••• customer experience
Customers: We work harder than companies to fix problems
What’s wrong with this picture?
When a customer service issue arises, it’s generally agreed among the C-suite that their company is doing a good job at resolving it. However, new research from Ipsos Loyalty reveals that isn’t exactly true. The study, which covers seven sectors across the U.S., found that, all too often, customers believe they are putting in more effort than companies to get things resolved following a complaint or negative incident.
According to the study, companies are missing the mark when it comes to how they deal with a customer problem. Six in 10 (65 percent) customers felt they had to put in a lot of effort to get an issue resolved. Slightly less (50 percent) perceive that companies have made little effort to resolve the issue. In six in 10 cases, customers think that they have had to put more effort than companies to sort an issue.
“These numbers are sobering,” says Jean-Francois Damais, deputy managing director, global client solutions at Ipsos. “And especially to companies that have invested an enormous amount of time and resources to improving the customer experience. Strikingly, in one of three cases companies aren’t even aware of complaints when they do happen. To help address this, companies need to start implementing measures to collect and analyze customer data.”
The study shows that the effort customers make to resolve an issue has a significant impact on their loyalty to a brand. Specifically, when customers think they have put in more effort than companies, they are four times more likely to use the company less or stop using it entirely. They are also about twice more likely to complain to the company.
Not only do incidents have an impact on repeat purchase and behavior, they also have a significant ripple effect via social networks and word of mouth. Customers who feel they work harder than companies to solve an issue are over three times more likely to share their negative experience on social media and two-and-a-half times more likely to tell friends and family about it. Clearly, one unhappy customer can influence many more.
Ipsos has developed a metric – Customer:Company effort ratio – which measures the perceived customer and company effort following a negative experience or complaint. Interventions following a customer issue or complaint can be a way for companies to optimize the ratio and keep their customers coming back. When a company has intervened following a negative experience, the Customer:Company Effort ratio is 1.7 times lower than when a company has done nothing. This lower ratio score leads to a propensity to use the company in the future which is approximately 3.8 times higher.
These are some of the findings of an Ipsos Loyalty survey conducted in January 2015. For this survey, a sample of 10,061 interviews were conducted via Ipsos online panels among U.S. customers in seven sectors who have experienced a critical incident (i.e., a good or bad experience) in the recent past. Quotas were set to balance the sample on key demographics to ensure that the sample composition is representative of the U.S. population. The margin of error is +/- 1 percentage point at 95 percent C.I. but can be wider among subsets of the population. All sample surveys may be subject to other sources of error, including but not limited to coverage error and measure-ment error.
••• food research
San Francisco named top foodie city in the U.S.
Bridgeport and Barnstable too?
California is home to three of the top 10 foodie cities in the United States, according to a new study by Omaha, Neb., marketing firm Infogroup. By measuring six indicators from its business and consumer database Infogroup has identified where the country’s biggest foodies live. After defining a foodie city using consumer preferences and business frequency for eating in and dining out, Infogroup used its business database and consumer database to identify the cities with the highest “foodie score.”
“Eating in” indicators included three factors. The first one is a model pinpointing a consumer preference of cooking for fun (measured from responses to an external consumer survey). The second factor is identifying high-end, specialty and organic grocers per 10,000 residents. The third is measuring the percentage of grocers that are high-end, specialty and organic. Although seemingly similar, Infogroup made the distinction between the second and third indicators to account for cities that have an unusually high number of grocery stores.
“Dining out” indicators included a model demonstrating consumers’ propensity to eat at fine-dining restaurants as opposed to fast-food or family-dining chains (measured from responses to an external consumer survey), single-location restaurants per 10,000 residents and percentage of restaurants that are single-location.
After compiling these factors, Infogroup ranked the following as the top 10 foodie cities in the U.S.:
- San Francisco
- Santa Cruz, Calif.
- Bridgeport, Conn. (tied with Santa Cruz, Calif.)
- Barnstable, Mass.
