Medallia just announced its intent to acquire digital experience analytics vendor Decibel. This move underscores an important fact: Companies need more than just customer feedback to determine where customers struggle and how experiences can be improved.

Decibel helps brands understand their digital experiences by measuring experience quality and providing a digital experience score. Decibel also provides bi-directional, real-time integrations to a wealth of other technologies used to support customer experience (CX) efforts such as customer feedback management (CFM) platforms, voice-of-the-customer (VoC) tools, and customer relationship management (CRM), making it easier to connect to other parts of the organization and achieve an omnichannel view.

This acquisition is a good move that will help firms focus more on the “why” behind feedback and encourage collaboration between CX and digital teams. It comes with questions, however.

First, Medallia has made a number of acquisitions in recent years. How will all of these technologies and associated underlying data structures be integrated to create a more seamless experience for its customers?

Second, given that cost continues to be one of the pain points for many CFM and VoC technology customers and shoppers: What will this cost Medallia customers? Will these capabilities be included, or will they be an add-on module?

Do you have any questions about this acquisition or about what’s next in customer feedback management and VoC? I look forward to sharing more in my research and discussions with Forrester clients via inquiry.