Dive Brief:
- Gen Z is twice as likely as baby boomers to provide feedback on companies to third-party review sites or on social media, a Medallia survey of 2,000 consumers found. Medallia surveyed an equal number of baby boomers, Gen X consumers, millennials and Gen Z consumers.
- Nearly three-quarters of Gen Z consumers say they have shared their experiences on third-party review sites, and 60% say they’ve posted on discussion forums like Reddit.
- “Growing up in a digital-first world, Gen Zers are accustomed to sharing opinions online as part of their everyday routines,” Andrew Custage, head of research insights at Medallia, said in an email. “Gen Zers heavily value transparency, making public feedback more appealing than private submissions through a brand’s own channels.”
Dive Insight:
Customer feedback rates have fallen steadily over the past two decades and, as a result, it's become more difficult for companies to understand how they’re performing with customers.
A Qualtrics report released earlier this month found that less than one-third of customers communicate directly with organizations after bad experiences. This means businesses are often “flying blind” as customers vote with their wallets instead, according to Isabelle Zdatny, head of thought leadership at Qualtrics XM Institute.
The decline in response rates doesn’t mean companies aren’t requesting feedback. In fact, consumers are survey fatigued. About half of respondents said they are getting more feedback requests from companies now than in the past, and more than one-third say too many companies are asking for feedback, the Medallia survey found.
But consumers generally don’t know what brands plan to do with that feedback.
Only one-quarter of consumers remember an instance when a company followed up on feedback and told them what they plan to do with the information, according to Medallia. Younger generations are especially skeptical of surveys, with 43% of Gen Z consumers and 44% of millennials agreeing that they “doubt that companies take action on what customers say when they fill out feedback surveys.”
When companies do follow up, however, three-quarters of respondents said their opinion of a company improved.
Consumers are still sharing their opinions — they’re just doing so in a variety of places. Businesses can analyze calls, chat logs and behavioral signals, while monitoring third-party sites and social media channels to better understand customer sentiment.
Surveys aren’t completely obsolete with younger generations. While Gen Z expresses more comfort with third-party sites than their generational counterparts, one-quarter most recently gave feedback on a company’s website via a mobile phone or tablet — about the same rate as millennials and Gen X.
