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Tag: customer feedback

Bonuses Based on Social Media Data?

 

While many companies are realizing the benefit of monitoring social media sites for feedback about their company, it looks like the hospitality industry may be moving one step beyond that – including social media data left by consumers in employee bonus and incentive programs.

 

For the hospitality industry, this may be a bit easier to do thanks to popular consumer review sites, such as TripAdivsor and Yelp. However, by using a strong social media monitoring tool, it’s easy to find mentions of your brand, employees, or company on a regular basis.

 

In this article, Sean Mullin from the Noble House Hotels & Resorts, shares that social media is factored in when deciding employee bonuses. He went on to say that “We know the average rating of our social media sites. Then, we establish goals for the following year. Managers are incentivized to beat that score. We want to make sure all of our managers are paying attention to it.”

 

If an hourly employee is mentioned by name online as part of a consumer review, or a consumer talking within social media sites about their experience at one of the hotels, Mr. Mullin shared that they are given a monetary reward, typically $10 or $20, as recognition for positive feedback about their service.

 

The company still utilizes more traditional forms of customer feedback, such as feedback surveys and comment cards, but they have realized the power of social media as a feedback tool. Generally, people are more free and honest with their thoughts and opinions when talking with friends on Facebook, for example, than they may be answering questions about their experience for the company itself.

 

This article is telling in that we are finally seeing the shift in businesses’ thinking of social media. Up until now, it’s been more about engaging and getting your message out; with the realization that there is a good base of data out there that is easily obtainable, I anticipate more and more companies to use social media monitoring to gather customer feedback in the coming year.

 

 

 

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Customer Service Statistics

 

Customer service and customer experience are two buzz phrases used frequently in the business world – companies are trying hard to make sure customers are satisfied and continue to return. But, how are we doing?

 

I came across an interesting Slideshare presentation that includes 75 customer service facts and quotes. I’ve shared it below, but wanted to highlight some of the more interesting figures:

 

Of your dissatisfied customers, you will only hear from 4% of them. The other 96% don’t complain, and 91% of them just won’t come back. Customer feedback can be hard to obtain – people don’t always want to share feedback or take time to fill out a survey. There are others who think that they shouldn’t “waste their time” giving feedback because a company won’t do anything about it.

 

What you can do: make sure feedback options are plentiful. Offer multiple ways to offer feedback so customers are more inclined to do so. Try a more “in the moment” feedback option, such as a Feedbox program. When you do hear negative feedback, be sure to address it publicly to let customers know you care and will do something to make the next experience better.

 

70% of customers will do business with you again if you address their complaints. Listening to customers and trying to “make it right” with them can pay off big time in the long run. You can reduce that 91% statistic above if you take the time to resolve customer conflicts and dissatisfaction.

 

80% of businesses feel they provide superior customer service, while only 8% of their customers think they do. That number is staggering; if you are seeing this disconnect in numbers, it’s time to investigate why customers do not feel you are providing the service you think you do.

 

75% of consumers feel it takes too long to reach a live person on the phone. With phone tree hell and voice activated prompts, customers can easily get frustrated. Use an objective method to evaluate the process by which customers are assisted on the phone. Incorporate subjective feedback into the process to make sure your customers are heard. There could be some easy fixes to make the phone experience more efficient and pleasant for your customers.

 

Take a look at the other statistics and quotes, and use it as a discussion point within your company. How do you perceive your customer service levels? How does your customer perceive them? If you haven’t done research in some time to learn what your customer and employees are thinking, you may want to invest in programs to measure the experience from all angles to make sure you’re doing all you can to provide excellent customer service.

 

 

 

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Is It Time To Revamp Your Customer Service Standards?

 

I came across an interesting article talking about ways to reinvent the customer experience. It showed that only 1% of customers have an experience that meets their expectations. That’s an extremely low percentage – it could be attributed to actual declining customer service, or that consumers’ expectations are higher than they once were.
At any rate, it’s always a good time to take a good look at your current standards and see if there is room for change – there almost always is.

 

By looking at customer feedback responses, talking with your customers, and evaluating sales numbers, you can get some insight into the health of your customers’ experience. Are there complaints that revolve around certain themes? Do you see a drop in returning customers?

 

Technology and other advances have made it easy to reinvent ways you interact with customers, whether it is changing the way customer inquiries are handled,  better ways to communicate with customers and make them feel valued, or even something as simple as speeding up the time spent in line.

 

The key question to ask yourself, as stated in the article, is:

 

“If we had no infrastructure, no politics, no barriers, and no limitations–how would we exploit the status quo to radically improve customer service?”

 

Doing something because “it’s always been done that way” or not having the time to make change is not an excuse. We are headed into the fourth quarter and a new year – why not start thinking now about ways you can improve the customer experience? It’s time to think outside of the box and really brainstorm for ways to make it better.

 

Here are some tips to get started:

 

1. Have a brainstorming session: throwing out any and all ideas, no matter how crazy they may seem, is the best way to start with your team. Ask the question above and collect ideas. The point here is to think freely and pretend for the moment that you can implement anything you want to. This will give you a “wish list” of ideas.

 

2. Ask your customers directly: if you are using a customer feedback program, or even a mystery shopping program, include a question that asks, “If there was one thing we could improve on, what would it be?” A few of our clients have added this question with great success. Your customers are the ones in the experience – they have thoughts about things that could make the experience better. Why not ask? You may get ideas you’ve never thought of.

 

3. Don’t feel like radical change is needed: making even small changes can go a long way. From the wish list you create, pinpoint some small changes that are most realistic and easy to implement. Customers will notice, and you will feel accomplished in the process, making it easier for you to continually monitor and make changes to make customers’ lives easier.

 

Change is good, and if you’re still doing things “old school”, consider making some honest evaluations of your standards and processes and decide how you can make change for the better.

 

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