companies are good at using user-centered approaches for making improvements based on voC insights.” Yes, and I hope this gets attention in 2013!

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