What top brands know about consumer sentiment (that you probably don’t)

Consumer sentiment analysis has emerged as a secret weapon for brands in fast moving industries like consumer packaged goods (CPG), quick service restaurants (QSR) and telecommunications (TelCo). Consumer behavior is driven by consumer sentiment, so brands that understand how their customers feel have an advantage. 

And consumers’ behavior is ever changing. For example: 

• 58% of CPG consumers are a “brand switchers”—loyal to their favorites, but mostly open to new options

• 55% of telco customers say they will drop a company they like after several bad experiences

• 54% of QSR consumers prefer to visit restaurants where they are loyalty members 

One particularly interesting use of real-time sentiment tracking is Nike’s 30th anniversary “Just Do It” campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick. The campaign came out in 2018, when a national debate about police brutality and social justice was raging and Kaepernick had garnered attention for choosing to kneel during the national anthem in protest. 

Featuring Kaepernick was a risk, because public opinion regarding his actions was divided, but the use of real-time consumer sentiment helped Nike mitigate the risk. Through social listening, engagement tracking and sentiment analysis, the brand used a quick response team, content adaptation and influencer partnerships to increase approval in the wake of the ad. The result:

• $43 million in earned media in 24 hours

• 135% increase in brand mentions on social media 

• 67% approval ratings among 18-34 year olds

• 49% approval among all voters

Traditional metrics to measure consumer sentiment are both slow and shallow, creating a disadvantage in fast-paced industries. Tracking real-time sentiment is proving to be a key to responding appropriately and garnering profit as a result. 

In this article, I’ll dive into why traditional brand metrics fail, how to win with sentiment analysis and what the future holds. 

Traditional metrics for measuring consumer sentiment provide some information, but tools that analyze and contextualize those metrics—in real time—are far more powerful. Some of the most common brand metrics include: 

• Brand awareness

• Net promoter score (NPS)

• Brand recall

• Brand mentions in social media

• Social media impressions and engagement

• Recommendations and referrals 

While these metrics are still valuable for brands, solely leaning on these more common metrics may not give you the fullest picture of why your customers are behaving the way they are — which is where customer sentiment analysis comes in.  

Essentially, consumer sentiment is the way that consumers as a whole feel about a brand specifically, or about the economy generally. Certain events make it easy to see consumer sentiment in real time. The Volkswagen scandal in 2015 is a great example. The opening of an article on AP News captured the situation:

“Just one week ago Volkswagen was a company oozing confidence, the world’s best-selling automaker with a global brand that appealed to car buyers seeking trustworthy German engineering at an affordable price. 

“Since then, the company's fortunes — and its share price — have crashed amid a scandal over rigged emissions tests.”

Consumer sentiment changed so dramatically in the wake of the scandal, measuring tools weren’t necessary! 

Although traditional metrics and KPIs are useful, they aren’t up to the task of modern marketing and branding. They are too slow, and too siloed. In order for brands to have a comprehensive view of consumer sentiment, traditional metrics need context. 

In the Nike example above, how consumers felt about the Kaepernick “Just Do It” ad had to be viewed through the lens of protests happening across the country, Kaepernick himself and the brand’s history. Consumer sentiment analysis provides that contextualization and includes multiple inputs to create a richer, more accurate picture of how consumers feel and how it relates to their behaviors. 

Although consumer sentiment analysis is an important tool during a crisis or in preparation for a potentially risky campaign, the real value comes through when it’s operationalized and instituted as a real-time KPI. High quality data, accurate comparisons, a wide net and automation are the keys to unlocking the power of consumer sentiment analysis on a day-to-day level.

Zappi offers real-time consumer survey tools that give brands the information necessary to understand their audiences in detail. In a time where quality responses are critically important, we focus on 14 signals at an individual respondent level, and we continuously assess and enhance data quality. 

Additionally, our surveys are designed to be quick and engaging. We want respondents to enjoy the experience of taking our surveys—because that’s the best way to make sure you get reliable, high-quality responses to use as a regular component in your operations. 

Starbucks demonstrates how brands can operationalize consumer sentiment analysis to continuously improve customer experience. They collect data through their mobile app, their rewards program and through social listening. That data doesn’t just get stored away, though. 

They use real-time analytics to track consumer sentiment and better understand complex consumer behaviors—and then they act on that information. Starbucks has added milk alternatives based on where customers have demanded options. The organization began offering coconut milk based on their “My Starbucks Idea” platform, for example, and oat milk in Europe beginning in 2018, based on a plant-based milk boom. 

A net promoter score (NPS) answers one question: would a customer refer a friend to a service-provider or product? That can be helpful information, but leaves room for error because the NPS doesn’t provide any information about why the customer would or wouldn’t recommend the product or service. 

A customer sentiment analysis goes from showing how customers feel to why they feel that way, and that provides actionable information. 

Understanding that customers are choosing a competitor because they offer a product in more colors, or that customers like a new product but not enough to pay 50% more for it or that returning a product is onerous so they avoid making purchases gives brands enough information to make specific changes. 

Furthermore, a customer sentiment analysis that includes input from multiple sources, such as live chat transcripts, call logs, reviews on your website, social media mentions and so on, creates a robust picture of how customers feel at a given moment in time. Brands can then personalize interactions, create better customer experiences, make better offers and go from meeting expectations to delighting customers.

Given the importance of consumer sentiment, it’s likely no surprise to learn that technology to recognize and analyze customer emotions is going to play a bigger role in analysis as time goes on. From speech and voice analysis to text-based sentiment analysis, new technologies create new ways for brands to understand what their customers expect and want. 

Consumer sentiment analysis provides much needed context for all of the other tools available for learning about customer behavior. By leaning on this type of analysis, brands can, in turn, offer more personalized, tailored experiences. 

As these newer technologies emerge, questions concerning privacy need attention. Consumers want personalized experiences, but may also want to be informed that certain types of data is being collected — an aspect worth keeping a pulse on.

Embracing tools that offer insights into consumer behavior and contextualize traditional KPIs to provide a comprehensive consumer sentiment analysis gives brands a competitive edge. More targeted and tailored customer experiences increase satisfaction, referrals and ultimately sales.  

Performing an audit of brand KPIs is a crucial first step. Adding consumer sentiment analysis as a KPI is a great way to move from it being a “nice to have” to necessary in order to meet customer expectations.