CX Strategy

How to build a modern voice of the customer program

By
Joel Passen
February 8, 2023
5 min read

A guide to leveraging modern technology to build an actionable voice of the customer program.

Every business benefits from knowing what customers think and feel. A Voice of the Customer (VoC) program can help you capture and leverage customer insights to improve your products, processes, relationships, and bottom line. VoC programs have been in existence since the dawn of marketing. However, until recently, they were limited to gathering data through surveys, interviews, or focus groups. Most VoC programs fail because they rely on yesterday’s tools to address today’s challenges.

Surveys still fall short

Most companies still rely on surveys to gather customer insights. Sure, surveying customers sounds like a good idea. To some extent, surveys are a good starting point for obtaining information about customer experiences. But let’s face it, we all know that survey response rates are low. According to Delighted, a good survey response rate ranges between 5% and 30%. This means that your analysis through surveys represents only a fraction of your customer base, and typically, only the dissatisfied or extremely satisfied customers take the time to respond. Unfortunately, most VoC programs still rely on surveys as the number one data source to influence decisions about products, marketing campaigns, service processes, and more. 

Social media monitoring - meh

While social media monitoring can be a great source of customer data and insights, it has flaws. There are several reasons why it may not always be the most reliable source for customer insights. First, as with surveys, social media users’ opinions change rapidly due to the nature of the platform. The same user may have different views or opinions at different times, which can lead to issues with reliability. Companies must ensure they are looking at a large enough sample of customers and not just basing their decisions on a few users' whims. Second, as we’ve learned from politics, all sources on social media are unreliable, and there is no way to verify their accuracy or truthfulness. VoC program managers can be misled if they rely heavily on these sources without doing extra research. And finally, as with surveys, monitoring conversations on social media is a time-consuming process. Companies must dedicate resources to this task to keep up with the latest trends and conversations about their brand or products, which can be costly in terms of both money and time.

Focus groups flop

For decades, businesses have relied on focus groups to learn more about their customers. Unfortunately, focus groups flop in many of the same ways that surveys and social media monitoring fail to deliver actionable insights. First, focus groups are typically limited in size and scope, making them unsuitable for gathering insights from a large customer base with diverse segments. Second, running focus groups is costly and resource intensive. This makes it difficult for companies with limited resources to benefit from them.

The trends to watch for when building a modern VoC program

Listen, if you rely on surveys, social media, and focus groups as the main inputs for your voice of the customer program, you are not alone. These methods are still the standard. But, there is a new trend emerging driven by advancements in technology.

Innovative businesses are starting to use traditional channels of customer feedback in combination with unsolicited feedback to gain true insights into VoC.  

VoC programs have come a long way since their inception, from manually collecting data through surveys and interviews to leveraging AI-driven analytics tools today. Technology has revolutionized how organizations collect, analyze, and deliver customer insights to the teams that need them most. With modern tools and platforms, businesses can collect, analyze and leverage data on a larger scale and with greater accuracy than ever before. Here are some ways technology has changed VoC programs:

AI-driven signals 

AI has revolutionized analytics tools over the past few years by allowing companies to collect large amounts of data quickly while also uncovering signals about specific customer behavior that were not possible before. Going beyond just sentiment,  AI-driven signals help organizations develop strategies that meet customer needs better and lead to long-term success. But the real power of AI is to deliver the signals that are happening now — ones that can impact this quarter's results! 

Automation

Before, businesses had to manually enter data into various formats and generate time-consuming and backward-looking reports. But with the combination of AI-driven insights and automation, teams can now automate processes such as collecting the unabridged, unbiased, and unsolicited voice of the customer. Automation, in this sense, reduces costs and frees up resources while increasing the speed at which teams receive valuable customer feedback. 

Data integration 

Modern customer intelligence platforms can combine multiple data sources to help VoC teams get perspective, providing a richer understanding of customer signals and trends from multiple channels. Using multiple data sources in combination with machine learning algorithms, companies can create more accurate models and insights than they would have been able to do with just one data source. For example, imagine having a searchable interface on top of every inbox, video call, ticket, and survey — a single pane of glass, as it were — a window into a real-time understanding of your customers’ needs and preferences. 

It’s time to modernize your VoC program 

The success of any VoC program depends on selecting the right tools and technologies for collecting, analyzing, and interpreting data. Companies need to consider factors such as cost-effectiveness, scalability, accuracy, and speed when building and updating VoC programs. Here are the considerations to get you started. 

