For years, organisations have actively sought customer opinions through surveys and feedback forms, directly asking for their thoughts and experiences. While this direct approach still holds value, a silent revolution is underway in how consumers and even employees are voicing their perspectives. The spotlight is shifting towards indirect feedback – the wealth of information shared organically through social media, online reviews, and even customer service interactions.
This burgeoning pool of unsolicited opinions is rapidly becoming a new goldmine for businesses savvy enough to tap into it. Ashley Taylor, Global Voice of the Customer Specialist at Flight Centre, comments, “To gain a comprehensive understanding amidst declining survey response rates, a multi-faceted approach to data collection is crucial. While I wouldn’t declare surveys obsolete, a blend of structured and unstructured data sources is essential. Traditionally, structural data has been vital, and we continue to gather it from social media and review sites, which gained prominence around a decade ago”.
Whether it’s a public rave on Facebook, a detailed critique on a review platform, or the nuances captured during a contact centre conversation, people are sharing their experiences in real-time and on their own terms. Taylor points out, “Voice and chat interactions have emerged as significant sources of unstructured data. The popularity of chat offers a wealth of information, and advancements in technology now allow us to analyse call recordings, distinguishing between agent and customer dialogue. This enables us to identify customer topics, emotions, and sentiment. Ultimately, a holistic analysis that integrates insights from all available sources – social media, online reviews, voice, and chat – is necessary to truly understand customer feedback”.
Highlighting the increasing importance of analysing indirect feedback from structured and unstructured data, Michael Michaloudis, Regional Director ANZ & ASEAN, Medallia, says, “The days of surveys being the sole source of truth are over. A truly comprehensive understanding of our customers now demands that we actively gather and analyse indirect and direct feedback from every available channel”.
“Notably, unstructured data provides a vast treasure trove of experience data that a survey program alone can’t come close to capturing. The crucial step then becomes the skillful synthesis of these diverse data points, enabling us to pinpoint and address the most critical issues that will deliver the greatest positive impact for the business and the customer”, adds Michaloudis.
Opening the feedback floodgates
This surge in unsolicited feedback, including voice and chat, offers a wealth of unstructured data. Danielle Elmasri, Commercial Optimisation Manager, says, “It feels like we’re in an era of unprecedented feedback. Consumers are constantly sharing their experiences through social media – not just text, but also images, videos, and reviews. This provides organisations with continuous insights into customer sentiment regarding their interactions, products, and services. Social media’s impact on brand listening is significant, generating a large volume of unsolicited feedback”.
Imagine gaining unfiltered insights into customer pain points, desires, and preferences simply by listening to the conversations already happening. This rich, unstructured data can reveal unmet needs, highlight product strengths and weaknesses, and even provide early warnings of emerging trends. Elmasri warns, “While this constant stream of feedback is beneficial, relying too heavily on a single source can be misleading. It can skew the data, and focusing solely on online reviews or surveys could capture only a small fraction of overall customer opinions. Identifying which sources offer the most accurate and representative understanding of customer sentiment is a key challenge”.
Similarly, analysing internal communications and agent interactions can offer invaluable perspectives on employee morale, process inefficiencies, and areas for improvement. The potential to understand both your external and internal stakeholders on a deeper level is immense. This goldmine, however, isn’t easily accessible.
The sheer volume and unstructured nature of indirect feedback present a significant challenge. Ivana Papanicolaou, Head of CX Solution Strategy, Qualtrics, comments, “The rise of indirect feedback is a goldmine of unfiltered customer sentiment. It reveals pain points, shapes better products, and fosters brand loyalty more effectively than surveys ever could. But there’s a catch. Most organisations aren’t yet prepared to collect, analyse, or harness this data in a meaningful way. The sheer volume of indirect feedback, coupled with its unstructured nature, presents significant challenges for brands lacking the necessary tools and systems”.
