CASE STUDY
In a recent webinar focusing on CSat tracking, we spoke with Karen Fuller, Director of Global Market Research for the Expedia Group which includes Vrbo. Our conversation focused on customer satisfaction (CSat) research, and the work Karen has been doing over the last 13 years to lay a strong foundation for her program.
In these three examples, learn how she added value with CSat tracking.
Build a flexible program to react to market shifts
When the pandemic began, travel behavior shifted immediately, creating a seismic shift in the travel industry. Karen’s team at Vrbo quickly reacted by turning to the data to understand what travelers wanted in the moment, and as the pandemic wore on. The framework Karen had built early on gave her the flexibility to ask new questions and mine the data to deliver insights to her marketing team and Home Away customers throughout the pandemic.
Anticipating future needs up front ensures that your program is sufficiently flexible to support changes within the organization, and within the marketplace when you need it most.
Being able to deliver tactical insights that customers can act on is an effective way to improve product marketing and also has a lasting impact on the product direction.”
Mine CSat data to enrich product direction
In the early days of her tenure at Vrbo, travelers were researching online but booking over the phone. For Karen, so understanding the space between research and booking was critical.
Whether a customer booked after researching a property or not, Karen’s team kept digging, adding new questions to drill down and understand, for example, how quickly owners responded to customer queries. That allowed the team to see a clear linear relationship between response time, likelihood to book the property, and likelihood to recommend Vrbo.
Armed with this new information, the team reached out to marketing with the new information. The marketing team let property owners know that if they reduced their response time, they were much more likely to get a booking.
Being able to deliver tactical insights that customers can act on is an effective way to improve product marketing and also has a lasting impact on the product direction.
Develop a truly holistic view of your CSat program
Overlooking a data source can create blind spots, particularly in customer experience research, limiting the overall value of a CSat program. As Karen continued to build her program, she realized there were two rich data sources that she hadn’t yet integrated into her mix.
Getting input from the customer support team turned out to be an essential data source. Because they’re so close to the customer experience, the customer service team knows what issues customers care about. She collaborated with her customer service team to develop a feedback loop that aligned with the overall CSat program and serves as a constant resource for understanding the issues, needs, and problems that customers encounter.
Similarly, Karen collaborated with the web analytics and user experience teams to enhance the CSat program. Insights they provide on a wide range of web-based activity allowed her team to act on online behavior to develop new strategies for the organization.
Taking a fresh look at the data program on a regular basis is a best practice that can reveal blind spots and untapped opportunities you may be missing.
Taking a fresh look at the data program on a regular basis is a best practice that can reveal blind spots and untapped opportunities you may be missing.”
To hear more of our conversation, watch the webinar recording now:
Reach out for more information on CSat programs.
