Stop Trusting Your Star Ratings: Why 98% of Shoppers Still Leave Your Store — Cheryl Zajac | Why Your Star Ratings Fail, How Real Feedback Boosts Sales, What Non-Buyers Reveal, How Pre-Purchase Surveys Work, Why AI Misses Human Intent (#498)

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00:00:00:16 - 00:00:20:16
Unknown
This episode is sponsored by Bizrate Insights. Your star rating tells you how your customers feel, but not why. Bizrate Insights reveals the story behind the stars so you can create smoother customer experiences, increase conversion, and build customer loyalty. Turn verified shopper feedback into better decisions at BizrateInsights.com/coffee

00:00:20:18 - 00:00:43:00
Unknown
The brands that are going to differentiate are those that have a true understanding of who their shoppers and customers are as humans, and that is something that AI and data dashboards cannot replicate. If there is only five star ratings, how much of a problem can that be?

00:00:43:02 - 00:01:00:23
Unknown
Hello and welcome to another episode of the E-commerce Coffee Break podcast. E-commerce brands have more data than ever. You can see where shoppers click, where they live and what they buy, and you can see your star ratings. But here's the problem your data tells you what's happening. It doesn't tell you why. Why did shoppers leave? What frustrated them?

00:01:00:23 - 00:01:20:00
Unknown
And where in a customer journey did things break? That's what we're going to explore today. I'm joined by Cheryl Zajac. She is the VP of Client Insights at Bizrate Insights. Cheryl is a voice of customer expert who helps retailers turn shopping feedback into practical strategies that improve the customer experience, conversions and loyalty. Cheryl, great to have you on the show.

00:01:20:01 - 00:01:46:05
Unknown
Thank you so much. I'm happy to be here. Let's jump right in. Most brands know their star ratings. Why isn't that enough to understand the customer experience? Yeah, a number really is just a number. An average doesn't tell a brand why shoppers abandon a website, why they hesitate at checkout, why they might distrust a delivery promise or complain after fulfillment, or fail to buy again.

00:01:46:09 - 00:02:13:07
Unknown
It's truly just a number. So we at this rate insights. We help brands move beyond that simple star rating to truly understand why. Why did your customer not buy? And we help turn any of those comments or that star rating into. Here's what to fix first, not just to score. Now, a website that only have five star ratings is sort of raising questions already.

00:02:13:08 - 00:02:37:03
Unknown
It's like because that's what really happened in real life. So if there is only five star ratings, how much of a problem can that be? A lot, because it could hide a lot more than it shows, right? It could a five star rating, I mean to a consumer means everything's great. But then also that's highly suspicious because we know in real life that's not the way things work.

00:02:37:04 - 00:03:02:15
Unknown
There is always opportunity for improvement. Right? And that's why we need to go beyond just the star rating or a seller rating. Those star. It really averages and can really quietly cost you customers if you're hanging your hat on. Hey, we have five stars. Everything is great. Well not so. Okay, now let's try to find out what the customer can tell you.

00:03:02:16 - 00:03:23:20
Unknown
What analytics won't tell you. How do we go about this? So when you think about a star rating or accelerating that's really a lagging average signal. It can't tell you. What about those who are unhappy. So if you're to truly get a holistic understanding of who your customer is, you need to also talk to those who aren't buying.

00:03:23:22 - 00:03:48:01
Unknown
So having that full journey understanding. And that's why at Bizzarri Insights we provide surveys across the journey. Pre-purchase when people are coming to your website. Why are they coming to your site? Are they coming to buy. And this is really important because you could leave so much knowledge on the table if you're just capturing feedback from those who are buying from you.

00:03:48:03 - 00:04:08:06
Unknown
98% of people are coming to your website and not buying, so you're only having that knowledge of 2% of your your traffic. If you're hanging your hat on just what your buyers are talking about. What about those who aren't buying? Why aren't they buying? And maybe it's not as simple as oh, they didn't buy because they have something to do with the experience.

00:04:08:07 - 00:04:26:19
Unknown
What if they weren't in the mindset to buy? What if they weren't coming to your website to buy in the first place, but you don't know without asking? Now the asking part. I think that's the most difficult part. Obviously, if somebody buys from you, they're already a fan of you. They bought something, they got something delivered. So that's a sort of an easy ask.

00:04:26:20 - 00:04:44:23
Unknown
Not that easy, but still an easier ask than from somebody who does not buy it from you. What kind of strategies do you have, and how do you find these people who do not buy from you? They're coming to your website. So if the large majority are not buying from you. What are they doing when they come to your site.