Unifying diverse indirect feedback is a key challenge
Integrating diverse customer feedback into a unified view presents a significant hurdle. Elmasri says, “The primary hurdle is consolidating diverse alternative listening sources into a unified view. While many aspire to this ‘single voice’ platform, integrating unstructured data into a CRM for a holistic perspective is technically complex. Currently, this often requires manual effort, hindering real-time analysis. The key challenge lies in streamlining and accelerating this integration process.”
This challenge is evident when analysing high-volume social media feedback. Identifying actionable signals amidst general engagement is crucial. For example, aspirational comments offer limited immediate value. Therefore, categorising feedback into types like engagement, complaints, and suggestions, and then prioritising based on actionability, business potential, and process value, is essential.
Taylor comments, “When analysing the high volume of comments on our Facebook page, the initial challenge is signal identification. While engagement comments are valuable for brand awareness, they often lack actionable insights. For instance, a “dream holiday” response to a travel prompt in March doesn’t provide immediate utility. Therefore, we must first categorise feedback into types like engagement, complaints, suggestions, or support requests. Then, we need to prioritise those that require action, indicate potential business, or highlight process value points”.
Further complicating matters is the lack of customer journey context in much indirect feedback. Unlike targeted surveys with clear timelines, social media comments often lack this context, making it difficult to pinpoint issues within the customer experience.
To navigate these complexities, Michaloudis says, “For businesses integrating unstructured customer data into their CX programs, strategic focus is essential. Begin by defining your most critical business outcomes, then map the specific data streams that directly impact those metrics. The organisations seeing the highest ROI aren’t just collecting more data—they’re connecting the right data and delivering insights directly to frontline teams who can drive immediate change. We consistently see transformative results when companies bridge their contact centre insights with VoC programs and digital behaviour analytics, then empower employees to take targeted actions that enhance customer experiences. This closed-loop approach is what truly builds brand loyalty and creates a sustainable competitive advantage.”
Planning your indirect customer feedback strategy
A successful customer feedback strategy hinges on establishing a solid foundation. This involves understanding feedback signals, meticulously planning data integration from all sources into a centralised system and using consistent categorisation for uniform analysis. Taylor elaborates, “Understand the various feedback signals you’ll receive and meticulously plan the integration of data from all sources: telephony, social media, service platforms, and your data warehouse. Create a blueprint to centralise all feedback and utilise a consistent tool for categorisation, ensuring uniform analysis”.
He adds, “This upfront planning, “even if it takes a few months, is crucial. It prevents future integration headaches and reporting inconsistencies, which can erode leadership confidence. Plan thoroughly from the ground up, respond to immediate customer needs, and strategically measure the business impact of feedback to drive effective solutions”.
To ensure you start on the right foot, Elmasri recommends, “First, understand the full scope of your accessible data, regardless of its current format or automation level. Once you have this overview, resist the urge to immediately automate. Instead, conduct a low-fidelity proof of concept to evaluate the actual value of this data. Just because data is accessible and comes from a customer interaction channel doesn’t guarantee its usefulness. A pilot project, like our operational data analysis, can reveal valuable insights and guide future automation efforts towards truly meaningful data sources”.
Papanicolaou highlights, “Phone calls, emails, and chats are the richest sources of indirect feedback, but they often live in silos. Bringing this data into a unified platform requires buy-in across departments but pays immense dividends long term”.
Using AI and technology to decipher the customer’s voice
Advancements in technology are playing a crucial role in unlocking the potential of indirect feedback. Natural Language Processing (NLP) and sentiment analysis tools can now sift through vast amounts of text and voice data, identifying key themes, understanding emotions, and distinguishing between different speakers.
AI will be crucial for organisations to analyse data and respond quickly to feedback, as Papanicolaou points out, “Customers want to see that their feedback has an impact. AI plays a critical role that enables companies to take fast, meaningful action on feedback – from autonomously resolving issues before they arise, closing the loop with customers, and empowering customer-facing teams with real-time insights to improve their services and support and autonomously close the loop and resolve issues. Beyond this, focus on scaling actions across many customer interactions to drive meaningful impact to customers and business”.
