The internet already has a big influence on the marketing industry and how it functions, and continuous development of new online technologies means it is only going to get more influential. What is key for businesses is the ability to harness information that is generated through these online technologies; be it customer opinions or their likes and dislikes. These little bits of information has great potential for businesses and having the ability to use it will be vital in their success in the new digital era.
A key driver behind the online data drive can be attributed, in part, to social media. This is a commonplace for digital customer feedback, be it indirectly or directly communicated to businesses. The key part of social media feedback is that it can be accessed from anywhere with an internet connection, and with internet enabled phones this can literally be anywhere. So for customers connected to the web, they have access to unlimited amounts of customer feedback on social media; from blogs, social networks, customer reviews sites and forums.
A study conducted by Nielsen reported that 70% of global consumers trust buyer’s reviews, whilst 92% of consumers indicate they trust recommendations from peers, family and word-of-mouth above other forms of advertising. The common phrase of “the customer is always right” springs to mind on the back of this study. After all, customers do have a large amount of influence into the success of product service orientated businesses. So the ability to harness their feedback and online activity related to your product or service will give you insights that you may have never even thought about, regarding your business. This shopping scenario, whereby customer reviews and recommendations are important, opens up a wide range of opportunities for businesses to grow, innovate and improve their relationship with customers.
Furthermore, the best part about digital customer feedback is that digital media facilitates consumer data that is completely unfiltered. This allows for a real-time, deeper understanding of consumer;s needs and thoughts. Not only can this useful for marketing purposes, but could also help to improve the level of responsiveness to reputation crisis, emergencies and alike situations.
Vazquez et al (2014) identify two key stages in the analysis of consumer data:
- Managers and marketers need to know and understand the content of these conversations and be able to classify them into categories that are relevant for their day to day tasks.
- Uncover the exact content of data that has been extracted, such as which product attributes worry customers the most, allowing for marketers to better track the mindset of their customers.
Being able to complete these two stages of analysis will give valuable answers to extremely significant questions that have an influence on the position of the brand in the market. Furthermore, by collecting opinions from social media, it means there is less intrusion for the consumers, since it enables the gathering of spontaneous perceptions and desires of consumers, without introducing any bias. The removal of all bias is what makes digital customer feedback data so valuable. It is as genuine as possible. There are no restraints, unlike more traditional methods of data collection, such as questionnaires. There is no guidance from anyone else about the opinions they voice, and no restrictions in the fact that they are not being asked set questions.
Of course there is one clear barrier to being able to successfully carry out this form of data analysis, and that is down to methods and resources. There are already many programs and companies out there which facilitate this, but with the continuous development of new social media platforms its just a question of whether they will be able to keep back. However, what about us Brits who have this wonderful, sarcastic nature? How do you know if a customer review or tweet is real and not just a bit of a joke? I will hold my hand up say “yes, I have written a sarcastic tweet about something” without knowing exactly how it will be taken. And it is those people like me who could be influencing marketers for all the wrong reasons and sending them on a wild goose chase. Yes that is a very exaggerated example, but I am sure you get the picture of how it could potentially influence data analysis of customer feedback. Especially if it is automated by a computer program.
Furthermore, being able to use the analysed and categorised data effectively is another issue. The chances of conflicting opinions on the same products are high. So by amending one part of your product or service, you will make one person happy, but also one person happy. So having the ability to use this data effectively is another key factor.
So what can be taken from idea of digital customer feedback? It enables businesses to hear what customers are saying about their product or service. So no matter if you are singing its praise on Twitter, or venting about it on Facebook with a long status (and by long I mean one with the ‘continue reading…’ option) you could actually be influencing a developed product or service. Despite these few, potential hiccups I am sure that as a whole the idea of digital customer feedback is something which is valuable to firms around the globe on how they operate and the products and services they offer. Link this with the continuously growing number of people joining social media, data is only going to get richer, and hopefully products and services will get better.
Vázquez, S., Muñoz-García, O., Campanella, I., Pocha, M., Fisas, B., Bel, N., & Andreu, G. (2014) A classification of user-generated content into consumer decision stages, Neural Networks. Vol.58, pp.68-81