00:04:45:00 - 00:05:12:10
Unknown
So we offer pre-purchase post-purchase and post delivery surveys for our clients. So that pre-purchase journey is really important. And that's where you're going to capture feedback from that 98% of site visitors who are coming to your site but bailing. And we have a survey solution that will trigger right on the website. As somebody is about to bail, leave the experience to say, hey, before you go, why were you coming?

00:05:12:10 - 00:05:32:01
Unknown
Were you coming to buy? Where are you coming to browse? What did you do on the website and where do you plan to go next? Are they going to come back? Are they going to go to a competitor? Maybe they're the reason for coming was already solved. I am leaving, but the job to be done. The reason why I came to your website was just a price.

00:05:32:01 - 00:05:53:13
Unknown
Compare. I'm good. I'm going to come back once I check things out. But you won't have that information or know or to be able to set your win back strategies unless you know the true intent of those customers. So we offer survey solutions pre-purchase to actually ask your customers. Hey, why are you coming? What was your purchase intent?

00:05:53:13 - 00:06:20:02
Unknown
Because then you can strategize and really target those high intent folks. Because not all site visitors are created equal. Right. And if you just have a generic kind of win back campaign, then you're you're not necessarily meeting the needs of those high intent buyers who are coming. Why weren't they buying if they were coming to buy? This is true indication of a friction point a key signal to fix.

00:06:20:02 - 00:06:43:18
Unknown
Because then, you know, okay, these folks came with the intention to buy, but they didn't. And why didn't they? And then that's when you start to get the tangible stuff that you can actually take action on, to move the needle, to get more people to convert once they are on this site. Because to your point, cause you said like, yeah, you know, buyers, it's almost like they're going to be happy they did buy.

00:06:43:19 - 00:07:12:05
Unknown
You're writing that buyers high. So when you talk about star ratings and you have all of those fives well yeah, they bought from you. But what about those who didn't buy what happened after they actually got their purchase too? When you think about loyalty and retention and what does that look like? So if you're just capturing at time of sale, you're really missing a large majority of your audience, your potential buyers, as well as an opportunity for attention after the sale.

00:07:12:07 - 00:07:35:17
Unknown
Now, at this rate insights, you obviously have access to massive data. And I think the the art of asking the right question makes the difference there because you can have like yes, no question, multiple choice question and they imply the answer already. So what's the strategy to get the real information from the customer and not something that you sort of serve them.

00:07:35:19 - 00:08:07:02
Unknown
Yeah. Yes. No questions. It's you can't really do much with that. Yes or no. Plus it's also this say do you get because we know people are completely irrational. We as humans we say one thing, we do another. That's that's just who we are. So having that full journey holistic view kind of helps break down the say due gap, because you can have the data behind it to truly validate the difference between what people say they're going to do and then what they actually do.

00:08:07:08 - 00:08:26:05
Unknown
But you won't be able to even have that level of understanding if you're not asking the right questions in the first place. To your point. So there is an art and a science to it, and we've been in business for over 25 years, so we've done the hard work of actually testing which questions give us really meaningful information.

00:08:26:05 - 00:08:49:06
Unknown
And it's not just asking people, hey, are you going to come back? It's asking them, where are you going to go and why. What would have actually gotten you to buy? So it's not simply saying, hey, did you have a good experience? Was everything great? Yes, it was great. No. Specifically, why didn't you buy? Was it price? Are you costs comparing?

00:08:49:08 - 00:09:14:04
Unknown
Were you able to find what you were looking for? And then why did you come? Was it a discount? Was it a word of mouth opportunity. Because then you could start to say, okay, what's actually bringing people to my site? How are my marketing efforts actually working? In order to craft the right question, you need to evaluate that against what your business objectives are.

00:09:14:07 - 00:09:35:02
Unknown
So while we've tested the right questions to ask, and we have a standard template of questions that we do ask, which also allows merchants the opportunity to benchmark like what does good actually look like? How are others in the similar category? How are their customers answering? Because you don't know if an average of 9.3 is good or bad.

00:09:35:03 - 00:10:00:21
Unknown
So not only do we have tested questions, we have benchmarks to add that context, but we also offer the opportunity to ask custom questions so not all categories are created equal. If I am a hair care e-commerce brand, or if I'm a pet care e-commerce brand, I'm going to have very different needs and we understand that as a business.