Though the opportunities offered by AI are immense, Taylor advises caution, “The progress in generative AI is breathtaking, yet it’s crucial to acknowledge the inherent pitfalls. The speed of improvement is extraordinary; early models, once impressive, now seem rudimentary compared to newer versions”.
“However”, Taylor adds, “the technology’s reliability can be inconsistent, with intelligence levels fluctuating and varying across different models. Consequently, a healthy scepticism is paramount. I wouldn’t blindly trust its output. Instead, I see its value in directing my attention to potential areas of investigation, which then require rigorous human analysis. Like the analogy of a “drunk at closing time” – confidently stating falsehoods before readily retracting – generative AI needs careful scrutiny. Its true strength lies in its ability to rapidly generate initial ideas and accelerate the early stages of exploration, but human judgment remains indispensable for accurate assessment”.
Michaloudis concurs, “Leading brands are using AI to transform customer experience from a reactive survey-based approach to a real-time active approach. By predicting and addressing issues before they escalate, they achieve faster resolutions, higher satisfaction, and stronger customer loyalty. While generative AI’s progress is rapid, human oversight remains vital to ensure accuracy”.
Linking indirect customer feedback directly to proactive engagement and ROI
Businesses are starting to link indirect customer feedback directly to proactive engagement and ROI calculation, turning insights into immediate action. Elmasri comments, “Beyond traditional ROI metrics like acquisition and churn, we’re exploring a more direct approach. Our customer surveys now include questions designed to identify customer needs and product fit. For example, if a customer indicates frequent international money transfers, this triggers our “next best action” program, scheduling a call with a specialist”.
“Additionally, we’re leveraging our digital channels to proactively guide customers and enable self-service, potentially using our Voice of the Customer tool to identify moments where assistance might be needed based on their online behaviour. This direction allows us to directly link feedback to proactive engagement and improved customer journeys. This ‘next best action’ concept is exciting. It’s about translating customer insights into tangible steps to enhance their experience and journey, ultimately driving ROI from the customer’s perspective”.
Flight Centre addresses customer feedback through a two-pronged approach, as Taylor outlines, “Our approach involves both immediate customer follow-up (inner loop) and strategic root cause analysis (outer loop). While immediate responses are often handled within chat and voice interactions, the key is acknowledging and understanding the customer. For strategic improvements, we analyse feedback across surveys, social media, and chat to quantify the impact of specific issues”.
“By identifying the percentage of customers reporting a problem on each channel, we can estimate the total number affected and their likelihood to churn. This allows us to calculate the potential loss in customer lifetime value and the cost of acquiring replacements, effectively sizing the problem in financial terms. This business case then informs investment decisions and prioritises solutions”.
Surveys will live on
While the prominence of surveys might be diminishing, the notion of their complete demise is premature. Elmasri believes surveys are evolving rather than dying out entirely. She says, “At PEXA, we’re actively enhancing our Voice of the Customer program and our use of surveys. This includes shifting from direct scoring questions, like those for CSAT, to more engaging prompts that encourage deeper reflection. For instance, instead of asking “Why did you give us this score?”, we’re exploring questions like “Reflect on the last 12 months – what were some positive experiences?” and “Reflect on the last 12 months – how can we improve?”. This approach yields richer, more meaningful insights by prompting customers to think more broadly about their experiences”.
The future of understanding your stakeholders lies in embracing this silent revolution. While direct feedback will likely always have a place, the sheer volume and authenticity of indirect feedback make it an indispensable resource. Organisations that invest in the capabilities to capture, analyse, and integrate this wealth of unsolicited opinions will gain a significant competitive advantage, truly understanding the pulse of their customers and employees in a way that traditional methods simply cannot achieve. The new goldmine is out there – are you ready to start digging?