Consumer surveys—asking about a shopper’s recent in-store experience or perceptions of a particular brand—are fairly commonplace. But the typical survey often has a low response rate and results can take days—if not weeks—to be gathered and reported. Enter Interactions’ mobile-based receipt and consumer intercept surveys. The unique strategies and technologies employed by Interactions’ Insights division engage more shoppers and encourage real-time feedback, enabling retailers and brands to make meaningful decisions and changes in real-time.
“One of our strategies with receipt surveys is to put a scannable code, like a QR code, on the bottom of the receipts so shoppers with mobile devices can quickly and easy scan the code and leave their feedback—often within minutes of leaving the store,” says Michelle Gallegos, Insights’ Account Executive.
In addition, Interactions’ Insights group creates inventive ways of maximizing high quality response rates while minimizing the cost of incentive to the retailer or manufacturer. For example, last year Interactions designed and launched a QR-based receipt survey program for a regional fast food chain in Arizona. Along with the QR codes, Interactions developed an incentive program where shoppers would be given a coupon for a free frozen drink (a very low cost, high customer value item) to complete the survey. This approach was intended to serve a dual purpose: first to ensure that shoppers were incentivized to complete the survey, thereby maximizing the total response rates; and second to ensure the quality of the content of each response.
Since the program began, each store location has received 100-200 completed surveys per month. In addition, Interactions has worked with the restaurant chain to identify more 2,000 unique shopper suggestions on ways to improve customer service and product quality; the changes have been implemented chain-wide and the feedback from shoppers has been overwhelmingly positive. The restaurant chain was also incredibly surprised to find that almost three quarters of all survey respondents opted in to receive emails about future products and promotions. “Adding this type of opt-in service is a great way to build brand loyalty and to stay top of mind with shopper and consumers, especially in a competitive marketplace where category share and shopper acquisition/retention are paramount to marketing ROI,” notes Gallegos.
For even higher response rates and greater consumer engagement, Gallegos says consumer intercept surveys are often the answer. On behalf of a large global retail consultancy, Interactions recently completed a series of direct shopper engagement surveys at 17 grand openings for a large big box retailer. Over three weekends, Interactions’ interviewers used handheld tablets to survey shoppers leaving the stores, asking about their in-store and checkout experiences. The results were delivered to store managers in real-time via an online interface, allowing them to make immediate operational changes based on consumer feedback. The results of those changes were seen in subsequent surveys during the same three weekends—for example, shopper satisfaction regarding checkout speeds increased 190 percent during the program and managers were able to test and perfect operational strategies in real-time.
“Surveys like these are the true voice of the consumer,” says Gallegos. “They offer a valuable tool to help retailers and brands make strategic business decisions—often in real-time, when they matter most to shoppers.”
