How to Use Guest Feedback to Drive Organizational Success

Guest experiences don’t exist in siloes. From marketing to HR and operations, your entire organization plays a role in delivering memorable customer experiences (CX) and interactions that lead to increased customer loyalty.  

Pearl-Plaza’s Nate Morley was joined by Savannah Harper, director of operations services at Auntie Anne’s, and Nhuy Weidinger, brand marketing manager for McAlister’s Deli, to host a webinar in partnership with FastCasual.com, “Success Starts with Your Guests: Using Guest Feedback Throughout Your Entire Organization.” From leveraging the power of data to improving employee and customer interactions, this webinar discusses how each department across your organization can leverage customer feedback to make better business decisions and improve the overall experience. 

How Guest Feedback Impacts Department Roles 

Operations: It’s no secret that good customer experiences start with employees. Your operations department is a great place to uncover how you can deliver value from the inside out. 

According to Savannah Harper of Auntie Anne’s, this can be done by leveraging your guest experience platform to deliver in-depth data and metrics. This real-time, priceless data shows store owners and employees why they should care about guest experiences, drawing a correlation between good service, guest recovery, and a better bottom line. 

Human Resources: A reported 79% of employees who quit their jobs claimed that a lack of appreciation was a major reason for leaving. And employees that don’t feel appreciated likely aren’t going the extra mile to improve customer experiences. But when your HR team highlights employee successes—as detailed in guest feedback—employees not only feel valued, they also know they’re doing well. 

HR teams can also leverage employee success for training purposes, using real-world situations to prevent negative or bad customer experiences in the future. 

Finance: Think finance is removed from guest experiences? Think again. While employees on the floor are the ones responsible for interacting with customers, those interactions directly impact things like revenue. By investing in your guest experiences, your business will see positive outcomes like: 

• Recovering at-risk revenue: Guests have lifetime value, especially those that continually seek out your brand for products or services. Identifying and recovering at-risk customers helps you rescue that revenue as well. 
• Increasing sales opportunities: According to Forrester, customers who have great buying experiences are 3.6 times more likely to spend more with the brand who provided it. Good customer experiences can equal more revenue opportunities.
• Acquiring new customers: Word of mouth from happy customers makes up roughly 3% of CX-fueled revenue potential. Not only do great experiences lead to repeat purchases from existing customers, but it also increases the chance they’ll share your brand with their peers. 

Development: For departments responsible for business development, guest feedback can lead to clearer understanding on brand perception, which in turn allows you to better optimize store locations. Granular guest data helps you know where your customers are coming from, where there’s opportunity to open new stores, and when it might be time to close ones that aren’t performing well. 

Marketing: Marketing teams are constantly testing the waters with customers. And finding products customers love, or uncovering those they don’t, requires gathering guest data and feedback. According to Nhuy Weidinger, brand marketing manager for McAlister’s Deli, when the company changes the menu or introduces limited-time, seasonal menu items, they make sure to gather guest feedback to determine if those items should be rolled out again the following year. 

For example, when McAlister’s Deli removed gravy and croissants from the menu, customers spoke up to let the company know they missed those items. And when McAlister’s marketing department made the decision to reintroduce those menu offerings, guests felt like their feedback was heard—and their cravings were satisfied. 

Whether you’re responsible for your company’s books or determining the best locale to open a brick-and-mortar location, a strong CX strategy must touch every facet of your business. By aligning departments across your organization on how to listen, leverage, and act on guest feedback, you’re working to create better customer experiences, in turn driving more business success. 

For more insights, check out Fast Casual’s webinar, “Success Starts with Your Guests: Using Guest Feedback Throughout Your Entire Organization,” today.