- Ocean City, N.J.
- Boulder, Colo.
- Santa Fe, N.M.
- Trenton, N.J.
- New York City
- Santa Rosa, Calif.
Tourists from across the country travel to San Francisco to go on dedicated local restaurant tours. A strong showing in the top five for both measures of grocers and a top 10 finish in the dining propensity model pushed the city over the top as the nation’s top foodie city. This is further demonstrated in the firm’s TargetReady Models, which show a high consumer preference for specialty organic stores.
To get a better idea of what a foodie city looks like, Infogroup investigated the occupations most positively-related to high foodie scores. The top five positive correlations were yoga instructors, real estate manage-ment, graphic designers, architects and Website design service.
Infogroup also analyzed other consumer attitudes and behaviors that may be related to foodies, along with the TargetReady Cook for Fun Model. Top TargetReady Models include foreign travel for vacation, frequent business travelers, heavy Internet buyers, online investment trading and higher educations. This indicates foodie cities are comprised in large part by young and wealthy residents.
••• lifestyle research
Americans growing more comfortable with tattoos
Regrets, they’ve had a few
Tattoos can take any number of forms, from animals to quotes to cryptic symbols, and appear in all sorts of spots on our bodies – some visible in everyday life, others not so much. But one thing’s for sure: more and more Americans are getting them. According to a Harris Poll, about three in 10 Americans (29 percent) have at least one tattoo, up from roughly two in 10 (21 percent) just four years ago. What’s more, few inked Americans stop at one; among those with any tattoos, seven in 10 (69 percent) have two or more.
Tattoos are especially prevalent among younger Americans, with nearly half of Millennials (47 percent) and over a third of Gen Xers (36 percent) saying they have at least one, compared to 13 percent of Baby Boomers and one in 10 Matures (10 percent). Millennials and Gen Xers (37 percent and 24 percent) are also exponentially more likely than their elders (6 percent Baby Boomers, 2 percent Matures) to have multiple tattoos.
Some other interesting comparisons: rural (35 percent) and urban (33 percent) Americans are both more likely to have a tattoo than suburbanites (25 percent); those with kids in the household are much more likely than those without to be sporting at least one tattoo (43 percent vs. 21 percent); political persuasion doesn’t seem to factor into the decision to get a tattoo, with little difference between Republicans, Democrats and Independents (27 percent, 29 percent and 28 percent).
With tattoos on the rise, regrets have risen as well; though a strong majority still has no regrets, nearly one-fourth (23 percent) of those with tattoos say they ever regret getting one, up from 14 percent in 2012.
Top-ranked regrets (collected in an open-ended manner) include: too young when they got the tattoo; personality changes/doesn’t fit my present lifestyle; got someone’s name that I’m no longer with; poorly done/doesn’t look professional; and isn’t meaningful.
A third (33 percent) of inked adults indicate having a tattoo has made them feel sexy (up marginally from 30 percent in 2012). Roughly a third also say that it makes them feel attractive (32 percent), though it’s worth noting that this percentage has grown considerably from 21 percent in 2012. Just over a quarter (27 percent) say it makes them feel more rebellious and 20 percent feel more spiritual as a result of their tattoos. Fewer say it makes them feel more intelligent (13 percent), respected (13 percent), employable (10 percent) and healthy (9 percent).
Perhaps the more important learning, though, is that most say that having a tattoo hasn’t made them feel any different on any of these measures.
Opinions differ more broadly among those without tattoos. Nearly half (45 percent) feel those with tattoos are more rebellious than those without, though it’s worth noting that this percentage continues to decline (54 percent held this belief in 2008; 50 percent in 2012), likely a byproduct of tattoos’ continued trend toward the mainstream. On the other end of the scale, nearly half feel those with tattoos are less attractive (47 percent) than those without, 44 percent feel they’re less sexy and a third (34 percent) believe them to be less respectable. Meanwhile, between a quarter and three in 10 think those with tattoos are less intelligent (29 percent), healthy (28 percent) and spiritual (25 percent).
