Are You Really Listening to Your Customers?

Too many companies still ask customers to fill out surveys after an interaction—then call it a “Voice of the Customer” program. But according to new research, more than half of all customer feedback never makes it into those survey boxes. That feedback is often already being provided in live chats, phone calls, and service messages, but it’s rarely captured, analyzed, or acted on.

That’s where conversational intelligence (CI) comes in.

Thanks to advances in AI and natural language processing, brands can now extract rich, actionable insight from everyday conversations happening in the contact center. The upside? Companies that use CI consistently report higher NPS®, better first-contact resolution, stronger upsell performance, and clearer product feedback loops.

🧠 The Shift from Collecting to Comprehending 

Here’s the problem: while 73% of fast-growing brands plan to increase investment in conversational intelligence, only about one-third of CX teams use it meaningfully. Most still rely heavily on outdated surveys or spreadsheets and it shows.

Medallia’s latest research revealed that:

• 59% of customer insights are never captured if you rely on surveys alone
• CX leaders are 6x more likely to use conversational data effectively than CX laggards
• High-growth companies are 2x more likely to use CI to drive strategic decisions

The difference between a company that reacts to feedback and one that learns from every interaction, isn’t customer effort. It’s a data effort.

🔍 Why Conversational Intelligence Matters Now 

Surveys are declining in participation and often miss the emotional nuance of customer pain. Contact centers are full of gold but it’s unstructured, unlabeled, and largely untapped.

AI is changing that, converting tone, sentiment, and intent into insights for coaching, product design, and proactive recovery.

When properly integrated, conversational intelligence surfaces complaints and predicts friction, personalizes outreach, and coaches agents in real time.

But adoption still lags due to fragmented tech stacks, data silos, and limited cross-team visibility.

To unlock the full value, CX leaders must ensure that insights flow freely between departments (from contact center to product to marketing) so action can be taken at every level.

Are you leveraging conversational intelligence (CI) and driving its insights across your organization?