New Data Will Reveal How Customers Really Feel
If you recently updated your Facebook status, you may see a wide array of responses that goes beyond the fabled "like" riposte the social media platform has become known for. Last month Facebook unveiled "Reactions," which offers its users five additional ways to express their opinions on everything from pictures of your cats to your brash political musings. While it will certainly give users more choices in how they interact with friends, it will also give businesses deeper insights into customer sentiment.
Reactions are essentially an extension of the like button, with six different buttons, or "animated emojis" (ask a millennial): "Like," "Love," "Haha," "Wow," "Sad" or "Angry." Despite the public outcry for a "dislike" button, Facebook did not include one because the company felt it could be construed as negative. But that won't stop people from using the "angry" button when they do not like something.
While this may upset a friend, it can actually help companies react and respond to complaints. What's more, it may even help us predict trends and threats we may have not previously seen.
Dun & Bradstreet's former Chief Analytics Officer, Nipa Basu, believes the new "Reactions" will be an opportunity for businesses to better understand their customers, but notes it will take a deep level of understanding to make perfect sense of it.
"I think it's definitely possible to draw true insight from this, but you'll need to do some very careful analytics before forming any meaningful conclusions," explains Basu. "These 'Reactions' are typically based on real-time human emotion. Sometimes it will be fair. Sometimes it will be unfair. But if you have a large sample of a lot of people's emotions reflected then you can begin to ask if that says something about the customer experience or the product or service from that business, and go from there.
"Then comes the second part. Does it matter? Looking deeper at what the comments suggest and how they correlate with the different types of 'Reactions' being received, a good analyst will be able to draw more accurate insights. Looking at both types of responses together will help understand what customers really felt."
This is what Basu believes will make social sentiment analysis that much more effective. Not only will it open the door for brands to assess the success or relevance of their content, as well as measure customer satisfaction, it may paint a deeper picture about total risk and opportunity across industries that could benefit others.
"When you utilize a company like ours, where we already have our pulse on the health of global businesses and industries, and combine it with these social 'Reactions,' we can start to understand the correlation it has between business growth or degeneration," said Basu. "Can looking at the amount of 'angry' comments predict the future health of a particular business or industry? Quite possibly. This is paving the way for even richer data that can drive even smarter analytics."