Six Sigma Marketing Voices of the Customer, Business, Process, and Employees

A Six Sigma Marketing process has many voices that influence the way it is designed, and the way it delivers products and services to the end customer.

In Lean Six Sigma Marketing, these voices are given names, which are Voice of the Customer, Voice of the Business, Voice of the Process, and Voice of the Employee. Below are some definitions of these voices and their importance in the Six Sigma Marketing process.

Voice of the Customer (VOC)

The Voice of the Customer defines the needs and expectations of the end customer. It is a voice that absolutely must be heard for the marketing process that is being developed or optimized to deliver customer value.

At the end of the day, the Voice of the Customer is a market research technique that produces a detailed set of customer wants and needs, organized into a structured format, and then prioritized with all other alternatives. The Voice of the Customer consists of both qualitative and quantitative research. The Voice of the Customer is best when developed at the start of any new product, process, or service design initiative in order to better understand the customer's wants and needs. There are many ways to gather the Voice of the Customer inputs including things like focus groups, individual interviews, etc.

Voice of the Business (VOB)

The Voice of the Business is a voice that ensures the objectives of the organization are reflected in its business processes. The best way to think about the VOB is as a tool that captures the stated and unstated needs of the shareholders/business owners. A business scorecard is a very commonly used tool to capture the Voice of the Business including metrics like profit, cost reductions, return on equity, etc.

Voice of the Process (VOP)

The Voice of the Process is a voice that addresses the capability of the process, including limitations of the process. For example, it may not be possible to provide high quality web design if your marketing team employs people with little knowledge of designing websites. In this example, the VOP is simply not capable of providing that level of service needed to meet the Voice of the Customer and Voice of the Business.

Voice of the Employee (VOE)

The Voice of the Employee is essential. Your employees’ voice is instrumental in designing processes and implementing them once they have been designed. This voice cannot be neglected.