There are four key data collection methods that we will discuss in this topic. They include direct observation, interviews, focus groups, and surveys. We use these data collection methods to gather voice of the customer data. Direct observation is always very powerful because we get to watch the actual interaction of the customer with a product, service, or process. So for example, standing back and watching how a sales associate handles somebody in a store. Or observing the end-to-end process of applying for a license at your local Secretary of State office. We’re able to gather realistic information about the actual customer experience. What were the positive and negative aspects of the interaction? Did we witness some nonverbal signals? Are we encountering issues and opportunities that may not otherwise be obvious, or things that the customer may not even notice themselves? Interviews are an incredibly powerful technique, and they’re a great way to gather individual perspectives versus group data collection. There are many benefits to using interviews. We can conduct them in person or we can do it by phone. We can get a unique perspective from each person, and through open-ended questions we can pursue unexpected lines of communication. We can also ask some follow-on questions and learn a lot about customer viewpoints and the data that goes along with them. We can also gather insights that could lead to innovation. Interviews also create the opportunity for two-way communication. So we can confirm understanding of the question, and confirm we understood what the response was.
There are some limitations to interviews. It’s probably the most expensive technique to collect data. It’s costly and time consuming to convert the data, to write it all down or record it and transcribe it, and then put it into a form that we can analyze using Lean Six Sigma tools. In-person interviews are very powerful. And one important interview concept is something called metatalk. Meta is Greek for above and beyond, and talk stands for the things the interviewee is not saying with the words. We want to pay attention to what kind of rapport we are developing. Can we get visual clues and make eye contact? Some of the visual clues we may want to pay attention to are, are they comfortable with the topic we’re discussing? Or can we sense a level of discomfort with the conversation? Are they confused? Perhaps need more clarification on the topic? Are they angry or are they happy? What kind of emotion is associated with a product or service? If there is interest of if there is apathy and a lack of interest. All of these things are powerful attributes of the interview that are very difficult to ascertain in a survey that allows for no live interaction. Now we will discuss phone interviews in more depth. Phone interviews, much like in-person interviews, allows us to assess a wide variety of people.
We can use this technique to address some fairly basic or simple issues that you may not want to tackle or address in an online survey. We can gather information very quickly, and it can be done at a lower cost because we don’t have to travel anywhere or provide a place to meet. However, there are some issues to be aware of. First of all, we will not have any visual clues. We can’t benefit from the metatalk we would observe in a person that we can see. We’ll need to focus and listen very carefully to the voice and ask good follow-up questions. Another issue with phone interviews is that often people will not open up and share what they really think. This could be a fear that we could be secretly recording what they’re saying, or maybe they just don’t feel the human connection as we’re talking to them. Focus groups are an excellent method to use where we can gather feedback from a lot of customers all at the same time. It’s great for dynamic brainstorming and gathering many ideas and inputs to the problem we’re trying to address. It’s not nearly as restrictive as surveys or individual interviews where we have to keep everything scripted. And we can use visual aids to promote conversation. At the same time, there are some limitations and things to be aware of. First of all, we have to have excellent facilitation skills. We don’t want to allow this group to fall into group-think, or have a few vocal individuals or influential people in the group who sway other people’s views. In a group like this, some people may feel fearful or they may be worried about not making a good impression on others or not having anything helpful to share.
Those individuals might shut down and not share as much information as they could. Finally, we have surveys. They are a very powerful and arguably the most inexpensive way to gather quantifiable data. We can use this technique in conjunction with other methods. Surveys are useful for basic or simple issues that we can get on paper, and it’s a great way to collect a lot of data in a short time. However, there are some issues with online surveys and paper surveys. For example, it can be difficult to write questions in a very straightforward manner that doesn’t allow for confusion. Maybe there are cultural and demographic issues that participants could misinterpret by the way we word our questions. We could also have varying degrees of reading comprehension on the part of those that are taking the survey. If it’s an online survey, there may be issues with technological literacy or access to computers. Maybe there’s a fear of how we’ll use this data, and participants may not give us a straight answer to some of our questions. This is particularly true when we’re doing internal voice of customer surveys with current employees of an organization. In summary, there are a number of excellent tools available to collect data from our customers. They include observation, interviews, in-person and by phone, focus groups, and surveys.