Voices: the CMB Blog

As we prepare for Super Bowl XLVI we thought we'd share, once again, Jim Garrity's tips for picking Super Bowl Squares. Originally published 4/4/2011.

As CMB has grown and expanded our customer satisfaction measurement practice, we’ve invested considerable time and resources into conducting research on research, to make better decisions about managing these programs.  In addition to direct feedback from clients, we conducted a study among managers at medium and large businesses who rely directly on customer satisfaction measurement for decision-making.  The findings point to many opportunities to improve the overall usefulness of these programs.

Our next step has been to look at customer satisfaction research from the consumers’ point of view – i.e. the respondents who complete the surveys at the bottom of their receipts or that come into their inbox. What we found might surprise you…

We’re gaining deeper insights about the nature of people who respond, their frequency, and the reasons for responding to the requests. For instance, most people respond to share details of both positive and negative experiences; just 8 percent say they respond only when they have had a bad experience.  What this tells us is that people voicing their opinion in customer satisfaction are NOT more inclined to be negative.  In fact, most people respond with good intentions to help the company improve or maintain good service/products. 

Here are a few other facts worth sharing:

Many customers give feedback as part of their “job” as customers—50% say they give feedback to improve the company. Tweet this

57% of customer satisfaction survey takers say they do it to give positive feedback. Tweet this

Only 28% of customer satisfaction survey takers do it to win a prize or get a reward. Tweet this

Download the full report here. 

Next week we’ll talk about why and how companies need to respond to the feedback.

Posted by Jeff McKenna, Jeff is a Senior Consultant at CMB, and the creator and host of our Tools and Techniques Webinar Series.

Join us for CMB's first webinars of 2012!

Tools and Techniques:  Mixing the Science of Quant with the Art of Conversation to Gain Richer Insights

February 2^nd from 12 to 12:30 pm

CMB’s Jeff McKenna and Christine Tchoumba from iModerate Research Technologies share their tips and tricks for taking advantage of one-on-one online conversations to gain more insight from traditional research projects. Jeff and Christine will cover: the benefits of using online conversations to add color to quantitative, how the Consumer Pulse Program case study uses conversation to deepen insight into the most interesting consumer trends, and the challenges and considerations you need to be successful.

Click here to register

Turning Customers into Advocates:  GE CareCredit Increases Customer Loyalty with their Advisory Panel

February 16^th from 12 to 12:45 pm

Learn how CMB helped GE CareCredit redesign their online customer panel, and create a community with high engagement and even higher returns. CMB’s Vice President of Financial Services Jim Garrity and GE CareCredit’s Consumer VOC Leader Sheila Dreyer share how GE CareCredit’s online community of Cardholders has become a group of not only trusted advisors, but strong advocates for the brand.

Click here to register

For more of our upcoming webinars, and to download the ones you've missed, click here.

Posted by Megan McManaman, CMB's Content Marketing Manager.

I started my career in sales.  In sales, you very quickly learn that it is much easier to sell to an existing - rather than a new - customer.  The fact that existing customers are valuable isn’t a tough concept to grasp. Customer loyalty researchers report that, on average, companies lose about 50% of their customers each year, that it costs 20x more to do business with a new than existing customer, and a minimal reduction in customer defection rates can significantly boost profits. 

So, can someone please explain why so many companies are making headlines for initiating new fees or penalties that seem designed to aggravate their customers?  I’m sure at least some of these stories caught your eye…

• In July, Netflix unbundled their DVD rental and streaming plan, effectively forcing customers to pay $6 more for the combo plan they had grown accustomed to. Then, in September, Netflix CEO announced that DVD rentals and streaming would become two totally separate services. The streaming service would retain the name "Netflix," while the DVD branch would be called "Qwikster." Reactions were predictably negative, and on October 10, before Qwikster had even launched, Netflix ended the failed experiment.

• Throughout the year, one after another of the major airlines (with the exception of Southwest and JetBlue) raised fees on checked baggage.  Fliers hate baggage fees and the long lines at airport security screening are made worse by passengers carrying on more bags.  The TSA estimates that the number of carry-on bags has increased by 87 million since 2009.

• On December 30th, after a customer ‘uproar,’ Verizon Wireless decided it will not institute a $2 convenience fee for online or telephone single payments, 24 hours after it was announced.

Even my favorite hotel company recently hit me with a $50 change fee for a mistake I made on the dates of a business trip.  I was coming to the hotel for goodness sake – just not on those dates!!! Ugh. 

I understand that companies need to make money; and changing regulations and technology can affect a corporation’s ability to deliver profit.  But in the spirit of the Occupy movement, someone needs to be watching out for the customer!

From a recent CMB Consumer Pulse – 44% of respondents report feelings of loyalty to 10 or more companies they do business with – another third to 5-9 companies.  In addition, we learned that two-thirds enjoy it when a company thanks them for their loyalty… and one-in three expects a company to thank them….boy they must be disappointed when instead of a thank you, they get hit with new fees and charges!

