Capturing feedback from customer Rants & Raves at the POS
A messaging tool product aims to enable companies to capture their customers’ thoughts and opinions at the point of service delivery. 
The ‘Rant & Rave’ system from UK-based Rapide Communication allows customers to provide instant feedback via SMS on their mobile phones, or via voice, email or on the web.
The system features a ‘Sentiment Engine’ that uses text analysis technology, developed in association with the University of Birmingham. All customer comments are auto-scored and categorised, and presented in the form of a Real-Time Dashboard, which shows the organisation how its brand, product and services are being received.
It also incorporates an ‘Aggregator’ facility, which searches the web intelligently for less time-specific customer viewpoints, such as those found on blogs, forums and review sites. These too can be processed by the Sentiment Engine and presented in Dashboard form.
“Hiring a market research firm to conduct customer surveys is a hugely costly business,” said Nigel Shanahan, MD at Rapide Communication. “But more than that, people just don’t have the time or inclination to fill out lengthy questionnaires. The truth is, if companies really want meaningful insight into what their customers think, they have to capture feedback at the point of experience, quickly and efficiently, when the emotional connection is still there.