How do you ensure that you’re listening to your customers? Do you rely on random phone surveys and questionnaires? If so, does the information you gather give you an accurate picture of how your customers feel and how loyal they are?
Vovici, which provides enterprise feedback management (EFM) software, is providing a new module for its EFM products called Community Builder that aims to gather these types of data directly from customers by leveraging the product’s survey capabilities.
Dean Wiltse, chairman and CEO of Vovici, told us that both EFM and Community Builder integrate with Salesforce.com’s Ideas platform. Companies collect qualitative feedback using Ideas, he said. “We can add a component to them that allows them to collect quantitative feedback by deploying surveys. The real power is then being able to marry the profile data and transactional data and offline data that you may have in your CRM system into our EFM solution,” he said.
Community Builder will give companies the ability to include forums, suggestion boxes, knowledge bases, Facebook-style social interaction, and other resources that will make it easier to gain insight into customer sentiment and satisfaction. “When you can take the transactional data and put that together with quantitative survey data, it really gives a completely new, very rich set of information that hasn’t been easily implemented in the past,” Wiltse said.
Secure Database of Community Panels
Wiltse said one large technology manufacturer that utilizes the Ideas platform will add a “Join Our Advisory Panel” link directly from the Ideas portal. The reward for doing so is getting to see new products before they come out and having the opportunity to provide feedback.
Creating a more respectful survey environment is critical, Wiltse said. “Part of building the relationship is making sure the survey process is one that respects…