From Voice to Value: Why Smarter Retailers Are Listening Differently

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Guest Article: Phil Prosser

Retailers are swimming in data - but it’s action that drives results. In this guest piece, Phil Prosser, Founder of Feedback ASAP, unpacks how the smartest brands are using customer feedback to lift standards, justify premium pricing, and unlock real growth. It's time to shift CX from cost centre to commercial engine.

Right now, retail is under pressure. Leaders are trying to protect margin while facing rising inflation, supply chain complexity, and relentless discounting. But while some are stuck in reactive mode, others are quietly re-defining value and growing. They're not throwing margin out the door. They’re using customer feedback to lift standards, improve experiences, increase ATV and  justify premium pricing.

Here’s what they know.

Why Most Feedback Programs Fail

It’s not a lack of data that holds most retailers back. It’s that they’re not using it to drive action. I call it the "data-rich, action-poor" trap. Most programs stop at measurement. NPS. CSAT. A long dashboard of metrics. But these don’t improve themselves. They don’t drive commercial performance unless feedback is:

• Real Time (Fast)

• Prioritised (easy to understand)

• Actioned by frontline teams

If no one knows what to do differently tomorrow, then the system is broken. Worse still, teams tune out and so do customers.

The Retailers Getting It Right Do These 4 Things:

1. They turn feedback into improvement priorities

At every store level, each team member knows what their top CX standard to improve is. There’s no guesswork – and we suggest keep it to ONE top priority as a focus for that quarter.

It’s not a mystery. It’s clear, shared, and focused on what matters most to customers.

2. They Link Action to Training

It's not about generic eLearning. Feedback drives targeted capability development (e.g. "this store is losing sales due to poor product explanation"). Training follows the gap.

The key to this is making it easy. If you can click directly from customer led opportunities through to training modules or resources that will help that person improve, you are building skills and confidence. Oh! And you are also getting much better ROI from your training spend.

3. They Track Growth and ROI, Not Just chasing vanity Scores

In our experience there is a very definite link between frontline behavior changes and performance metrics like:

• ATV (Average Transaction Value)

• Add-on rates

• Conversion rates

• Google reviews

• Advocacy rates (how many people have actually recommended you in the past 12 months)

• Customer sentiment

  
  

There are many more depending on your industry (e.g. quote conversion rates) but the key point here is that key service standards impact the sales pathway and unless you understand what they are, their cumulative impact, and how to improve them you are simply chasing scores that make you feel good or satisfy your Board as a number on a scorecard!

When your program is focussed on growth you’ll be able to use these linkages to justify investment in people, not discounting.

4.        They Engage Teams in the ‘Why’

Staff don’t want more data. They want to win. When they see how small actions drive big results, they get on board fast.

It starts with every team member understanding why it all matters… but then linking a CX growth program to recognition and reward allows you to identify proven best practices, capture the knowledge of what works for future training, and appreciate your team so others see the program as a positive tool for their own growth.

Feedback as a Value Driver, not a Scorekeeper

As mentioned, a common trap in CX is chasing perfection on the scoreboard. High NPS. High CSAT. But the scoreboard isn’t the game. The most commercially successful retailers use voice-of-customer to:

• Identify value-add opportunities – sell the full solution, maximise add-ons

• Validate what customers will pay for

• Justify premium pricing

One client used feedback to personalise the customer experience and identify more relevant customer needs. The top  performers for this achieved 57% higher ATV

One client found that by offering additional products and the customer accepting this boosted NPS to 92 compared not offering additional products was an NPS 52

Another retailer shifted the focus on explaining the value of going with them. When this was achieved NPS was at 87 versus 56 when it was not achieved which improved conversion rates.  The top performers   generated 58% new customers versus 30% with 48% of these new customers coming from referrals & good reviewd

The Biggest Missed Opportunity in Retail CX

It’s not budget. Or systems. It’s failing to connect feedback to frontline action.

Most CX programs sit with head office, disconnected from the teams who influence the outcome. Until customer voice becomes a tool your teams use, not just something they’re measured on, you’re potential growth will stall.

Why Dashboards Aren’t Enough Anymore

Here’s the hard truth: most CX programs today are data rich but action poor. They’re still all about presenting scores and results. Whether it’s a slick dashboard, an app, or a monthly report, it’s still just a look in the rearview mirror.

The question isn’t "what happened?" anymore. It’s what now?

This is where the best programs are heading and where Feedback ASAP is leading the companies who are wanting to improve and grow. It’s about these things:

• Taking the guesswork out of what they said so you know how they felt. Being able to interpret your own customer feedback.

• Revealing the why behind the score

• Pinpointing what happened, who needs congrats or coaching, and how to fix it

• Most importantly, showing exactly where to go next

Modern tools and smart systems let you go from being reactive to proactive and in many cases, predictive. When you understand the triggers behind customer disappointment, you can get ahead of it. You can:

• Design consistent, repeatable experiences that avoid failure points

• Create moments that delight customers and build loyalty

• Drive repeat visits, local advocacy, and new leads

That’s the future of growth-focused CX and it’s here now.

What Should Leaders Do Now?

Stop measuring for measurement’s sake.

Ask: can every team in our business name their #1 CX focus this week?

Make it visible. Make it actionable. Make it count.

Link improvement to growth, not compliance.

From Cost Centre to Growth Engine

When done right, customer feedback isn’t an overhead. It’s your unfair advantage.

It tells you where you’re leaking sales. It shows you what customers will pay more for.

It engages teams in real-time improvement.

Done wrong, it's another dashboard no one reads.

We’ve spent 25+ years helping retailers turn voice-of-customer into commercial results. Not more data. More action. More margin.

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Phil is the founder of Feedback ASAP a growth system built for action. Phil is a kiwi and started his CX businesses in Wellington many years ago. Now with over 25 years’ experience designing and embedding customer improvement programs, he works with retailers across ANZ and North America to grow their commercial performance through smarter, faster, feedback-driven action. He has developed global programs for Apple McDonalds, Shell and Yum and run programs across 74 countries