travel & hospitality · the customer care experience, the purchase experience and customer...

TRAVEL &

HOSPITALITY

— CXMB INDUSTRY INSIGHTS —

Copyright © 2016 COPC Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Volume One, Published September 2016

TABLE OF CONTENTS


About This Research 3

Research Participants 4

— THE RESULTS —The Customer Care Experience 7

The Purchase Experience 16Customer Loyalty 26

Methodology 31

About the Study’s Authors 32

Developed as an extension of the Customer Experience Management Benchmark (CXMB) Series, this report, CXMB Industry Insights: Travel and Hospitality, is the first in a lineup of reports designed to focus the lens of CXMB Series research on a specific industry.

Like the CXMB Series’ biannual reports (Corporate and Consumer Editions), CXMB Industry Insights reports are the result of a research partnership between COPC Inc. and Execs In The Know. The ultimate goal of this series is to improve the customer experience. To accomplish this, we hope to inform and enrich the community by providing relevant research aimed at delivering timely, actionable insights, industry-by-industry.

This initial release, CXMB Industry Insights: Travel and Hospitality, provides consumer insights in three key areas: The Customer Care Experience, The Purchase Experience and Customer Loyalty. The data was collected over five individual survey modules of 10 questions each. The modules include Customer Care, Multi-Channel, Customer Loyalty and the Purchase Experience (one for airlines and one for hotels/resorts). Topics for future reports, while targeting other industries, could cover these or any other number of subjects. This format is meant to be flexible, reflective and able to cover both operational and strategic themes.

Whether or not you count yourself as a part of the travel and hospitality industry, we hope you find this research to be engaging and insightful. Please be sure to share this report, both within and outside of the travel and hospitality industry. And be sure to keep an eye out for news concerning future CXMB Industry Insights releases.

Want your industry to be the focus of the next CXMB Industry Insights report?

Retail. Financial services. Automotive. What is your industry, and what topics would you like to see explored in the next edition of the CXMB Industry Insights report? Whether you are thirsting for deeper insights into consumer perception, expectation or behavior, COPC Inc. and Execs In The Know are looking for research partners with an interest in turning questions into answers, and answers into actionable content.

If you’re interested in learning how you and your organization can play a role in the development of the next CXMB Industry Insights report, please contact Lezli Harrell at [email protected] or Susan McDaniel at [email protected].

ABOUT THIS RESEARCH


PAGE 3

RESEARCH PARTICIPANTS


Consumers of travel-related services fall into two primary categories: business travelers and leisure travelers. To ensure accurate representation of these two groups, as well as a third group made up of those who travel for both business and leisure, each of the CXMB Industry Insight’s five survey modules were fronted by a screening question to identify which types of travelers were participating in each respective survey. This allowed for survey results to be provided by traveler type. Furthermore, participants were granted access to the complete survey only if they indicated that they were an active traveler within the previous 12 months.

*Methodology 2016 data: Conducted by Google Consumer Surveys, August 8–12, 2016 and based on 8,001 online responses. Sample: National Adult Internet Population. ✝Methodology 2016 data: Conducted by Google Consumer Surveys, August 8–12, 2016 and based on 1,003 online responses. Sample: National Adult Internet Population.

ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS IN THIS RESEARCH

Of the 8,001 Google Consumer Survey participants screened, fewer than half indicated that they had traveled for business, leisure or for both business and leisure within the previous 12 months. While not all of these individuals went on to complete their specific survey module, only active travelers were admitted beyond the screening question.

Of the 3,600 survey participants who passed initial screening, 1,003 went on to complete their respective survey module (roughly 200 per survey). As you review the results of this research, please bear in the mind the makeup of our participants: Of the 200 completions that form a single result, there will be (on average) 40 business travelers, 58 business/leisure travelers and 102 leisure travelers.


PAGE 5

In two of the five survey modules, we asked about frequency of travel. Since participants were uniformly screened, and since these results depict a characteristic of the traveler rather than a module-specific insight, we provide the collected responses of this question here. Not surprisingly, those who travel for business do so with much greater frequency than those who travel purely for the purpose of leisure. These results should be kept in mind as your review the entirety of this research.

*Methodology 2016 data: Conducted by Google Consumer Surveys, August 8–12, 2016 and based on 400 online responses. Sample: National Adult Internet Population. ✝Methodology 2016 data: Conducted by Google Consumer Surveys, August 8–12, 2016 and based on 1,003 online responses. Sample: National Adult Internet Population.

ABOUT THE PARTICIPANTS IN THIS RESEARCH (CONT.)


PAGE 6

The “Overview of Participants” (at left) provides a detailed breakdown of the 1,003 individuals who took part in this research. All survey participants are from U.S.-based households only.

