So we all know Ikea… The world’s largest furniture retailer. With over 365 stores in 45 countries, this company has got scope.

No matter the size of a company, it is important to know what your customer’s think of you. Any criticism is good criticism- it means as a company you can build and grow. But how do you get access to that feedback, if you don’t want people to fill out time consuming surveys and questionnaires? You create a hub, whereby you can listen. Not to be intrusive, but to focus on what your customer’s are saying about you.

Having read a case study by Brand Watch, this is my take on what they have said. (Brandwatch:Case Study- Ikea & The Socializers)

Let’s put it into some context…

In order to do this, Ikea needed the expert help from ‘The Socializers’– an agency which focuses on people and technology. The aim of this new relationship was to pioneer change inside the company.

So what was Ikea’s goal?

They wanted to connect different departments of the business. They wanted to become socially intelligent. Really know what customers thought of them.

What did the Socializers do to achieve this goal?

The agency decided that in order for IKEA to be able to learn and use information, they didn’t already have access to, they had to create a Listening Hub. By using Brandwatch Vizia, the platform allowed them to build a social media centre with the Listening Hub, so that they were able to spot insights in the business. Senior staff were able to use this Hub to observe and engage with the centre. Having set this Hub up, people within the organisation were able to see what customers really thought of the brand.

What sort of sites were under the analysis?

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, YouTube, etc. Brandwatch could then analyse this traffic of conversation. For example, within the platform, analytics staff could search for conversations starting with ‘Customer Service’- therefore being able to find posts or topics about what people thought about their customer service. They could use location tools too- by seeing what specific countries thought what.

UK and USA- do we complain differently?

Being able to filter conversations in many ways; across location, conversation filters, volume across all sites. The Hub was able to find out what differs from country to country. For example, they found that Americans were more likely to use Facebook to complain, than Brits were. They also found that UK customers were more likely to discuss their complaints on forums, with sites such as Yelp.

Why is all this stuff useful to IKEA?

Anything found from this new Listening Hub has proven to IKEA (and sceptics) that social data has got so many benefits. As humans we don’t like change, but change can be healthy and it is imperative for a company to develop and stay current.

Is this ethical though?

This then takes us onto the idea of ‘Big Data’; companies are using it more and more now. Not just for listening to what customers are saying about their business…But also, retailers are now starting to count the number of people that enter their shops or visit an area, as well as using devices to follow customer’s movements around the shop, through their smartphone. The following article gives us some ideas of what this means for us and for businesses themselves:

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2013/oct/11/information-retailers-track-customer-movements

Do you think it is right for retailers to become more and more invasive? What is the cut off?

Lordoftheblogs