A study conducted by Forrester on behalf of Reputation found the majority of marketing and consumer experience (CX) professionals consider customer feedback and unstructured data key to building impactful brand experiences.
The study also found that despite this, many are focused on collecting large amounts of data versus high quality data.
Consisting of customer comments such as informal social media posts, unstructured feedback is typically qualitative in nature and provides a valuable source of real-time insight. As more consumers interact with brands across various digital touch points, such as chat and social media, it is gaining in prominence. The study shows that while 84% of decision-makers see the value in unstructured data and consumer feedback, only 30% of data collected is unstructured, leaving behind a trove of direct consumer insights that could fuel business growth.
Joe Fuca, Reputation CEO, said: “We believe that data is only as powerful as the actions you take from it, and this study shows that marketing and CX leaders typical struggle to make sense of the it, especially unstructured data, or data in the wild - the unadulterated reflection of online reputation found in social media comments, reviews or survey responses.
“This particular type of data is extremely valuable to businesses, as it serves as the key to unlocking richer insights. However, decision-makers need to find a way to harness it effectively, to drive business growth and maintain online reputation.”
The study confirmed that unstructured data is power, with nearly two thirds of decision-makers seeing it as the key to richer insights. It also found that unstructured data leads to: