In order to succeed, firms need to understand what their customers are thinking and feeling. Companies spend huge amounts of time and money in efforts to get to know their customers better. But despite this hefty investment, most firms are not very good at listening to customers. It’s not for lack of trying, though — the tools they’re using and what they’re trying to measure may just not be up to the task. Our research shows that the two most widely used measures, customer satisfaction (CSAT) and Net Promoter Scores (NPS), fail to tell companies what customers really think and feel, and can even mask serious problems.
Using AI to Track How Customers Feel — In Real Time
There’s a lot that quantitative surveys aren’t telling you.
May 04, 2021
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Summary.
The most common methods of tracking customer sentiments has a big blind spot: They can’t pick up on important emotional responses. As a result, qualitative surveys, like Net Promoter Score, end up missing critically important feedback. Even if they provide a positive score, customers often reveal their true thoughts and feelings in the open-ended comment boxes typically provided at the end of surveys, and AI can help companies make use of this valuable data to better predict customer behavior. Specifically, there are six benefits for adopting AI to analyze this feedback: It can 1) show you what you’re missing in your qualitative surveys, 2) help train your employees based on what’s actually important to customers, 3) determine root causes of problems, 4) capture customers’ responses in real time, 5) spot and prevent declines in sales, and 6) prioritize actions to improve customer experience.
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Digital Intelligence Course
Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Digital Intelligence . Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
Excel in a world that's being continually transformed by technology.