Regardless customer reviews have an enormous impact on traffic and sales in the hospitality industry. Here are a few incredible statistics from QSRWeb that showcase the impact of online reviews on different forms of retail, travel, & hospitality:
Now What?
Almost all hospitality businesses win and lose based upon customer service, quality of product or service and speed of service. Online reviews are no different, in particular if you consider the same QSRWeb statistics that build on retailers responding to negative reviews. Nearly 20% of customers that received a response to a negative review from a retailer went on to become loyal customers making additional purchases. If one yelp star is worth 5-9% of incremental sales, then turning negative reviews in positive reviews will also fuel sales growth. Proper customer engagement starts with getting to know your customers at a more intimate level, and in the digital world this information lives in your data.
The Answers are in the Data
Customer engagement does not happen in the IT department, it happens in the business. The best way to tap into your data is to outfit the business (sales, marketing, customer service, operations) with a flexible data analytics platform which enables the following:
The hospitality industry is a tough business, but with the proper amount of customer engagement your online reviews will trend the right way along with your sales performance. Analytics is at the heart of the journey toward positive reviews, and the Qlik Analytics Platform is the most robust an agile analytics platform in the market place that is focused on the business user. I invite you to try Qlik out for yourself with the Qlik Social Media & Facebook Analytics Solution Demo. I trust you will give us 5 stars!