Microsoft’s Inspire conference took place remotely this year, but that didn’t affect the level of innovation on stage. One announcement that attracted attention from companies far and wide is Customer Voice, an integration for Dynamics 365 that is sure to change the way companies collect customer data going forward.
Customer Voice is a “real-time customer feedback tool”–a fancy phrase for an interface between customers and companies. While such a concept seems simple, Microsoft experts anticipate that Customer Voice could, in theory, compete with industry giants such as Qualtrics.
The reasoning behind introducing Customer Voice is sound. Between the sheer number of people shifting to chatbots (and other automated customer service options) and increasing restrictions on in-store traffic due to the pandemic, being able to collect meaningful, real-time feedback online is more important than ever before.
Some of Customer Voice’s features even lean into this demand, making it an obvious choice for anyone already using the Dynamics 365 framework for their business. For example, TechCrunch points out that a company offering curbside pick-up could feasibly use Customer Voice to receive customer orders or alerts when the customers arrive, thus streamlining the delivery process.
As more companies adopt this model, such a feature may give competitors an edge.
Another issue that Customer Voice looks to solve is the lack of conversation at the point of sale. In a normal environment, employees would be able to get verbal confirmation from a customer regarding their satisfaction or criticism, but obviously, today’s world is nothing short of abnormal. By providing an option that integrates with Microsoft’s customer data platform, Customer Voice allows you to collect meaningful feedback to apply to future sales.
And, since Customer Voice is used directly at or after the point of sale, its positioning in the sales process feels natural rather than simply shoving a survey at the customer. In this way, Customer Voice has put a bit of a patch on the issue of customer feedback being given only (or nearly only) when the customer has a complaint. Instead, customers will be able to respond organically, thus increasing the authenticity of the data gathered.
Chatbots, automated feedback portals, and other CRM solutions have been all the rage for the last year or so; it’s only fitting that Microsoft would want a piece of the pie, and the real-time feedback potential of Customer Voice seems ready with a fork.
Jack Lloyd has a BA in Creative Writing from Forest Grove's Pacific University; he spends his writing days using his degree to pursue semicolons, freelance writing and editing, oxford commas, and enough coffee to kill a bear. His infatuation with rain is matched only by his dry sense of humor.
