Voice of Customer (VoC) research is the systematic process of capturing, analyzing, and acting on customer feedback and perceptions. The goal is to deeply understand customer needs, expectations, preferences, and challenges to help organizations make more informed decisions about product development, marketing, customer experience, and strategic planning.
At its core, voice of the customer research is about listening to the people who matter most: your customers.
Why VoC Research Matters in the Building Products & Home Improvement Industry
In the built environment, understanding customer behavior isn't optional, it’s a strategic advantage. Homeowners, contractors, builders, dealers all have distinct needs that evolve with market conditions, technologies, and economic shifts. Decision-makers and users of lower incidence products are often tough to track down. That's where experience in reaching hard-to-find audiences makes all the difference.
VoC research enables brands to:
- Optimize messaging and positioning
- Identify unmet needs or gaps in product/service offerings
- Validate innovations before they hit the market
- Deepen customer loyalty and satisfaction
The Farnsworth Group’s Approach to Voice of Customer Research
TFG specializes in custom-built research for the building products and home improvement space. The Farnsworth Group blends qualitative techniques like in-depth interviews and focus groups with robust quantitative surveys to understand both the “what” and the “why” behind customer behavior.
Qualitative: Uncover motivations, emotions, and unspoken needs.
Quantitative: Validate findings and define behaviors with statistical rigor.
Here’s how voice of the customer research fits into The Farnsworth Group's research toolkit:
1. Segmentation & Persona Development
VoC efforts often lead to segmentation, which breaks your customer base into distinct groups and the development of personas that guide targeting, media use, and messaging strategies. These segments can be identified in future research through the use of a type tool, which will allow your teams to be reach your ideal customer targets study over study. The result is a consistent longitudinal customer approach to insights and go-to-market strategies.
2. Customer Path to Purchase
Understanding how customers move from motivations to research to decision helps identify points of friction or delight throughout their process to determine what you need to say, when you need to say it, how you need to say it and to whom to influence decisions along their journey. Outcomes of understanding the customer's Path to Purchase have a range of implications across: Channel, Marketing, Sales, Product, and Branding.
3. Product & Concept Testing
VoC is also critical for ensuring product-market fit. The Farnsworth Group helps clients gather pre-launch feedback on features, pricing, packaging, and appeal to improve the chances of success and increase sales. Product Concept Testing and Validation is done through both Qualitative and Quantitative research methods. Outcomes will drive feature enhancements, defining most preferred messaging of product benefits, and understand purchase interest at various price points. All of which is being determined based on feedback from highly qualified end-users of the product.
4. Brand Health Studies
What do your customers really think of your brand? How do they compare you to your competition? The Farnsworth Group's VoC research helps uncover brand strengths, weaknesses, and white space opportunities. There are often two perspectives organizations can take. One is more associated to Customer Satisfaction, where you capture VoC from existing customers or users of the brand. Very important to understand how to retain customers and drive loyalty. The other is a sample of the broader market, making sure to capture not only customers of your brand but non-customers. This perspective provides a more representative market view to help you understand where your brand stands in context of others, and what gaps you may need to close to capture more of the market.
Common Applications of Voice of the Customer Research
When you partner with The Farnsworth Group to conduct Voice of the Customer (VoC) research, you'll gain actionable insights that drive key business functions across departments, to use for efforts in:
- Marketing Optimization: Inform campaign direction with data-driven messaging.
- Product Development: Build solutions aligned with actual user needs.
- Strategic Planning: Identify high-potential market segments and unmet needs.
- CX Improvements: Pinpoint customer pain points to enhance service delivery.
Can You Rely Solely on What Your Salespeople Report Back from Customers?
While salespeople offer valuable frontline insights into customer needs and preferences, relying solely on their reports can lead to an incomplete or biased understanding. Their perspectives may be shaped by individual interactions, incentive structures, or selective recall, which can miss broader trends or emerging pain points. To build a more accurate and comprehensive view of the customer experience, it’s essential to supplement sales feedback with systematic Voice of the Customer research, such as surveys, interviews, and behavioral data analysis.
Your Next Steps in Conducting VoC Research
Voice of Customer research is more than just listening—it's translating what you hear into smarter strategy, stronger products, and stickier customer relationships. When done right, VoC becomes a compass for decision-making across every corner of your business.
Unlike generic market research firms, our research experts at The Farnsworth Group brings decades of building industry expertise to the table. That means sharper questions, better recruiting, and insights that make sense in your world, because they come from a team that lives and breathes it.
By weaving customer insights into product design, branding, marketing, and channel strategies, companies can act with clarity and confidence, not guesswork. The result? Less risk, more alignment, and a sharper edge in a market that’s constantly shifting.
In the building products and home improvement industry, staying close to your customers isn't a nice-to-have, it’s a must. With a thoughtful VoC research approach, guided by experienced partners like The Farnsworth Group, you're won't be just responding to the market, but staying ahead of it.
