What voice of customer feedback methodology (or methodologies) have you found to be most valuable? Specifically, which contact channels do you focus on, how soon do you reach out, how often do you reach out, and do you use a homegrown tool or a third party?

My team works in the product ideation and formulation phase.

Nearly all our work is about getting “voice of customer” early in dev process (per Lean Startup ideas).

In this phase, we are completely dependent on and highly value and prefer short interviews (10-15 minutes tops) where we can hear direct and unfiltered feedback. Since we are often doing prod dev for the same clients, getting their time and interest is a little easier than trying to access the general population. In those cases where the target interviewees incentives are not clear to them, we have to find a way to incentivize them.

Like most CPG companies, we leverage a lot of syndicated data and extensive market research to understand what consumers are looking for on the product side. We also use market research to assess where businesses are investing, such as the future impact of AI, by reading white papers and understanding what's working and what's not.

At Caulipower, we've started using internal focus groups as part of our innovation development. As the company has grown, we've learned that the sooner we bring the voice of the consumer into our product development, the better the products we create. Syndicated data may suggest a certain direction, but real user testing provides invaluable insights. These quick iterations help us refine products before bringing them to market.

We also interact extensively with our consumers on social media, leveraging this channel to create meaningful products. From an operational perspective, our marketing team contributes insights and market guidance during our demand consensus and S&OP (Sales and Operations Planning). This rapid integration of consumer feedback into our operational processes allows us to meet market demands more quickly.