Forrester Bestows Voice of the Customer Awards
Forrester Research honored Adobe Systems, Fidelity Investments, and JetBlue Airways with 2011 Voice of the Customer (VoC) Awards during its annual Customer Experience Forum in New York. The awards are given to organizations that “excel in collecting, analyzing, and acting on feedback from their customers.”
“Customer experience is personal,” Harley Manning, vice president and research director at Forrester, said during the forum’s opening keynote. “It comes down to the pilot who holds a plane, a customer care representative who makes a problem just go away, or a barista who anticipates a customer’s order.”
More than 40 leaders in the financial services, healthcare, retail, technology, and travel industries submitted entries for the awards. “This year’s nominees set a new bar for the scope, scale, and quality of voice-of-the-customer programs,” says Forrester analyst Andrew McInnes. “Compared to previous participants, they incorporate more customer data, influence more internal stakeholders, and deliver more value to their customers and their bottom lines.”
Nominees were judged on clarity of approach, business value to the organization, positive impact on customer experience, innovation, and the potential for other companies to repeat the practice. “The things you have to ask yourselves are, ‘What is that personal experience that you want your customers to have? How do you make that happen consistently day in and day out?’” Manning says.
Adobe was recognized for its commitment to executive engagement through its customer immersion program, which requires executives to “step into customers’ shoes for a day, attempt relevant customer scenarios, discuss opportunities for improvement with frontline employees, and engage with actual customers.”
Lambert Walsh, vice president of customer success at Adobe Systems, said in a statement, “Adobe’s VoC programs have driven significant experiential gains by providing our senior leaders with firsthand knowledge of the customers’ point of view—what works, what doesn’t, and how we can evolve our practices and products to better meet customers’ needs. This award represents the commitment of teams across Adobe…to truly engage with our customers to act on their feedback and learn from their ideas.”
Forrester honored Fidelity for its commitment to soliciting feedback from customers about their experiences and actively using it to enhance service. “At Fidelity, the voice of the customer is central to our commitment to providing the best customer experience in the financial services industry,” Parrish Arturi, senior vice president of customer experience at Fidelity, said in a statement.
JetBlue’s VoC team and Net Promoter score made it a standout in a bleak airline industry. “By focusing on customer service, we have pioneered a new standard for air travel, one that brings humanity back to the skies,” Dave Barger, president and CEO of JetBlue, said in a statement. “It is our mission to earn our customers’ business by offering friendly service and a comfortable airport and in-flight experience, but we’re only as good as our last baggage delivered to the carousel.”
Also in mid-June, the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI) awarded its Global Call Center of the Year Awards to New York Life and iContact. New York Life won in the large call center category, edging Safelite Auto Glass, and iContact was honored as the small to medium winner (with 25 to 75 seats), beating Consolidated Credit Services for the top spot. Both winners were celebrated at ICMI’s Annual Call Center Expo (ACCE) in New Orleans during the morning keynote June 15.
Associate/Web Editor Brittany Farb can be reached at bfarb@destinationcrm.com.