Further driving home the message of tattoos going mainstream, majorities of Americans would be comfortable seeing a person with visible tattoos serve in roles across a diverse range of industries and professions. Comfort ranges from highs of 86 percent for athletes, 81 percent for IT technicians and 78 percent for chefs, to lower majorities of 59 percent each for primary school teachers and judges, and even 58 percent for presidential candidates.
More specifically, many Americans – particularly Millennials – would be “extremely comfortable” with someone with visible tattoos in these professions, including police officers (39 percent, including 54 percent of Millennials), real estate brokers (37 percent/52 percent), bankers (36 percent/50 percent), doctors (35 percent/51 percent), judges (34 percent/49 percent) and presidential candidates (32 percent/46 percent).
That’s all well and good but parents are likely to have a whole different set of standards when it comes to who interacts with their kids, right? Wrong. In fact, a separate poll of parents with kids under 18 in the household found that strong majorities are comfortable (roughly four in 10 of them “extremely” so) with people sporting visible tattoos serving in a number of positions that involve interacting with the kiddos: coach (81 percent comfortable, 39 percent extremely comfortable); high school teacher (75 percent, 39 percent); camp counselor (73 percent, 36 percent); sitter/caregiver (73 percent, 37 percent); primary school teacher (71 percent, 37 percent); and pediatrician (71 percent, 40 percent).
This Harris Poll was conducted online within the United States between October 14 and 19, 2015, among 2,225 adults (aged 18 and over). Additional polling was conducted online in the United States between November 6 and 16, 2015, among 1,093 parents (aged 18 and over) with children under 18 in the household. Figures for age, sex, race/ethnicity, education, region and household income were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. Propensity score weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online. Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris Poll surveys. The data have been weighted to reflect the composition of the adult population. Because the sample is based on those who agreed to participate in our panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated.
••• technology research
Second screens are on the scene
Millennials lead in usage of them
More than three-quarters (88 percent) of Millennials engage in second-screen behaviors when watching video content, the highest percentage of any demographic, according to a new study from the Consumer Technology Association (CTA), formerly the Consumer Electronics Association. The report, 2015 Video Consumption Trends: Part 1 and Part 2, explores consumer video device and content preferences and consumption trends.
While watching video content, half of online Americans use second screens via another device such as a smartphone or tablet to augment first screen content to: access information about the content they’re viewing (50 percent), watch content on other devices during commercials (48 percent) and follow social media discussions either related or unrelated to the programming (43 percent). Millennials (ages 18 to 34) are far more likely to engage in second-screen behaviors than adults age 35 and older – 71 percent engage with social media while watching video content (40 percentage points higher than adults 35 and older) and 70 percent watch content on another device during commercials (32 points higher than adults 35 and older).
“More than ever before, consumers – especially Millennials – are using non-traditional devices such as computers, tablets and smartphones for content viewing,” says Steve Koenig, senior director of market research, Consumer Technology Association. “As technology continues to improve, consumer behaviors and expectations also evolve but televisions still reign as the preferred viewing device in American households today.”
While television remains the most-preferred device for viewing most video content, screens on other devices (computers, tablets and smartphones) are preferred collectively for watching streamed content (57 percent, 13 points higher than televisions). For most types of video content, Millennials are more likely to watch from non-traditional devices (42 percent) compared to adults 35 and older (22 percent).
Overwhelmingly, the top reasons consumers purchase televisions rather than non-traditional content-viewing devices are screen size (80 percent) and picture quality (62 percent), with cost coming in at a distant third (29 percent).
One in 10 consumers (11 percent) reports having cancelled his or her service provider subscription in the past year, usually citing alternate options available at a lower cost (27 percent). Additionally, 21 percent of consumers report they haven’t had a service provider subscription for more than a year, with many (32 percent) reporting they did not watch enough TV programming to justify the subscription costs. While traditional pay-TV providers including cable, satellite and fiber-to-the-home remain the most-used resources for accessing and consuming content (61 percent), more consumers are now receiving content through paid video streaming services (46 percent, a seven percentage point increase from 2014).
