The new year brings with it changes in the ways the companies will seek to enhance customer experiences, according to an annual outlook from newBrandAnalytics, Washington, D.C.
In 2013, the social media expects to see:
Far fewer surveys: In 2012, organizations had a 25 percent increase in online customer reviews, according to newBrandAnalytics data, a trend that is expected to continue this year.
“Many people, particularly in the hospitality industry, have used surveys for more than 20 years,” Susan Ganeshan newBrandAnalytics chief marketing officer, told Loyalty 360. “But the volume of people using new technology has grown. There’s such a large increase in customer information available through social media that the surveys are becoming less useful.”
Customers often don’t want to take the time to complete structured surveys, which often don’t provide the information that will truly help a company improve the customer experience, Ganeshan said. Through social media, a customer may comment on an item that might not be included in a structured survey:
Increased use of freely available competitive intelligence: Industrial espionage is now legal and free, Ganeshan added. Smarter companies will use social intelligence to dig into their competitors’ performance. Customers speak freely about what they like and don’t like about a competitor’s business via social media platforms. So firms will use this information not only benchmark competitors' social data to try to outperform on operations, but also as inspiration for product creation in 2013.
Less use of traditional employee evaluation forms: Social intelligence will drive the real-time 360-degree performance evaluation system of the future, according to Ganeshan, pointing to a comment from Randy Stanley, vice president Parasole Restaurant Group (a newBrandAnalytics customer): “Sharing online feedback places psychological control on employees. They recognize and accept that everyone is a critic and that they can read about their performance online daily, good or bad. They see now that they have to be ‘on’ all of the time. Every experience counts. That’s powerful.”
Restaurants have used social media to recognize employees, to train employees on social media-cited deficiencies and to improve the service quality of the brand, according to Ganeshan.
Social Media Goes Beyond Marketing: As brands expand their view of social media and position it as a strategic business function, social media will be used more in areas outside of marketing, including operations, human resources, customer service, and product development, according to Ganeshan, adding that at least one restaurant is using social media analysis to help its chef choose and prepare new menu items.
Star Ratings Go By the Wayside: The star ratings so popular in the hospitality industry leave consumers wanting more, according to Ganeshan. Two three-star hotels may be very different, and a simple check of their Web sites may not provide the information that prospective guests seek. So consumers will continue the trend to online review analysis tools to gain the insights and details they’re looking for. Consumers will seek verbatim reviews in making their purchase decisions; businesses will decipher the true meaning and uncover important themes discussed in these unstructured reviews to drive improvements.