New customer sentiment tracker starts strong
We’re delighted to have joined forces with guest feedback platform, Feed it Back to offer hospitality operators easy access to customer sentiment KPI’s in these critical first few week and months of re-opening.
The tracker uses data captured via the Feed it back platform including an overall NPS for hospitality as well as different sub-channels within it. Satisfaction ratings are also captured covering food, drink, cleanliness, atmosphere, service and value, amongst other things. It allows for benchmarking across casual dining, grab and go, premium casual, fine dining and pubs. This is then complimented with consumer feedback from KAM Media to give a robust understanding of changing customer sentiment on a weekly basis.
Hospitality NPS remains stable compared with pre-lockdown
The first analysis revealed that NPS for the hospitality industry is up compared with pre-lockdown. There was a drop this past weekend compared with opening weekend.
“We don’t see this drop as cause for concern” comments Carlo Platia, CEO at Feed It Back. “Re-opening weekend is likely to have attracted the keenest and most enthusiastic hospitality supporters so the high score last weekend will reflect this. Overall satisfaction ratings were fairly stable.”
“We’ll keep a careful eye on this, across the different hospitality channels, during these critical initial few weeks and months. The new Customer Sentiment Tracker, with KAM Media, aims to help the industry keep track of how customers are feeling overall” continues Platia.
The vast majority of hospitality customers feel safe
Feed it Back’s latest feedback shows an impressive 93% of those who visited pubs and restaurants at the weekend said that the venues new procedures made them feel safe enough to return. This is a slight drop from re-opening weekend. But the vast majority are feeling happy with the new procedures which operators have adopted. This is surely testament to the hard work and commitment which the industry is putting in to ensure that customers feel safe.
Of the 7% who said they did not feel safe enough to return, the number one reason given was that they felt hygiene measures weren’t up to expectation. Comments captured by Feed it Back cited things like ‘lack of masks’, ‘servers touching glasses’ and ‘lack of disposable menus’ as things that concerned them. Lack of physical distancing was the second largest cause for concern.
KAM Media spoke to 1,000 customers in the month before re-opening and the desire for masks and gloves in hospitality venues were relatively low on a customer’s list. Only 10% said “all staff wearing PPE” would be a key factor which influences their choice of venue. Interestingly they were more appealing to women than men. They were also more in demand in food-led venues than drink-led. 37% said that they would choose a venue with clear physical distancing measures in place.
With regards to safety measures, KAM research identified the top three “must haves” as:
- Regular cleaning
- Hand sanitising stations
- Max no. of people in venue
Listening to customer sentiment is absolutely key
Obviously different customers will have very different expectations and desires in different venues. There is certainly not a one size fits all solution and satisfying everyone is virtually impossible.
Listening to customers and staff on a very regular basis is obviously even more critical while we navigate these first few months. Ensuring customers feel safe is absolutely key and perception is reality . Operators should give more cautious customers the option to find out exactly what to expect before they visit the venue. As importantly give them the opportunity to feedback on their experience and react to their comments.
The new Customer Sentiment Tracker, a collaboration between KAM Media and Feed it Back, provides key information for the hospitality industry to ensure customers have an outstanding experience, feel safe and ultimately keep coming back through the door.
If you’d like to receive the new FREE Customer Sentiment Tracker, straight to your inbox, please email hello@kam-media.co.uk.
