The Voice of the Internal Customer as a Feedback Loop
Unlocking the Power of Internal Feedback - with Cindy Camacho
In the fast-paced world of product management, the internal voice of the customer is often an overlooked yet invaluable asset. Imagine a scenario where your internal teams - product, engineering, marketing, support - aren’t just collaborators. They’re your customers. This mindset shift transforms how feedback is gathered and acted upon, creating a more aligned, efficient, and empowered organisation with effective product strategies.
The Importance of Listening Internally
, a thought leader in VOC and founder of VOC Strategies, shares how this idea became central to her career:"I started on the frontlines in support and account management, learning how powerful empathy and listening can be. Later, I realised the same mindset applied internally. The most successful teams treated internal voices as signals, not noise.”
When product operations treat internal departments as customers, VOC becomes a loop of trust. It informs product decisions, aligns cross-functional teams, and supports scalable growth.
As Cindy explains:
“The organisation is my customer. Just like external VOC guides the customer journey, internal VOC guides the product journey.”
Creating Effective Feedback Loops
"Collecting internal feedback isn’t a checkbox exercise. It requires intention. Internal VOC isn’t just quarterly surveys; it’s roundtables, retrospectives, onboarding interviews, and skip-levels. It’s watching where friction repeats and treating that as insight." Cindy explores.
"This operational listening builds systems that actually work in the real world. It reveals unmet needs, workflow breakdowns, and misaligned expectations. Most importantly, it creates space for continuous improvement."
Start with the basics:
Ask: Facilitate retros, interviews, and open forums.
Listen: Don’t just collect - analyse, synthesise, and spot patterns.
Act: Close the loop. Share back what you heard. Adjust processes and tools accordingly.
Then go deeper:
Treat onboarding like a feature: What do new PMs need in their first 90 days
Build launch toolkits: What templates would reduce chaos?
Clarify workflows: Ambiguity breeds escalation, so solve it early.
Empathy and Trust: The Cornerstones of Internal Feedback
Internal VOC is rooted in empathy. And empathy builds trust.
When teams feel seen and heard, they don’t just comply, they contribute. Product operations becomes more than a facilitator, it becomes a strategic enabler.
“Empathy, empathy, empathy,” says Cindy. “When you value internal empathy just as much as external empathy, you are going to succeed.”
"It’s not just about understanding pain points. It’s about acting on them. It’s about validating internal tools the same way we validate features, by watching how people use them, listening to what’s broken, and optimising based on real feedback."
Implementing Internal Feedback Mechanisms
To make internal VOC operational:
Set up safe, recurring spaces for feedback: workshops, async boards, 1:1s.
Track internal satisfaction metrics: time-to-decision, clarity of ownership, team readiness.
Align internal enablement with external success: happy teams make better products.
Product operations can anticipate blockers, streamline launches, and build systems that adapt to the way people actually work, not the way we think they should work.
The Role of Leadership in Fostering Feedback Culture
None of this works without leadership buy-in. Leaders must:
Model vulnerability and openness.
Advocate for feedback as a strategic input.
Empower product ops teams to ask tough questions and follow through.
When leadership values internal feedback, it unlocks cross-functional trust. And trust is the foundation for innovation.
The Outcome: What Happens When You Get It Right
According to Cindy, when internal VOC becomes part of your product ops DNA, you unlock:
Smoother development cycles and faster time to market
Strategic alignment across product, engineering, marketing, and support
Healthier teams who feel empowered, heard, and supported
Fewer escalations, because clear ownership, frictionless processes, and empathetic workflows prevent fires before they start
Internal VOC isn’t just a strategy, it’s a mindset. One rooted in listening, empathy, and shared ownership.
“How we build is just as important as what we build,” Cindy reminds us. “Product ops are the connectors. The amplifiers. The internal experience _is_ the external experience. So listen to your org like your job depends on it, because it does.”
Dive deeper into Internal Voice of the Customer - listen to the Product Opscast episode with Cindy, Graham & Antonia now:
Product Opscast Episode 1: The Org is my Customer
In this episode of the Product OpsCast, hosts Graham Reed and Antonia Landi dive into the transformative power of the internal voice of the customer with special guest Cindy Camacho.
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