Hi, and thanks for joining me as I dive into a question that's top of mind for product managers (PMs) and product marketing managers (PMMs) alike: Who’s responsible for being the voice of the customer? 

What is the voice of the customer?

Before we tackle the ‘who’, let's first understand the ‘what.’ What does the ‘voice of the customer’ mean? Is it just about feature requests or pricing inquiries? 

Believe it or not, for many organizations, being the voice of the customer simply means paying attention to the features they’re asking for and passing those requests along to the relevant teams. 

Sounds straightforward, right? But there's more to it than that.

Being the voice of the customer goes beyond just understanding the features customers want and what they hope to achieve with them. It's about understanding why a customer is using a feature. What prompted them to ask for it in the first place? How does that feature solve a pain point or help them meet a specific goal?

Digging into the why

Let me give you an example from my days in the DNS realm. In case you’re not familiar with DNS, it stands for domain name system and is used by both network professionals and security teams. 

I recall a customer, a network admin, who requested a dashboard feature to highlight certain misconfigurations from the past 24 hours. Instead of just adding it to our roadmap, we dug deeper. We asked, “Why do you want this dashboard? How will these specific DNS data points assist you in your decision-making, or help you better grasp your environment?” 

When we probed further, we discovered that our customer was on the lookout for DNS data misconfigurations because he was concerned that a single misconfiguration might knock an entire system offline, or even take out multiple applications, which could mean losing business and damaging his reputation.

But we didn’t stop at just that. We asked him to detail exactly what kinds of misconfigurations he was looking for. He told us he was on the lookout for anomalies, changes that had occurred over the past 24 hours. Was there a spike in the data volume? Had the types of DNS configurations on specific servers shifted?

As we unpacked this, we posed another question: who else uses this data? That’s when he introduced us to his security counterpart. This individual tapped into the DNS data differently, identifying threats like DNS tunneling or data exfiltration through DNS. They were keen to see if anyone within their network had accessed a malicious site, pinpointing potential threats via DNS requests.

Having tuned into the voice of the customer, we had a much clearer idea of what we needed to build. We weren’t just creating a dashboard for misconfigurations. Instead, we were constructing a tool to help users detect data anomalies and address issues both from a networking and security perspective. This enabled us to develop a robust feature set that would truly serve our customers’ needs.

That, to me, is what it means to be the voice of the customer. It's not just about what customers say they want; it’s about discerning their motivations, goals, and the underlying reasons behind their requests.

PMMs’ stake in the voice of the customer

Now, you might be asking, “Aren’t product management responsible for the voice of the customer?” Well, yes, they are, but they’re not the only ones. 

Product managers typically approach the voice of the customer from a product-centric perspective – using it to shape the roadmap, figure out which bug fixes to prioritize, and discern how customers use and benefit from specific features.

So, where does product marketing fit into all this? Let’s take a look at some of our key responsibilities. 

Mapping the buyer journey and understanding different personas’ motivations 

At its core, product marketing revolves around understanding the buyers’ journey – how they discover, evaluate, and eventually purchase a product. 

However, it's crucial to note that buyers aren't a monolithic group. Within the buyer category, you have a range of personas, including influencers, decision-makers, end-users, and even purchasing departments. Each of these personas brings its own motivations and objectives to the table.

So, when we talk about the voice of the customer in product marketing, we're diving deep into the myriad of voices coming from these distinct personas. This understanding is gold for product marketers, enabling them to answer questions like: 

  • What does a potential buyer look for in a product within our category? 
  • On what criteria are they judging solutions? Is it solely on price or core functionalities? 
  • How does the product assist the organization and the individual's day-to-day operations? 
  • After the purchase, how smooth is their onboarding process? 
  • What's their time to value?

Once they’ve grasped these nuances, product marketers can craft compelling materials to engage similar types of buyers and users in their target market.

Let's take the influencer persona as an example. These individuals are generally most interested in whether or not a product solves the problems they’re coming up against today. But what about the future? Will the product be able to accommodate users’ evolving needs and features that will come to fruition in the next few years? 

Considering the rapidly evolving tech landscape, with trends like cloud adoption and now the rise of AI, it’s vital for PMMs to understand how these shifts impact customers – especially when we relate it back to specialized areas, like the DNS space, which I touched on earlier.

Decision-makers bring another perspective. They may juggle budget constraints or have overarching company initiatives guiding their choices. 

And let's not forget the external factors, such as market forces and competitors. Recognizing which competitors resonate with buyers, and why, can yield invaluable insights. Maybe a certain competitor's marketing campaign strikes a chord with a particular segment of buyers. That insight can guide PMMs in refining their strategies and offerings in order to win more deals.

In essence, PMMs act like detectives, gathering insights from various sources to build a comprehensive understanding of the voice of the customer. Whether it's trade shows, conferences, or customer meetings, they're always in search of the nuggets of wisdom that can shape their next big campaign or inform product developments. 