CTA research projects revenues will reach $19 billion for all TV sets and displays in 2016, on par with 2015, as volumes drop 1 percent to just under 40 million units. Driven in part by the market introduction of next-generation technologies, 2016 will be a phenomenal year for 4K ultra high-definition (UHD) TVs with shipments of 4K UHD displays projected to reach 13 million units (an 83 percent increase), with revenue expected to top $10 billion.
••• technology research
Study looks at Web app development trends
Fast waterfall vs. agile
Testing Trends in 2016: A Survey of Software Professionals, conducted by Dimensional Research, Sunnyvale, Calif., for San Francisco-based automated testing firm Sauce Labs Inc., reveals that while 88 percent of organizations developing Web applications say they have adopted agile development, only one in five have fully implemented the five best software testing practices typically associated with a mature agile development process.
The report represents the company’s second annual “state of testing” research report and is designed to better understand current trends in delivering high-quality Web and mobile applications. Covering topics such as agile software development, modern testing techniques, continuous integration (CI) and cross-browser test coverage, the report stems from a survey conducted in December 2015 of more than 520 technology professionals responsible for the quality of software applications.
“Development teams continue to adopt agile methodologies like continuous integration to build better software faster,” says Charles Ramsey, CEO of Sauce Labs. “What is surprising from this report is the revelation that many teams who believe they are practicing an agile testing process are really performing ‘fast waterfall’ instead. This presents a huge opportunity for these teams to continue to improve their processes, increase their use of automation and accelerate development even further.”
In addition to revealing the prevalence of fast-waterfall development, the findings also reveal that the market continues its adoption of CI, with 77 percent of respondents citing use of the modern development technique within their teams, up from 70 percent from last year. Importantly, the research also reveals that these teams are beginning to reap the benefits of continuous integration, with respondents reporting that implementing CI has resulted in more systematic and rigorous testing, the introduction of more new features for rapid customer feedback and writing code with fewer errors.
Cross-browser testing also remains important, with 95 percent of large companies performing some type of cross-browser testing. In addition, Microsoft’s new browser released in August 2015 is already grabbing the attention of developers with almost one-third of respondents saying they test their applications on Microsoft Edge.
Additional key findings from the report include:
Agile is ubiquitous but few have fully embraced testing best practices: 67 percent of respondents say their teams deploy new builds at least weekly; 46 percent say they want a faster deployment time than they currently have; only one in five say (21 percent) their teams have achieved all five key areas of agile testing maturity, including: 23 percent of teams fix bugs right away, 24 percent iterate small testable requirements rather than waiting for features to be complete, 26 percent of teams have more automated testing than manual, 77 percent of development and QA teams communicate in real-time and 86 percent of development and QA teams think of themselves as partners.
Continuous integration changes testing: More respondents acknowledged the benefits of CI compared to 2015, which include: more rigorous testing (33 percent), trying more features for customer feedback (32 percent) and writing code with fewer errors (21 percent) in the current report.
Cross-browser testing remains important, especially for large organizations: 95 percent of large companies perform cross-browser testing compared to 86 percent of small companies; 68 percent of large companies test on older browser versions versus only 60 percent of small companies; 32 percent of respondents say they test applications on Microsoft Edge; the need for Internet Explorer testing has not decreased in past year.
“Development teams are beginning to see real benefits of implementing continuous integration,” says Diane Hagglund, principal researcher of Dimensional Research. “The report reveals that while certain benefits may not be seen immediately, there are considerable long-term advantages to CI that make its adoption worthwhile.” The full report can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/1VQDNjh.
A global database of software professionals responsible for the quality of Web applications was e-mailed an invitation to participate in a Web survey on the topic of testing trends. A total of 520 individuals completed the survey. Participants included a variety of roles, company sizes, industries and regions. A copy of this report was offered as an incentive for participation. Certain questions were repeated from a similar survey conducted with the same audience one year ago to capture changes.
