fizzback

06 Sep 2007
The Marketing Blog
www.themarketingblog.co.uk

 

WOMEN HARDER TO SATISFY THAN MEN, SAYS NEW RESEARCH

Men are nearly 22 per cent more likely to give positive feedback on a service, product or retail experience than women

 

It’s official – women are harder to please than men, according to research out recently from Fizzback, the instant feedback company. Analysis by the company of 820 consumers across the UK shows that men are nearly 22 per cent more likely to give positive feedback on a service, product or retail experience than women, and score at least three per cent higher than women on an overall ‘satisfaction rating’, taken after going shopping.

 

When it comes to enjoying the shopping experience as a whole, females fair worse. On average, men come away feeling more satisfied following a bout of retail therapy than women.

 

The analysis was done by measuring feedback and satisfaction levels from men and women after a retail experience.

 

Because the feedback was given ‘in situ’, ie. at the point of experience, the findings are accurate, according to Rob Keve, CEO of Fizzback.

 

“These findings prove what we may have always known – than men and women have fundamentally different attitudes towards retail,” he says. “Men are much more likely to go into a shop, get what they need and come away feeling as though they’ve done a good job. Women expect more from the retail experience, and will notice things like poor customer service, unhelpful staff or below-standard products, and give a more negative rating accordingly.

 

Because men expect less – in as much as they tend to see shopping as a necessity rather than a pleasure – they are perhaps more likely to give a positive rating for the limited amount of good service they did receive, rather than penalising the shop for not giving them the excellent service they felt they should have received.”

 

The survey also found that customer service from retail staff elicited the highest levels of response – both positive and negative – among both sexes, showing that we value service above all else in the retail experience. The things most likely to generate negative feedback about staff were: availability (63.7 per cent), attitude (16.5per cent), knowledge (10.1 per cent), efficiency (6.7 per cent) and pushiness (three per cent).

 

Good service and helpful staff.

 

Keve says: “It is clear that we value good service and helpful staff. Focusing on these things can really help a retailer to differentiate themselves in a tough market. Both men and women appreciate good service – but women are more likely to give negative feedback on a bad experience. But by making it easy for both men and women to give feedback, shops can make a real difference to the retail experience.”

 

Fizzback’s instant feedback lets consumers provide positive or negative feedback at the point of experience, using easy, fast and direct channels, such as text or email. According to the company, customers are more likely to respond when they are given the opportunity to feed back ‘in situ’, ie. immediately a situation arises (rather than after the event), and when provided with electronic communication channels. Fizzback’s response rates are up to 900 per cent higher than other traditional feedback methods, so give a more reliable view of the customer experience.

 

Keve says this kind of feedback is transforming the way companies engage with their customers: “Traditional methods of capturing customer feedback are unreliable for gathering honest opinion on how a company is performing. Many customers will remain silent – either they can’t be bothered to report back what they think of a product or service, or they may be embarrassed by confrontation. Even those that do wish to convey their experience may only be able to tell half the story, as by the time they do feed back, their memory of theexperience may have dimmed or ‘the moment’ has gone.

 

“This kind of immediate feedback lets companies get a much more honest view of what their customers are experiencing, and provides them with an invaluable ‘recovery window’ to swiftly address any issues. By remedying issues during this window, a company can stop a disgruntled customer defecting to a competitor.”

 

How Fizzback works

 

Customer feedback is captured in situ. Customers send feedback through a range of electronic channels such as mobile SMS or blackberry email. The intelligent, automated Fizzback system feeds comments back to an interactive dashboard, sorting them by category types before routing them to the appropriate person. The system also identifies which queries need immediate attention, and highlights which customers are ‘at risk’.

 

Fizzback sorts comments using artificial intelligence, allowing companies to gauge the most common customer experience and take appropriate action to rectify issues. Comments can also be segmented further, for example into ‘call back’, ‘suggestion’, ‘question’ and ‘comment’ groups.

 

Companies receive the feedback instantly, giving them an invaluable window to address issues immediately – such as product shortages and service deficiency – and improve customer service.

 

http://www.themarketingblog.co.uk/e_article000898562.cfm?x=b11,0,w