When offering a top-notch experience is your product, you’ve got your work cut out for you in today’s consumer-empowered climate. Such is the lot of hospitality and restaurant brands. But we’ve got the CX analytics secrets that can unlock everything – and all brands can benefit.
Here are some highlights from the NetBase report 2019 Hospitality & Restaurants: 25 Secrets Unlocked by Customer Experience Analytics.
One Super Easy Box to Check
Though social media and social analytics are hardly new, less than 40% of CX professionals use social listening tools to understand their target consumers. This presents a huge opportunity for the brands putting these tools to work to understand what their audiences want.
Want an edge? Jump in while there are still so many brands sitting on the fence and reap the rewards for yourself. Want to level things up even more? Make sure your social listening tools are Next Generation AI-enhanced.
Customer Service Secret: The Basics Still Matter
It’s easy to get lost in the lingo of the “customer experience” – thinking you have to provide something over the top to compete, but that’s not true.
Meeting basic expectations is often the way to consumers hearts – and will buy you more love than grandiose offerings meant to distract them from any gaps in those basics. Going above and beyond is wonderful if you don’t sacrifice typical standards in the process.
That said, the definitions of “basic” and “standard” may not be what you assume. This is where CX analytics come into play.
Here are the things consumers are most concerned with in each industry:
Hospitality
- Response times—i.e., how long does it take get what I want, whether room service, cleaning, etc. Entertainment options
- Quality of gym experience and equipment
- Health food options
Restaurant
- Response times—i.e., length of time to be seated, for a server to arrive, for food to arrive, etc. Quality—both of food and overall experience
- Choice of menu items
- Food consistency
Branding Secret: You’re Not in Charge of Your Reputation
This can be a hard truth to accept, but it’s the way things are. While some consumers will forgive you the occasional transgression, others will eviscerate you – publicly – for the smallest slips.
Does that mean you’re powerless? Certainly not! It means you have to have a clear understanding of what is important to your specific audience so you can create an experience that resonates from the start.
And then you have to monitor social activity to be sure you are immediately aware when there’s a negative post about your brand.
Again, your tools matter – because time is of the essence. It doesn’t take long for unchecked posts to go viral, so be sure you know every time your brand is being talked about in a negative way. And respond appropriately.
Just as important: taking note of the good things getting your brand attention. Be sure you’re using those insights to inform your offerings.
Chili’s does this brilliantly. They know who their customers are, what they want, and how to engage them.
Competitive Analysis Secret: Consumers Will Use Competitors Against You
The power consumers have over brands isn’t imaginary – and what’s worse, they know it. With competition fierce, consumers will get what they want by telling you another brand is doing it better, and that they’ll take their business there – among other tactics.
Actually, they don’t even have to name the competitor… the threat alone is worth taking seriously.
This is particularly damaging when such information can be shared not just on social media, but on review sites and places where consumers look specifically for guidance on brands in the hospitality and restaurant industries.
But you can take back this power by using CX Analytics to track what competitors are doing and be sure your customer experience is not only up to par, but far exceeding that of your competition. It’s really just giving consumers what they want anyway – which is what keeps them coming back.
CX Successes, Crisis Management, and More
This is the merest taste of the secrets revealed in our latest report – and you definitely want to know how to best survive a crisis, as well as which brands are knocking it out of the park. Find out by downloading the full 2019 Hospitality & Restaurants: 25 Secrets Unlocked by Customer Experience Analytics report – and learn just how much CX analytics can impact your brand’s success.
Ready to see more? Reach out and we’ll walk you through a demo of our AI-powered CX analytics tools!