Since this research is presented unweighted, it should be known that results skew slightly toward females (59.4% versus 50.8% actual) and toward the Midwest population (25.8% versus 21.7% actual), with the South region being slightly underrepresented (33.7% versus 37.1% actual). In terms of age, results slightly overrepresented those ages 55–64 (17.5% versus 15.6% actual) and underrepresented those ages 65+ (14.2% versus 17.2% actual). All comparisons are based on U.S. Census Bureau, Census 2010 results.

For more details on how these demographics were determined, please see the “Methodology” section on Page 31.

Overview of Participants✝

Male 40.6%Female 59.4%

18-24 14.6%25-34 18.3%35-44 17.5%45-54 18.1%55-64 17.5%65+ 14.2%

Midwest 25.8%Northeast 17.6%South 33.7%West 23.0%

THE CUSTOMER CARE EXPERIENCE


Section Highlights

• Comparatively, business travelers have more issues with airline brands, while leisure travelers have more issues with hotel/resort brands (Page 8)

• Automated solutions via phone are used by consumers more often than they are indicated as the preferred solution, while chat, text, app and self-help tools are preferred more often then they are actually used (Page 10)

• Forcing customers into a multi-channel approach has a strong correlation with a negative multi-channel experience (Page 12)

• An improved experience with customer service representatives is one of the primary changes that could most positively impact the customer care experience (Page 13)

Two of this report’s five survey modules focused exclusively on customer care and the multi-channel experience. On occasion, the same question appeared in both modules, as is the case with the two results presented on this page. In such cases, responses were combined into a single result. The first result (“During your travels, did you have any customer care issues …”) also features a large sample size owing to the fact that it was positioned as a secondary screening question in both surveys.

*Methodology 2016 data: Conducted by Google Consumer Surveys, August 8–12, 2016 and based on 2,630 online responses. Sample: National Adult Internet Population. ✝Methodology 2016 data: Conducted by Google Consumer Surveys, August 8–12, 2016 and based on 401 online responses. Sample: National Adult Internet Population.

CUSTOMER CARE ISSUES WHILE TRAVELING

Business-only travelers were 80% more likely to experience an issue while traveling versus leisure-only travelers. While this is most likely due to the increased frequency of travel, it could also be the case that there are inherit differences in expectations between these groups.

When strictly comparing business travelers to leisure travelers, leisure travelers were significantly more likely to experience issues with hotel/resort companies. Conversely, business travelers were slightly more at risk of having an issue with airline and car rental companies.


PAGE 8

Responses to questions surrounding issue resolution and first contact resolution (FCR) were puzzling. While non-resolution rates were similar across the board, those who traveled for both business and leisure provided unflattering results. While it’s difficult to theorize why this might be the case, one explanation could be that brands treat their business and leisure clients differently, resulting in differing expectations. When business travelers then travel for leisure, they might expect a certain level of treatment which they don’t receive, leaving them to feel that their issues were not resolved to their satisfaction.

*Methodology 2016 data: Conducted by Google Consumer Surveys, August 8–12, 2016 and based on 200 online responses. Sample: National Adult Internet Population.

ISSUE RESOLUTION AND FIRST CONTACT RESOLUTION

Resolution rate results were remarkably similar between business and leisure travelers. Those who traveled for both business and leisure presented a bit of an anomaly, although their “No” responses were comparable with the responses from the other two participant groups.

Business travelers indicated the best experience in receiving a FCR, followed by leisure travelers. Like the question above, those who traveled for both business and leisure presented a very mixed result, with non-resolution results coming in close to the other two participant groups.


PAGE 9

One particular area of interest was to understand the difference between consumers’ typical approach to issue resolution versus their preferred approach. As it turns out, consumers would prefer to shift their agent communication from in person to text or chat, while also shifting automated phone system use toward smartphone apps or self-help tools. It should also be noted that among the three groups, an average of 84% of respondents prefer a solution where they directly interface with a live agent (such as in person, phone, social media or text/chat).


PATHS TO RESOLUTION: TYPICAL VERSUS PREFERRED

Among the three groups, speaking with someone in person or by phone comprises the vast majority of issue resolution interactions. The next most common path was use of an automated phone system.

According to survey results, the two solutions where consumer preference is most under served is text/chat and app/self-help tools. When looking at the combined dataset, text/chat options are used by 4.5% of respondents, but preferred by 12.5%. Similarly, app/self-help tool options are used by 4.5% of respondents, but preferred by 13%.


PAGE 10

Multi-channel engagement continues to represent a sizable portion of all interactions. Among the three survey groups, use of multi-channel was a primary response, especially when considering the bulk of “Not Sure” responses are, in all likelihood, multi-channel users. In a similar question included as a part of the 2016 CXMB Series Consumer Edition study, 67% of consumers said they had taken a multi-channel approach to resolve an issue within the previous 12 months versus 33% who said they had not. Clearly, multi-channel is an important consideration when discussing the customer experience.