00:10:00:21 - 00:10:31:22
Unknown
So I lead insights and when you work with us, we have custom questions to meet your needs. But also you get experts like myself to say, well, here's how we can ask the question objectively and get you what you need so you can take action on it. So I will never say yes. No question. I will craft questions to make sure you're getting actual meaningful information rather than just a data point, because I can't do anything with a data point.

00:10:32:00 - 00:10:56:21
Unknown
This episode is sponsored by Bizrate Insights. Your analytics can show you what shoppers do, but verified feedback reveals why Bizrate Insights helps e-commerce brands understand the full customer journey from discovery and checkout through post-purchase and fulfillment so teams can create smoother experiences, drive more purchases, and strengthen customer loyalty. Move beyond just star ratings, and uncover the insights that show you where to focus next.

00:10:56:22 - 00:11:18:09
Unknown
Turn shopper feedback into clear, practical action at BizrateInsights.com/coffee. Yeah, it's so important to have the right question and it's so difficult to find the right question. Now the next thing I want to touch on is the amount of data to come to a conclusion that you have to change something in your business. How much data do you need to build up to do that?

00:11:18:11 - 00:11:41:21
Unknown
Surprisingly, you don't need a ton. And why this is really important is because I think some smaller brands might shy away from voice of the customer solutions, because they might not. It might feel daunting or overwhelming or unattainable because you think, wow, how much money is this going to cost? I don't even know if my client base is large enough at this point.

00:11:41:22 - 00:12:11:16
Unknown
Let's say you're a startup. It doesn't matter. Start collecting. Any type of information is going to be helpful. We help folks, especially smaller brands, collect data very quickly because we're capturing in the moment, real time feedback from verified humans. It's not like you are asking for a review from anyone out in the world. You have to worry about people stuffing the ballot.

00:12:11:16 - 00:12:49:21
Unknown
Any feedback is helpful. Now to your point about statistical significance. I would say 100 to 150 responses on a monthly level is really great. We actually have the highest response rates in the industry right now, about 15% response rate, which is usually unheard of. Average is about 2 to 3%. And again, it's because our surveys are tested. We've spent years of making sure we're asking the right questions, that they're short and also relevant for the shopper at the point in the journey that they're at.

00:12:49:21 - 00:13:12:16
Unknown
So we've talked about pre-purchase. Are you asking the right questions? Are you considering the shoppers mindset and where they are in their shopping journey at time of purchase? How are you understanding what their shopping experience was like? Were they able to find what they were looking for? How do they feel about the price in comparison to other competitors?

00:13:12:18 - 00:13:32:09
Unknown
Was it easy to find what they were looking for and then at time of fulfillment, what was delivery like? Did did arrive on time? How was communication? How was the packaging? Was the product as described as it was on the website? All of those great things. So I guess my my long winded way of saying that is get started.

00:13:32:10 - 00:13:54:23
Unknown
There's really little risk of doing that. And we offer a $0 plan so you can actually start collecting feedback for free, which I think sets us apart from other competitors. Voice of the customer providers where it might seem a little bit unattainable. You can be a startup, you can be an established brand. It doesn't matter where you are in terms of your brand evolution.

00:13:55:00 - 00:14:33:17
Unknown
We can support all brands, small or big. You shouldn't worry about. I don't think I have enough data. We have stellar response rates and we will help support you. So we have tips and tricks of like how to increase response rates. So things like setting certain trigger criteria for like a pre-purchase survey. So if you tell me the average time on site is five minutes, I will work with you to adjust survey triggers to a millisecond to make sure that we are capturing feedback at the right point of the journey without interrupting the journey.

00:14:33:18 - 00:14:55:03
Unknown
We we want to be a seamless as, as possible and kind of integrate as as like ninjas. It makes perfect sense. And I think you're quite right. I just had a chat yesterday with a brand and they had problems with stucco inversions, and I asked them exactly the question is, so have you asked your customers or your non customers?

00:14:55:04 - 00:15:14:10
Unknown
And he said no they did you pick up the phone. No. So and I think for our listeners is you need to learn where your customer is in a journey, what questions they have and you ask the questions. So it's a perfect world scenario. I think a lot of brands just do not do not do this enough because they sort of feel they interfere with the customer experience.

00:15:14:10 - 00:15:37:10
Unknown
And it's right the opposite. You help with the customer experience. Now could you share some kind of case studies or success stories? You don't need to name the brand that have used this rates insights and what kind of results they saw. Yeah, absolutely. I'm I'm drawn to a particular story about a consumer electronics brand that that we work with.