  1. Collect more relevant data sources

Don’t stop surveying, scouring social media, or conducting customer interviews. Gathering multiple data sources is key. But it’s time to add data sources. Customer intelligence technology is maturing quickly. Many of today’s systems allow you to create omnichannel customer experience insights by capturing and analyzing every customer interaction, regardless of channel (phone, email, chat, etc.).   

  1. Analyze and interpret customer data 

Once relevant data has been collected, teams must analyze it effectively to draw meaningful conclusions. This requires the effective use of AI technologies such as natural language processing (NLP) or computer vision (CV). Effective analysis helps uncover signals and patterns that wouldn’t be visible from just looking at raw numbers or statistics like the results of surveys. 

  1. Deliver what matters - now

Finally, companies should use the signals gained from the analysis process to take actionable steps to improve their services or operations to better serve customers’ needs. This could involve implementing changes based on customer feedback or altering marketing strategies according to changing trends in customer preferences.

Overall, creating a modern VoC program is essential for businesses in today's competitive market. By understanding its fundamentals and leveraging advanced technology, companies can gain valuable insights that can help them succeed.

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Software

STURDY.AI ANNOUNCES $6M SEED ROUND

Joel Passen
April 1, 2025
5 min read

Sturdy's Customer Intelligence Platform performs real-time revenue threat root cause analysis, and delivers cross-functional insights to the teams and systems to mitigate churn.

Portland, OR — April 1, 2025 — Sturdy.ai, a pioneer in AI-powered customer intelligence, today announced it has raised $6M in Series Seed funding. Voyager Capital led this round, with participation from Fortson VC as well as existing investor, Grotech Ventures. The funds will be used to deepen Sturdy’s AI capabilities, expand integrations with customer data silos, and grow its go-to-market and engineering teams.

Modern Teams Need Actionable Intelligence to Protect and Grow Revenue

With customer expectations higher than ever and retention under pressure, the need for proactive, AI-driven revenue insights has never been more urgent. According to industry data, reducing churn by just 5% can increase profits by up to 95%. Enterprises have spent millions on building silos of applications to get closer to their customers and create active communication channels in the hope of mitigating churn risk early. Yet, this has failed to provide the proactive warning signals required. Sturdy closes the gap by seeing across these silos for a unified view of customer communication.

“We’re creating an AI-first intelligent interface for all things customer. This allows Sturdy to provide an almost magical understanding of every customer interaction across every data silo,” said Steve Hazelton, CEO and co-founder of Sturdy.ai. “This funding enables us to move faster to empower teams to stay ahead of risk and unlock new revenue opportunities.”

Investors Bet Big on AI-Powered Revenue Threat Detection

The funding round attracted a strong syndicate of investors aligned on Sturdy’s vision for a more innovative, AI-native approach to revenue intelligence. Voyager Capital, known for backing category-defining SaaS platforms, led the round, with General Partner Diane Fraiman joining Sturdy's board.

“Sturdy is tackling one of the most urgent and overlooked problems in enterprise software—how to extract proactive insights from the flood of daily customer interactions,” said Diane Fraiman, Managing Director of Voyager Capital. “Retention has become a critical topic in boardrooms. We believe that every business will have a system of intelligence in the next 3 years. Sturdy’s platform is positioned to become essential infrastructure for any company serious about protecting and growing revenues while truly putting their customers first.”

“Sturdy is one of the most powerful and immediate applications of AI and natural language processing we’ve seen,” said Thomas O’Keefe, CEO of Solo LLC. “At both Solo and previously at Syntrio, it has delivered instant value—surfacing proactive, actionable customer insights and driving measurable improvements in retention.”

About Voyager

Voyager Capital is a leading West Coast early-stage venture firm, providing entrepreneurs with the resources, experience, and connections to build successful companies for today’s modern economy. Voyager invests primarily in B2B technology companies, including AI-driven business solutions, software-driven hardware, sustainable agriculture, and supply chain. The firm's domain expertise, go-to-market, and team-building resources are proven to help build market leaders. Voyager Capital has over $550 million under management with offices and resources in Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, and Calgary. 

About Fortson VC

Fortson VC is a seed-stage venture firm based in the Pacific Northwest, built for exceptionally rare founders who are pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.  Led by Cole Younger, Fortson brings over two decades of early-stage investing experience and a disciplined approach grounded in authenticity, grit, and courage.  While driven by curiosity, our primary focus is B2B software and the technological frontier around it—the infrastructure, intelligence, and automation shaping the future of how businesses create value.

