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Mobile Feedback Offers More Options

 

Customer feedback is important, but can be difficult to obtain – traditional methods, including POS invitations to participate in surveys, have yielded lower response rates in the last few years. There is a way to reinvent the way you get feedback, opinions, and perceptions from your customers. Mobile feedback offers more flexibility and opportunity to get this valuable information in a simple, cost-effective manner.

 

Take a look at the quick tip we’ve created to learn more about our mobile feedback services:

 

 

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ACSI Report: Small Restaurants Flourish, Big Names Fall

 

The ACSI (American Customer Satisfaction Index) released the 2014 Restaurant Report. The good news – the economy is improving, with results indicating that consumers ate out an average of four times per week in 2013. This increase, at 60%, is the strongest we’ve seen since the recession started several years ago.

 

According to the recent report, this is great news for the smaller full service restaurant chains, but not so great news for the bigger chains. The results of this study show that customer satisfaction has increased for the smaller restaurants, while bigger names, such as Olive Garden, Red Lobster, and Outback, have fallen.

 

ACSI restaurant

 

 

When the economy is weaker, price is more of a factor for consumers; because they have less to spend, they will dine out where it costs less and may overlook a lack of service, or less than stellar service. However, now that signs are pointing to the fact that consumers are feeling comfortable with the economy and are willing to spend more, they are more choosy about where they dine out.

 

The overall rise in satisfaction within this group is credited to the smaller full service restaurant chains; feeling more impact from the recession, they are the ones who were moved quickly to overcome any challenges in their way – this led to a wider menu selection, and a focus on the customer experience. It looks like this has paid off in the long run, as consumers are reporting higher satisfaction with their restaurants over their much larger competitors

 

In fast food, it looks like pizza is the choice of the consumer. Subway has been in the lead for some time now, though this year their satisfaction levels have fallen by 6%. Dunkin Donuts and Starbucks also felt the loss, at drops at 6% and 5%, respectfully. The pizza chains, while they did see some loss in satisfaction levels, topped the fast food chart in this report:

 

ACSI restaurant 2

 

 

Staying competitive is more than offering low prices; as disposable funds are made available to consumers, they become more choosy on where they spend their dollars. It’s not just about price anymore – quality food, a variety of menu items, speed of delivery, and customer service can impact a consumer’s choice.

 

Kudos to the companies who spent the recession years working on maintaining and improving the entire experience; it looks like it is paying off, and they are giving their bigger competitors a run for their money.

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A Lesson From the Airlines: Start Off Strong

 

I came across an article this morning talking about the biggest threat to air travels, which turns out to be disgruntled, unruly passengers. The article goes on to talk about these types of passengers, how the numbers have increased in the recent past, and what airlines can do to alleviate this issue.

 

One thing struck me, and I thought it can be applied to general customer service as well. In the article, it talks about the DISPAX conference, which was the second International Conference on Disruptive Passenger Behavior. Yes, there is a conference solely focused on this, as it is a significant concern.

 

During this conference, Prasad Yarlagadda, a professor of science and engineering at Queensland University of Techonology summed it up best by saying, “I see unruly behavior due to frustration and a lack of information more than anything else.”

 

This is a great statement that can be applied to many businesses in all industries: Make it great from the beginning. We’ve always known first impressions can make or break and experience. The airlines industry understands this, and believes that one solution to dissatisfaction is providing a strong experience from the get go, which means, more signage that is helpful to passengers, and providing enough information about what they are about to experience in order to ensure a successful flight.

 

When looking at customer dissatisfaction, take a look at action items that cause problems for your customers from the onset, whether it’s an initial call that’s not answered, a layout that causes confusion to customers as they enter your store, or anything else that might cause customer frustration before they even start the experience.

 

If you’re not incorporating the first impressions into your feedback surveys, you might want to take a look at this important part of the journey to make sure there isn’t anything preventing a great experience.

 

Take a lesson from the airlines and make sure your customer’s journey starts off strong. Customers tend to remember the beginning and end of an experience, and base their overall perception on that. Start strong and finish strong – if something minor happens along the way, it may be more easily overlooked or forgiven by your customer, and they will be likely to return.

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