00:15:37:10 - 00:16:11:10
Unknown
And they were actually one of our longest clients. They've been a client of ours for over 20 years. And they started to see something interesting in their, in their data, where they saw a spike in return, intent right before a return window was closing. And just looking at the data, it made it seem like it was a product issue because they're seeing a spike in returns for particular product kind of category, and it's happening almost right at the last minute of the return window.

00:16:11:10 - 00:16:39:11
Unknown
So immediately the brand is like, oh, this is this is a this is a product opportunity. This is a product issue. Like what is wrong with this product? After digging into the customer comments through the surveys that this brand has with us, we started to hear customers describe things like I was I wasn't really confident that I was installing this equipment in my in my automobile stereo equipment correctly.

00:16:39:12 - 00:17:12:05
Unknown
I'm a little nervous. It seems complicated. So that was the kind of feedback that was coming through. Nothing about, hey, this this speaker wasn't working. I was missing a wiring harness. None of that stuff is if product was defective. It was a it was a confidence issue. Customers didn't feel confident installing the equipment in their automobiles. So this is really about an opportunity to clarify their installation instructions.

00:17:12:07 - 00:17:33:05
Unknown
It was it was all around. Communication had nothing to do with the product itself. So if the brand had moved forward thinking that this is a product issue, they would have spent a lot of time in incorrect QA trying to revise this product. And nothing was wrong with the product. It was just as simple as making instructions more clear and easy to understand.

00:17:33:07 - 00:18:01:03
Unknown
I think this is also a interesting stories. If you think about the difference between AI analytics and human analytics. So in this case it's very easy for an for an AI tool to also identify that as a product issue. Hey, something's wrong with this product. People are unhappy they're returning it. But as humans, we know that people don't necessarily say, hey, I don't know how to install this.

00:18:01:04 - 00:18:21:00
Unknown
It's going to come through and be back. Like confusion, like, oh gosh, I'm a little confused. And you're lucky if you're even going to get people to admit that they're confused. So it takes it takes the human to read through and put up, put on our, our human empathy and be like, oh, okay, I can understand why this is confusing.

00:18:21:00 - 00:18:43:04
Unknown
They spend a lot of money in this thing and they're not sure they're installing it. Right. And that's something that AI would really miss and gloss over. It's a it's a great example. I love that story because that shows really where humans are superior to AI. And I think this will stay for this for quite some time. And it also shows you that you will optimize if you don't have the information.

00:18:43:04 - 00:19:09:13
Unknown
If you don't ask the question, you optimize on the wrong end and that probably will cost you as a brand money. Now you're doing this for a very, very long time, but is there any kind of perfect customer you work with industry vertical? I don't say that there's a perfect I think the clients that I enjoy working with are those that take action on the information.

00:19:09:15 - 00:19:40:02
Unknown
And where our partnerships become extremely valuable is where we have this two way communication, where I am providing strategic recommendations to my clients based on their customer feedback. They take note of it. They will take action, implement changes to the experience, and then that two way communication by saying, hey, this is the change that we made, and then we can measure the actual impact of it.

00:19:40:02 - 00:20:16:06
Unknown
So are we seeing in the case of this consumer electronics brand, for example, are we now seeing people no longer talk about being confused? Right. So like what is the data not telling us. No lack of confusion. I love working with brands that are doing something with the information so well. There's no perfect client to me. The the most perfect ones are the ones that are listening and doing and care about their client, rather than those who are measuring for the sake of measuring.

00:20:16:08 - 00:20:40:05
Unknown
Just to kind of check a box to say, yes, we we have a voice of the customer program. Yes, we are capturing this feedback. What are you doing with it? That's a good question. Yeah. Walk me through a typical onboarding process of a new client. How long does it take? What steps are involved? It's really easy. And and that's something we pride ourselves on as a key differentiator.

00:20:40:06 - 00:20:57:11
Unknown
Once you're in Shopify, for example, we have an app. So all you need to do is request what we call an Mid, which is a merchant ID just think of it like an account number. So you request an account number, which just kind of gets you in the system. You can do that. And then you that's it. You're ready to go.

00:20:57:12 - 00:21:21:07
Unknown
You have the plugins. You can choose how you want to engage with us. What type the different types of survey programs you want that pre-purchase survey. You want the purchase survey the post-purchase. So we have that full journey experience. We make it very easy and no cost. You can pay money if you want the most. That you will pay a year for our standard offerings is $12,000 a year.

00:21:21:07 - 00:21:47:20
Unknown
And with that, you get access to me and my team of insights professionals where we create custom insights for you. When I say custom insights so others that you might work with, you pay big bucks to be able to have an insights professional look at your data and say, these are the key opportunities. This is where I think that you you can prioritize and focus to drive greater loyalty.