About Grotech Ventures

Founded in 1984, Grotech Ventures is a leading early investor in high-potential technology companies. Grotech seeks innovative, early-stage investments across the technology landscape and continues to invest and add value throughout the life cycle of each portfolio company. The firm has a strong combination of financial backing, industry relationships, and deep domain and operational expertise to accelerate growth. With more than $1.0 billion in committed capital, Grotech supports early-stage companies through investments starting as small as $500,000. For more information, visit http://www.grotech.com.

About Sturdy

Founded in 2020, Sturdy is an AI-forward autonomous Customer Intelligence platform that proactively identifies churn risks across all customer-facing silos. Sturdy analyzes unstructured customer interactions—emails, calls, support tickets, chats, and more—discovering revenue threats, pinpointing root causes, and delivering cross-functional insights in real time. Sturdy has analyzed billions of customer interactions, giving it one of the largest proprietary datasets in the category and enabling its models to surface insights faster and more accurately than competitors. At a time when customer retention is a top priority for every business, Sturdy turns the noise of customer conversations into a strategic advantage.

For more information, visit www.sturdy.ai or reach out to Joel Passen at joel@sturdy.ai

Integrations

Product Update! Sturdy now integrates with Jira

Joel Passen
March 10, 2025
5 min read

We’re making it easier than ever to turn customer feedback into action while saving businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars per year. With Sturdy’s new Jira Connect, any AI-powered Signal in Sturdy can be automatically logged in Jira—helping teams capture, prioritize, and resolve issues faster than ever.

Sturdy for Jira is a Game Changer

Every team needs to know more about their customers. 

Turn customer feedback into valuable Jira content automatically. Sturdy’s AI accurately detects feature requests, bug reports, and other critical product feedback. Customizable agents then deliver this context-rich intelligence to a configurable staging area in Jira with all relevant user and account details, such as segment, ARR, and more. The content is objectively summarized automatically. From there, assigning it to an epic, task, sprint, or release is just one click.

Productivity Gains that Move the Needle

Businesses are unknowingly spending hundreds of thousands of dollars per year on something as simple as manually logging Jira issues. A single customer-facing rep wastes nearly 87 hours annually on repetitive data entry—scaling up to a staggering $354,200 per year for a team of 100 reps. By integrating Sturdy’s AI-driven automation, businesses can reclaim thousands of hours, improve productivity, and reinvest those savings into growth and innovation—all while ensuring more accurate, real-time data flows into Jira effortlessly.

Align product teams with customer reality.

By centralizing AI-powered insights in Jira, Sturdy ensures that product and engineering teams get a complete, objective picture of what’s working, what’s broken, and what needs to be built—without relying on anecdotal feedback. Customer-reported issues appear in Jira moments after they happen, ensuring your product and engineering teams stay ahead of emerging trends and critical bugs—without the lag of traditional reporting.

Effortless setup, immediate impact.

Sturdy’s turnkey integration takes minutes to configure. Once connected, your team gains instant access to context-rich, structured feedback—helping you make faster, data-driven decisions that improve customer satisfaction.

Want to get started? Click the 'Schedule Demo' button at the top of the page.

Integrations

Product Update! Sturdy Now Analyzes Customer Slack Channels

Joel Passen
March 3, 2025
5 min read

We’re making it easier than ever for teams to tap into the power of customer conversations. With this integration, Sturdy’s AI-driven insights—trained to spot key behaviors and trends unique to your business—are now right where your team works. That means more proactive decisions, better collaboration, and a serious productivity boost.

Here’s how Sturdy works with Slack.

  • Get the right insights, right in Slack. Sturdy delivers AI-powered Signals where your team already works, flagging risks, expansion opportunities, and other key moments in real-time. No more digging through conversations—just actionable insights when you need them.

  • Stay on top of every conversation. If your team works asynchronously in Slack channels, it’s easy for important feedback to get lost. Sturdy keeps you ahead by surfacing critical insights before they slip through the cracks.

  • Act fast, not after the fact. Whether it’s a service risk, a feature request, or a potential upsell, Sturdy helps teams spot and respond to what matters—without disrupting their workflow.

Seamless sync with your tools. Sturdy doesn’t just stop at Slack. Insights discovered in customer Slack channels automatically flow into Jira, CSPs, CRMs, and other systems, ensuring the right teams get the right info—without extra work.

How many customers will you have to lose before you try Sturdy?

Schedule Demo
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