••• restaurant research
Chick-fil-A nabs restaurant experience award
Other winners expanding into new markets
Small fast-food chains that have long been local favorites are expanding to new markets and in the process gaining customers and redefining what consumers expect from fast-food restaurants. These chains have an out-sized impact on fast-food perceptions and expectations according to restaurant market intelligence firm Sandelman with the announcement of the winners of the firm’s 2015 Quick-Track Awards of Excellence.
“Some of the chains on our Awards of Excellence Top 10 List may not be known yet by those outside their local markets but their seeming overnight success has really been decades in the making,” says Bob Sandelman, founder and CEO of Sandelman & Associates.
The 2015 winner of the Overall Award of Excellence is Chick fil-A, with 63 percent of its users rating their last experience excellent overall. It wasn’t long ago that Chick-fil-A was a regional favorite but it has rapidly expanded to become a national player. California favorite In-N-Out is a close second, with a 61 percent overall excellent rating. Chick-fil-A and In-N-Out have traded places at the top of the list over the past several years. The Top 10 List is filled with expanding fast-food chains that are changing the way consumers think of fast food.
Top 10 Quick-Service Restaurant Chains
(ranked by percent rating their overall experience excellent)
Chick-fil-A ................... 63%
In-N-Out Burger ........... 61%
Portillo’s ...................... 60%
Dion’s ......................... 59%
The Habit Burger Grill ..... 59%
Café Zupas .................. 58%
Raising Cane’s ............... 57%
Cafe Rio ...................... 56%
Capriotti’s .................... 56%
Five Guys .................... 54%
Sandelman’s Quick-Track syndicated usage and perception study monitored over 1 million quick-service restaurant occasions across large and small markets throughout the country in 2015. The 2015 leaders are expanding from a market or region into new areas. For example, Portillo’s has long been a Chicago area favorite, starting as a hot dog stand in 1969 and morphing over the years into a chain of fast-casual restaurants featuring hot dogs, hamburgers, barbecue, salads and more. The chain is expanding to California and Arizona.
Dion’s has been serving pizza and subs in Albuquerque since the 1970s and is now gaining recognition as it expands to Texas and Colorado. The Habit began for many in Santa Barbara, Calif., with premium char-grilled burgers but now they are found all over California and the West. There are also outposts in New Jersey, Florida and Virginia.
Past Awards of Excellence winner Raising Cane’s is a leading provider of chicken fingers in Louisiana that is rapidly gaining rave reviews in Texas, Oklahoma, Nevada, Kentucky, Ohio and now California.
Utah is a hotbed for fast-casual restaurants with Café Zupas and Café Rio both tracing their origins to the area. Café Zupas focuses on house-made soups, salads and sandwiches, while Café Rio serves up fresh Mexican food. These chains are the youngest of the bunch, having started in 2006 and 1997 respectively. Both chains have expanded in the intermountain area and beyond.
Capriotti’s started selling fresh roasted turkey sandwiches in Delaware in 1976. Now you’ll find them springing up in the Atlantic seaboard, Nevada and other Western states. Five Guys Burgers and Fries continues to have a strong presence in Washington, D.C., where it started in 1986, but it has also expanded to over 1,000 units across the country.
“The common theme among these chains is their ability to provide a consistently excellent experience for their users at a single restaurant and then replicating that experience to lots of restaurants in a market and then across the country,” says Bev Cain, president of Sandelman.
Quick-Track monitors satisfaction on 17 individual attributes that contribute to overall satisfaction. Chain winners on individual attributes include Chick-fil-A, In-N-Out Burger and Café Rio from the top 10 overall list, as well as Little Caesars Pizza, Jason’s Deli, Penn Station, la Madeleine, Cook-Out and Jimmy John’s. All of the winners can be seen at www.sandelman.com/awards.