Understanding customers’ initiatives and enabling sales teams

Sometimes tapping into the voice of the customer is about understanding the major initiatives that are being undertaken at a customer’s organization. Companies are not solely influenced by the immediate product benefits but by larger, strategic initiatives that align with their long-term vision. To ensure your offering aligns with these organizational initiatives, it's crucial to step back and look at the bigger picture.

For instance, in the realm of security, there’s increasing emphasis on a zero-trust architecture. With more and more enterprises moving in this direction, it’s crucial to align your solutions to this shift and ultimately help customers not only address immediate concerns but also implement zero-trust architecture.

This holistic understanding is where the PMM comes in. We play a crucial role in assimilating insights from various stakeholders into the product roadmap. We’re the bridge between what the market needs, how the product evolves, and how we go to market. 

And let’s not forget the importance of enablement. Part of our mandate is to enable sales teams to talk about our product, ensuring that the sales conversation aligns with our marketing campaigns. 

What about sales?

Speaking of sales teams, they’re also deeply involved with the voice of the customer. They’re on the front lines, dealing with different personas, understanding their constraints, aspirations, and needs. Whether it's budget limitations, compliance requirements, or alignment with other organizational priorities, the sales team brings in a rich, practical understanding of market dynamics.

Here's the thing: both PMMs and sales teams are guided by the voice of the customer –  they're just attuned to different frequencies of that voice. While PMMs might prioritize the broader business objectives of potential clients, sales teams tend to be more attuned to immediate concerns, like budget constraints or compliance necessities.

Buyer and user personas’ motivations

When it comes to understanding the market, we categorize our insights based on two primary personas: the buyers and the users. As we’ve seen, buyers encompass a range of individuals – from the influencers who guide buying decisions to those who ultimately approve the purchase. The users, on the other hand, are those who interact with the product day in and day out. 

Understanding the motivations of both of these groups is a crucial aspect of embodying the voice of the customer for your organization. So, let’s dive into their motivations. 

Buyers are motivated by various factors. Here are some of the questions on their minds:

  • Is this the most cost-effective solution? 
  • What's the vendor's reputation?
  • If I invest in this product now, will the vendor still be around in five years? 
  • What’s the total cost of ownership? 
  • Will I get my money's worth?
  • How fast will I see a return on my investment?

Users, on the other hand, are more focused on immediate practicalities. They want to know: 

  • How quickly will I see value from this product? 
  • Is it going to take me forever to get it up and running and providing value to my end users? 
  • Will it integrate well with the other tools I'm using? 
  • When issues arise, what kind of support can I expect? 

The ‘what’, the ‘why’, and the ‘how’ behind these questions are vital. They inform not just product marketing, but product management and sales too. 

Everyone owns the voice of the customer

While we often talk about product management, product marketing, and sales and their responsibility for the voice of the customer, no single department owns it. It's a collective responsibility. Each team taps into different aspects of customer feedback to guide their decisions, whether it's shaping a product roadmap, crafting marketing materials, or perfecting sales scripts.

However, the conversation doesn't stop with these teams. For instance, while I haven't touched on engineering or UX (user experience) teams here, they play a pivotal role. They need to understand the voice of the customer just as much as PMMs do. What do customers expect in terms of features or product performance? Do they anticipate high availability? Is there an expected timeline for feature delivery?

While engineering and UX might be more internally focused, product and product marketing teams serve as bridges to the outside world. It's crucial that they relay the voice of the customer to those designing and building the product, ensuring that what's crafted aligns with customer expectations and needs.

Closing thoughts

I'll leave you with another story from my time working with DNS. We had a customer who requested a particularly advanced feature. They wanted high availability for their internal DNS systems, insisting that the backup server remain live at all times. On top of this, they wanted to be able to switch seamlessly between the two servers, ensuring that core functions were mirrored.

Now, that’s a costly feature to build out! It would have taken months too. So, rather than just diving in, we sought to understand the ‘why’ behind the request. As we began digging into their motivations, the customer revealed that they were facing issues with our product's database crashing during specific tasks. They saw this high-availability feature as a safety net in case of such failures.

This revelation was enlightening. If we had taken the customer's request at face value, we might have poured huge resources into developing that feature. However, by digging deeper into their actual needs and concerns, we discovered a flaw in our own product. Fixing this flaw turned out to be a far simpler and more cost-effective solution than building an entirely new feature.

The lesson here is that getting to grips with the voice of the customer is not just about understanding how or why they use a feature. It's about grasping the underlying motivations driving their requests. Keep that in mind, and you'll find invaluable insights.

This article is based on Rohan’s brilliant talk at our exclusive Product Marketing Misunderstood event. PMA members can enjoy the full recording here.