CMO.com recently listed the 10 things CEOs need from their CMOs  …drumroll please… #3 on the list is A Customer Whisperer…someone who can tell them what customers in the future, will want.  And #9 is A Customer Advocate… someone who can be the voice of the customer in the executive suite. Someone, who, in the face of pressure from finance or legal, will fight to ensure sufficient consideration is paid to the needs and interests of customers.  Marketers should seek to uphold our own version of the Hippocratic oath:  "first, do no harm to our customers."

So, what’s a brand manager or CMO to do? 

The problem probably isn’t that you don’t have enough data-the problem, instead, may be that you have too much information!  Or maybe the information isn’t being delivered to you in a way that makes it easy to find insights or support for your decisions.  If you work for a company like most, a significant portion of your research budget is dedicated to a customer feedback, performance, or satisfaction program. Are you getting the return (in insight) you are making for the investment you’re making?  Maybe it’s time to revitalize the program to enhance your role as customer whisperer and advocate! 

Here’s what we believe you should be getting from your program:   

• Direction for product/service investment decisions:  If you had $20 million to spend, where should you invest?  Where would you get the biggest bang for the buck?  Upgrading something customers see as a “table-stake”…. Or enhancing a service that is a “customer delighter?”  

• Identification of deal-breakers:  What interactions/events/problems cause customers to run away to your competitors? 

• Insight into the needs of key segments:  How loyal are key segments (Next Gen customers, Gen X/Gen Y, repeat customers) to you?  What percent of their wallet are you attracting? 

• Direction for operations improvements:  How well are you performing on the key drivers?  How does that compare to what guests get from competitors?  Which locations are excelling – and what is it that they are doing?  Which locations are lagging – and what can they do better?

• Brand-operation alignment: How well does the customer experience match what you promise?  (remember the ‘fly the friendly skies’ ad of a major carrier?)  What’s causing disconnects?  

• Competitive intelligence:  Who/Where are you leading?  Where are you lagging? 

• The voice of the customer:  Verbatim comments about what it’s like to buy from you. 

While an effective CSM program won’t answer all the questions the organization might throw your way, our clients find themselves better prepared to advocate for their customers, support investment decisions of brand or line managers, focus on areas of importance to key customers-to provide insight to reduce risk around your business decisions.  Customer performance measurement is a tool that you should have in your kit to help you engage and retain your customers.  Maybe it’s time to "sharpen the tool!"

For more on getting the most from customer feedback, download our Consumer Pulse on Customer Satisfaction Programs

Posted by Judy Melanson. Judy leads the Travel & Entertainment practice and loves collaborating with clients on driving customer loyalty.  She's the mom of two teens and the wife of an oyster farmer. Follow Judy on Twitter at @Judy_LC

Social media research is still behind social media marketing in terms of getting past the hype.  Clearly there’s some overselling going on and more education is needed about how and when to effectively use social media data.  Some sales folks even go as far as suggesting social media listening can replace market research as a way to save money – without having the background or unbiased perspective needed to make such a suggestion. 

It’s time for researchers to have an open dialogue about social media data – warts and all.  What biases exist?  What steps are necessary to put the data in a truly usable form?  What are the best applications for social media analysis?  How can we best integrate it with other data sources?  I’m not going to try and tackle all these questions in this blog, but hopefully I can help stimulate discussion over time.

To put things in perspective, one must consider that typically only a fraction of social media chatter is worthwhile and relevant to your specific objectives. Keep in mind that the topic of interest for your social media analysis has a huge impact on how many “sound bites” you have to work with.  As you are pulling data, it can be a challenge to “disambiguate” (i.e., remove irrelevant chatter) and, in some instances, almost impossible.  Another challenge is that social media data is largely unstructured. Automatic coding isn’t optimal – especially if you plan to integrate the results with other data sources. 

Despite these challenges, there is no denying that it’s a valuable data source.  Having the ability to learn from chatter that is occurring naturally online and applying state-of-the-art technology to aggregating and analyzing this data is powerful stuff.   Social media analytic tools and text analytics are always evolving.   But even with the best social media listening tools and analysts available, social media listening cannot and should not be applied across all situations.  NO analytic tool or technique is a one-size-fits-all solution.   

Let’s put social media analysis in perspective across all of the tools, techniques, and data sources we have to work with.   Exciting things are on the horizon, but for now, let’s not expect (or promise) more than social media data can deliver.

Cathy is CMB’s social media research maven dedicated to an “eyes wide open” approach to social media research and its practical application and integration with other data sources. Follow her on Twitter at @VirtualMR

Check out our webinar Understanding B2B Social Media: An AMD Case Study and learn more about how Social Media Research is making a difference for our clients. Click here.