00:21:47:22 - 00:22:14:04
Unknown
In order to get that anywhere else. You're paying tens of thousands of dollars. You get that for us custom not you're not getting a template report with numbers. I'm actually looking at all of your data, your your customer feedback. I'm creating a custom insights report and I am actually presenting it actually after after this podcast I'm presenting to a client on the on their data.

00:22:14:06 - 00:22:37:11
Unknown
They're a new client and we have about two months of data. They're really new and I'm so excited to tell them, hey, we just started. So I don't have any trend data for you, but here's what I'm seeing and here's already the media opportunities. And I'm going to talk to them about checkout because I see checkout friction. So this customer has only worked with us for two months.

00:22:37:11 - 00:22:58:11
Unknown
And I hope that they'll already see the ROI of that by identifying friction and quick win opportunities so that they can can fix that right away, identify that, and then continue to move forward. Once I have more data than I could say, okay, now we're seeing things change. What kind of campaign? Do you have? What does your product roadmap look like.

00:22:58:11 - 00:23:25:01
Unknown
And then we can really have a dialog. Now the question that a lot of people might have out there, is there any kind of homework they have to do before they can approach you and get get started? Not at all. Not at all. Get started. That's that's all you need to do. Start collecting the data. You'll have access to it in our Vital Signs dashboard, so you'll be able to track in real time what your customers are saying as the survey results are coming in.

00:23:25:02 - 00:23:57:13
Unknown
We also have account manager. So you're never just kind of signing up with us and then left on your own. And to the wolves, of course, if you are one of those that doesn't want to talk to a human, cool. You don't have to deal with us. But our account managers are there. And when I say account managers, a lot of people might think, oh gosh, so you're going to assign me somebody and then the next month is going to change, and then the month after that is going to be a new account manager and the month after, because I've been there, I have worked at companies and hired voice of the customer companies like

00:23:57:14 - 00:24:22:03
Unknown
like ours. I've had many different account managers. We understand your business. We are there for you. I've been at the company for over two years. I've been working on the same client accounts those whole two years. I can tell them what happened in 2024. Data all the way to now. We have dedicated humans and that's really what's differentiating.

00:24:22:03 - 00:24:51:03
Unknown
So you never have to worry. There's no homework. Sign up, get started. Start collecting data. Risk free, zero cost. If you don't like it, take it down. If you're not getting anything from it, that's okay. I think it's so important to have someone who looks at your business and what you're doing, and having a fresh set of eyes and giving you feedback and a very qualified feedback, specifically when it comes to questions and find out what's happening in your business.

00:24:51:03 - 00:25:21:00
Unknown
And I think it's so valuable. I'm in business for a long time. I still have people looking at my business because exactly of that reason. Now, before our coffee break comes to end today, is there anything you want to share with our listeners that we haven't covered yet? I will say that I keep coming back to this kind of state of the world we're in with AI, and my advice for brands, no matter the size, is AI is not going away.

00:25:21:02 - 00:26:08:21
Unknown
It's going to continue to accelerate. All brands have access to the same AI tools. There's also no shortage of data that's not going away either. The brands that are going to differentiate are those that have a true understanding of who their shoppers and customers are as humans, and that is something that AI and data dashboards cannot replicate. So I will say, in this age of constant transformation, in an inundation of information, I think it's really important to take a step back and recognize that your core differentiator is your understanding of your customers as humans, and it takes humans to understand other humans.

00:26:08:22 - 00:26:31:03
Unknown
Yeah, I couldn't agree more. I think we are coming even after like three four years of AI full circle in many aspects where people really see the quality of working with a human as fascinating as AI is. But there is just a couple of qualities that AI cannot cover yet, and I think that's why it's so important that people like you help brands to grow.

00:26:31:04 - 00:26:49:11
Unknown
Where can listeners go and find out more about you guys? Yes. Please go to our website at insights. I will put the links in the show notes as always, and you just want to click away. Tara, thanks so much for giving us an overview on how the right questions can grow your business, and I hope a lot of listeners will reach out to you.

00:26:49:12 - 00:26:56:08
Unknown
Thanks so much. Thank you.

00:26:56:10 - 00:27:13:21
Unknown
This episode was sponsored by Bizrate Insights. Every customer journey has opportunities to improve Bizrate Insights, turns verify chopper feedback into clear priorities, helping e-commerce brands make smarter decisions, strengthen customer relationships, and help customers coming back. Learn more at BizrateInsights.com/coffee