Category: In the News

Digital marketers urged to improve online customer feedback

Many businesses are failing to fully understand their customers’ needs because they are still using outdated feedback methods for modern online transactions.

So says Udesh Jadnanansing, founder and managing partner of customer feedback management software specialist, UK-based Mopinion. He is urging online marketers to look more closely at the way they gather feedback and to consider using more proactive tools to comprehensively understand their potential clients’ needs.

Jadnanansing (pictured) said: “Traditional online customer satisfaction surveys have always had trouble reaching customers at the moment when the experience is still fresh in memory. But the technology is available, so what are we waiting for?

“Many companies measure satisfaction and loyalty on relational and transactional level. On one hand, organisations would like to know what the relationship is with the brand (relational). On the other hand they want to receive feedback on all major touch points to be able to implement improvements immediately (transactional). Passive feedback methods are neither very reliable nor timely enough to react to the fast-paced world of modern online transactions.

For the transactional part, many organisations are still focusing primarily on traditional touchpoints, like telemarketing or contact with employees like support agents and account managers.

“Often, this method of measurement does not go beyond sending a questionnaire by email after contact and is based upon strategies designed to evaluate telephone-based sales and interactions.

“A few organisations are using telephone surveys by IVR (Interactive Voice Response) or SMS, but that’s it most of the time. We believe that many businesses are losing out by using such passive tools for such an interactive portal as online” adds Jadnanansing.

While assessing telephone contact was traditionally fairly straightforward, an agent asked questions and recorded the feedback. However, online customer traffic and interactions can be far more complex – but at the same time this offers a potential mine of more detailed and potentially more useful information – with a greater focus on non-transactions and clues as to why the business may be missing out on this custom.

Jadnanansing believes companies are focusing too much on the measurement of data, missing that the key to improvement is in qualitative data in combination with metrics about effort and use. “This requires another structure of online teams and handling with data. And, if online isn’t complex enough, companies also have to deal with different web devices like mobile and tablet. To get a good impression about the overall online experience, a company has to obtain feedback from all web devices.”

The advice is straightforward, as Jadnanansing concluded: “Companies should realise that every customer reaction is a possibility for a conversation that  can result in a better customer experience. In addition to collecting data, companies have to listen a lot more and take action immediately. Many companies are waking up to the benefits of fully monitoring their online touchpoints – which means it has never been more dangerous to be neglecting your customers’ needs. If you don’t fully understand and cater for these needs your competitors may well be doing so!”

Shuttersong, the first app to embed music and sound into a playable JPEG image, has secured an additional £300,000 investment as it looks to build on the commercial opportunities it can bring to UK brands.

The latest investment, made by former Accenture partner Gil Anderson, means total seed funding now stands at more than £1.3 million. Some 30,000 users – from teenagers sharing talking ‘selfies’ on Facebook to parents sending audio images of their loved ones to tech-savvy grandparents – have downloaded the app, and that number looks set to keep rising as photo-sharing continues to redefine social media habits.

However, the new funds will largely go towards the commercial expansion of the platform for use by brands and digital marketing agencies looking to implement Shuttersong’s patent-pending technology for social marketing campaigns, fan engagement and user-generated content. The company is already in talks with several companies including a large greeting card business, a major record label and a well-known online fashion retailer.

Gil Anderson said: “Shuttersong fills a void in the current marketer’s toolbox.

“Image and video-sharing have sky-rocketed in the last year. Shuttersong’s streamlined technology gives marketers a totally novel way to create, promote and share their content. Its potential is tremendous and I am thrilled to be joining the team at this exciting time in the company.”

The company’s chief executive and co-founder, William Agush, said: “The compelling thing about Shuttersong is that it gives you all the benefit of video with all the convenience photography.

“Every mobile user already knows how to take a picture and every company already has a photographic library, so the consumer and commercial possibilities really are huge.

“This investment is an important step forward for Shuttersong, as we continue to build out the app’s capabilities and evolve our commercial partnerships,” added Agush. “We’re really excited about how brands are beginning to engage with our technology to enhance their content offerings and bolster e-commerce.”

• Shuttersong was founded by 58-year-old marketing veteran William Agush who was inspired by a ‘talking photo frame’ that played the toddler voice of his now-adult son. It is the first free mobile app that combines any digital image with up to 15 seconds of sound, forming a single, shareable anywhere, high-quality JPEG file.