In developing medical devices, there is an aspect to it that is overlooked, sometimes. And that is probably because in producing medical devices, some marketers and developers have never really understood its significance and benefits.
Well, in today’s quick guide, I would shed more light on the fundamentals of VOC in Medical Device Marketing, and as you read on, you’ll find every detail useful.
What is VOC?
In simple terms, the Voice of the Customer (VOC) is a process that captures customers’ needs and requirements.
In my experience in Med-tech, I’ve seen a lot of people use the word VOC for any customer interactions, in relation to the entire process of product development.
Sometimes VOC is used after the product’s launch, and there, the term is used as a synonym of market research, market analysis, customer satisfaction assessment, and customer experience management.
Although I do not see very big problems with this viewpoint, I will focus only on the original meaning of VOC, which is placed at the beginning of the development process.
Origin of VOC
The term VOC appeared in 1993 in a paper written by Abbie Griffin and John Hauser in the journal of Marketing Science. This paper unveiled the best practices to understand and collect customer needs. And these findings are still valid today, in the medical device industry.
According to the 1993 paper, VOC should produce the complete set of customer needs, in a hierarchical structure, prioritized for relative importance and current performance.
VOC is conducted at the start (“Fuzzy Front End”) of any new product, process, or service design project to better understand the customer’s wants and needs.
How Extensive Should The VOC Be?
Quick answer; it depends on the project!
Here’s what I mean: For instance, in the case of me-too products, refreshed products, and updated platforms, the VOC could be limited, but for an innovative product, solid data are needed.
According to Griffin and Hauser, a typical VOC study involves 20-30 customers (per segment) interviewed for one hour. At the end of the VOC, you should feel confident that you have interviewed enough people to clearly identify their needs.
In summary, you need to test your high-risk hypothesis with the VOC.
Furthermore, VOC requires resources (time and money). However, big companies, SME and startups, do not have the same availability of resources to be invested in VOC studies.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to test everything during the VOC process, and some compromise is always required; nevertheless, skipping or doing a “justifying VOC” is very dangerous.
With that being said, there are different methods by which you can collect customer inputs that are complementary to the original VOC methods. And these options can reduce the effort for the VOC.
We’ll discuss them below:
VOC Methodologies
Typically, the methods to collect the VOC are customer interviews and focus groups.
Ideally, customer and non-customer interviews are “the source” of needs exploration, and I think it is essential.
However, interviewing people is a science and an art. And I will share in another post some tips and tricks about customer interviews.
Moving on, Focus groups and advisory panels allow organizations to collect more and varied needs; due to the group synergy.
My concern about focus groups is that the individual contribution is reduced, and to manage a group of people, you need a professional facilitator.
Although not mentioned in the original article about the VOC, other methodologies do exist. Hence, a robust, comprehensive VOC program should incorporate multiple methods.
Other sources:
Customer Observation: Here, you’ll need to observe real clinical challenges and problems during the focused treatment/procedure.
Also, follow the complete process before, during, and after the treatment and think about the different actors, HCP, patient, and other stakeholders.
I recommend that you use fresh eyes, as they are very good to see undetected problems.
Customer Complaints And Feedback Forms: Here, I’m not referring only to the official complaints that are treated by your quality department, which are obviously important.
Instead, I think you must consider all the unofficial complaints or feedback coming; from users and the salesforce.
Warranty Data: Warranty data are a valuable source of product failures and customer dissatisfaction. They can help you discover some patterns of misuse; due to poor usability.
Customer Survey: In this case, in addition to the interviews, the Customer Survey allows you to collect information quickly and in a different form. This information can be qualitative and quantitative.
SalesForce Or Industry Expert Interviews: I believe that salesforce interviews are very useful and can be a “surrogate marker” of the customer interview.
Here are some advantages to it, that support my belief: higher accessibility, lower cost, less problem of confidentiality.
And the most significant is that a sales rep could have seen tens or even hundreds of different customers when normally one customer speaks for his or other few customers’ experience.
Some limitations, however, include bias, not effective enough to identify latent needs and problems, lack of vision.
Competitive benchmarking: Benchmarking helps organizations understand how competitors and market leaders satisfy their customers’ needs.
Benchmarking also allows organizations to identify successes, best practices, and significant improvements.
The First Two Steps Of The VOC
The first stage of the VOC
What happens at the very first VOC stage?
At first, you need to test and define your need statement in order to describe and characterize the opportunity. Basically, check if the customer problem you want to solve is real.
Second Stage Of The VOC
Second VOC stage – user requirements generation:
Practically, it is the process of collecting the requirements from end-users and other stakeholders. This process allows you to gain a better understanding of the product context and define the requirements.
VOC Outcomes
The VOC process produces fundamental-outcomes, and its benefit in the new product development process is undeniable.
It provides:
- The complete list of user requirements
- Alignment and a common language in the development team
- The input for design specifications/inputs
- The source of customer-oriented innovation
- A solid base for concept development
Conclusion
The VOC is a continuous process during the development of a medical device, and it does not end with the first step (“Fuzzy Front End”) as defined by Griffin and Hauser.
Furthermore, conducting an appropriate VOC provides a good direction for product development and product innovation.
With that, you will be able to develop medical products that customers will appreciate because they will fit their requirements.