What Reviews And Social Media Reveal About Your Customer Experience

“Customer Experience” is quickly becoming the buzz term for this year, and rightfully so. As consumers are more selective on where they spend their dollars, their experience will determine whether they choose to continue to spend money with you. In fact, 86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience.

How can you tell if your customers had a great experience? It’s easy. They’ll tell you.

In a 2020 survey conducted by BrightLocal, 72% of US consumers said they have written a review for a local business – a big jump from 66% in 2019. On social media, the average consumer mentions brands 90 times per week to their friends, family and coworkers.

What does all of this mean? It means the customer experience does not end when the customer walks out your door. Not only that, the reviews and social media conversations taking place about you can be collected and analyzed to provide a breadth of data that can help you make smarter business decisions to ensure a positive experience with your brand.

For example, we analyzed review and social media data for a national retail outlet to better understand why sales were dipping in one specific market. They were receiving high marks in-store and, in person, the customer always expressed they had a great experience with the customer service representatives and left happy. So why was foot traffic decreasing?

The answer was in their reviews. After analyzing review and social media data for 12 specific locations, we discovered that 61% of negative experiences happened after the sale. The in-store experience was great and the customer even mentioned staff by name, but after they left the store, they experienced headaches with delivery and issues with one specific product. It was so bad, it led them to complaining online. And guess what? A negative review can drive away 40% of potential customers.

That stat sounds scary doesn’t it? Well, the good news is the review data enabled us to accurately identify the source of the problem so the retailer could correct the issue and ensure customers had a positive experience throughout the entire interaction with them.

Here are steps to take to help fix it:

• Respond to the negative reviews regarding delivery and product issues after the sale. Seven in 10 survey respondents indicated that a brand’s response to an online consumer review changes their perception of a brand, most commonly by making them feel that the brand really cares about customers (41%), that it has great customer service (35%), and that it is trustworthy (22%). What’s more, shoppers who read brand responses to negative reviews showed significantly higher product sentiment and intent to purchase. (Bazaarvoice)
• Implement mystery shopper programs specific to delivery and post-purchase customer service.
• Identify why delivery issues were happening and educate store associates while making any necessary changes.
• Proactively follow up with new customers to ask for a review of their delivery experience, which gives us even more data to see if the experience was improved.

The result? An increase in customer satisfaction and (more importantly) an increase in repeat sales and positive online reviews, leading to customer acquisition and even more sales.

What are your customers saying about you in online reviews and social media? Connect with us. We’ll help you find out.