There’s no doubt that consumers now have an abundance of channels through which to voice their opinions about brands and products. This cacophony of feedback flowing across review sites, social media platforms, and community forums represents an immense opportunity for companies to understand their customers more deeply than ever before.
But despite having unprecedented opportunities for consumers to share their thoughts, new research shows fewer people are actually providing feedback, whether it be positive or negative. The reality is that fewer consumers are providing direct feedback through traditional channels like phone, email, or in-person interactions.
Market analysts at Qualtrics recently conducted a survey on how consumers interact with companies, with the research revealing significant shifts in how consumers make their voices heard. Just over a third of consumers surveyed said they would tell the company directly if they had a negative experience, with the majority broadcasting their opinions for the world to see through unfiltered, unstructured data sources.
Nearly half (45 per cent) say they tell their friends and family directly, 26 per cent will leave a review online, while 21 per cent will share their thoughts on social media. And perhaps the biggest challenge for consumer facing businesses is that 21 per cent of those surveyed said they would simply say nothing at all following a bad customer experience.
TSA Group Operations Manager Dylan D’Avoine says companies that acknowledge this paradigm shift and adapt accordingly will be able to elevate their customer experience game to new heights. But those who fail to listen risk missing out on critical insights and falling behind.
“Over the last 10 years, business demographics and customer interaction as a whole have changed quite significantly, pretty much due to the advancement of technology. Customer behaviour has really changed,” Mr D’Avoine said.
“Five to 10 years ago, a lot of people wanted to call through and speak to someone on the other end and get a response, to feel like they’ve really been heard. But in more recent times that has really changed. People don’t want to wait on hold, they want to jump online and do something quick and easy. Most businesses have recognised this and have improved their online journeys for customers to be able to do things quite efficiently. But the downfall of that is not being able to truly engage customer sentiment and feedback if you’re not actually speaking to the customers.”
Evolving feedback dynamics
While customer surveys, call centres, and comment cards were once fertile ground for companies to solicit feedback, Mr D’Avoine says consumer behaviour has changed dramatically. Mr D’Avoine says most companies are aware of the need to have a wide range of ways for a customer to contact them, but in 2024, direct feedback is not the only consideration that’s needed.
Instead, Mr D’Avoine says dedicated teams need to monitor social media channels, review portals such as Yelp or Google Reviews, as well as community websites to delve into unfiltered customer sentiment and act accordingly.
“Having a digital outlet is the new normal and having a social media team that can address customer concerns via Facebook and Instagram is becoming more and more popular,” he says.
“It’s so easy to go online and comment about companies, make fun of problems and complain about things, so it’s really good to have a social media team available to answer those concerns and understand what people are really thinking about.”
However, for those companies that are struggling to measure any feedback at all, Mr D’Avoine says a more proactive approach is necessary.
“If you’re not getting the feedback online, you have to proactively go out and get it. We need to know what’s going to better the experience for customers because that’s the goal at the end of the day,” he says.
“We always want to improve the customer experience, make things more efficient and make our customers feel heard, so you have to proactively go out and seek it. That can be done via welcome calls, surveys, and mailouts that are sent to customers to really understand what they’re thinking. Whether it’s positive or negative, that’s beside the point, businesses really need to know what customers are thinking and what their thoughts are.”
Harnessing unstructured insights
While it was once feasible for companies to manually monitor a handful of public feedback channels, the sheer scale and diversity of the digital landscape renders that approach obsolete. Companies must employ innovative technologies to successfully capture and analyse expansive streams of customer data.
Thankfully, Mr D’Avoine says technological advancement has a big part to play in accurately mining customer sentiment from multiple sources.
“Especially over the last five years, we no longer necessarily need to see a customer comment on something to know if they are engaging with it,” he says.
“Most technology tools can now see how long people have stayed on certain parts of a website or how long they have spent reading certain articles, so we can actually gain an understanding by looking at what people are looking at and how long they’re staying on for, which can then help us make decisions.”
By evolving their strategies and applying cutting-edge technologies to truly listen to customers across today’s expansive digital landscape, companies can transform traditional customer feedback from an operational necessity into a powerful catalyst for customer-centric innovation, loyalty, and growth.
TSA are Australia’s market leading specialists in CX Consultancy and Contact Centre Services. We are passionate about revolutionising the way brands connect with Australians. How? By combining our local expertise with the most sophisticated customer experience technology on earth, and delivering with an expert team of customer service consultants who know exactly how to help brands care for their customers.