MULTI-CHANNEL RESOLUTION

Roughly half of all participants confirmed use of the multi-channel approach in resolving a single issue. Based on “No” responses, it appears that business travelers use multi-channel the most, while leisure travelers use it the least.

As evidenced elsewhere, results from those who traveled for both business and leisure continue to tell a story of significantly lower satisfaction and resolution rates. For those who traveled exclusively for either business or leisure, satisfaction results were fairly comparable. That said, satisfaction rates with the multi-channel experience were low across the board.


PAGE 11

When consumers self-select the multi-channel approach, the result is often a positive impact on both satisfaction and resolution rates. This notion has been strongly correlated in both the 2015 and 2016 CXMB Series Consumer Edition reports, as well as in this study. Businesses should keep this relationship in mind as they discuss or develop plans to force traffic from one channel to another.

*Methodology 2016 data: Conducted by Google Consumer Surveys, August 8–12, 2016 and based on 124 online responses. Sample: National Adult Internet Population. ✝Methodology 2016 data: Conducted by Google Consumer Surveys, August 8–12, 2016 and based on 111 online responses. Sample: National Adult Internet Population.

MULTI-CHANNEL RESOLUTIONS (CONT.)

An important question for businesses to be asking is what percentage of their customers are self-selecting a multi-channel approach, and how are they being guided to make those choices?

It’s critical for brands to realize that forcing consumers into a multi-channel approach can have dire consequences on both satisfaction and, as other studies have shown, resolution rates. Two approaches for correcting this concern include boosting the resolution capabilities of all channels, and also helping customers find their way into the channel that is best suited to meet their specific needs.


PAGE 12

What can make the customer care experience better? It’s a critical question, and the responses point to three specific items: better care representatives, a faster resolution process and compensation of monetary value. Responses that received little traction included improved technology and tools for customers and more flexible company policies.


POSITIVELY IMPACTING THE EXPERIENCE

Given the impact of the agent, brands should closely review their practices when it comes to recruiting, hiring, training and floor management to ensure their customer-facing roles consistently exceed customer expectations.

Clearly, agent quality has significant influence over the customer care experience, regardless of how often a person travels. Based on results from the 2016 CXMB Series Consumer Edition, the attributes that consumers most often want to see improved in agents include listening skills, empowerment, product knowledge and attitude.


PAGE 13

Different things matter to different types of travelers. In exploration of this notion, the three questions below provide interesting perspectives in the areas of customer experience consistency, competitive pricing and providing a unique and personalized experience. On the whole, travelers placed the most value on a consistent customer experience.


GAUGING WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT

The responses of business travelers were far more balanced in terms of what was most important to them. When looking at items that were deemed “Important” or “Somewhat Important,” a consistent customer experience saw the highest result, totaling 70%, compared to competitive pricing (58.5%) and a unique and personalization experience (50%).

Leisure travelers, on the other hand, placed the most value on a consistent customer experience (82.5%), followed by competitive pricing (72%) and, finally, a unique and personalized experience (62%).

For those who traveled for both business and leisure in the previous 12 months, pricing topped their list in terms of importance (87%), closely followed by a consistent customer experience (85%) and a unique and personalized experience (57%).


PAGE 14

The customer care section concludes with a pair of simple questions related to overall satisfaction, and whether or not a brand has lost business as a result of a negative customer experience. Overall, satisfaction levels leave lots of room for improvement. Not surprisingly, business travelers continue to demonstrate heightened levels of dissatisfaction. Is this due to differing expectations, or do business travelers grow accustomed to a certain level of treatment — treatment they don’t receive during leisure travel?


GENERAL SATISFACTION AND LOST BUSINESS

As seen with issue occurrence (Page 8), business travelers not only have the most issues, they also appear more difficult to satisfy. Companies should understand if this is the result of differing expectations and, if so, how these expectations can best be met.

Throughout these results, those who traveled for both business and leisure have demonstrated a unique set of marketplace expectations and experiences. No where is that perspective made more abundantly clear than in the results at right, showing lost business among the vast majority of this customer group.


PAGE 15

THE PURCHASE EXPERIENCE


Section Highlights

• Business travelers have higher levels of loyalty and reward program participation (Pages 17 and 18)

• When it comes to better meeting customer experience expectations, lower prices is a key motivator for both business and leisure travelers (Page 19)

• Business travelers are more prone to purchasing airline tickets using a third party compared to leisure travelers; and for hotel rooms, all travelers are more likely to book directly with a property versus using a third party (Pages 20 and 21)

• Compared to leisure travelers, business travelers spend less time shopping for travel-related products, and are less likely to shop around for the best deal (Pages 22 and 23)

The Purchase Experience section is composed of two independent survey modules — one for airline customers and one for hotel/resort customers. As you read through this section, look for the icons below, which denote when a result is specific to one of these product categories.

Airline Customer Result

Hotel/Resort Customer Result

Although this report contains an entire section dedicated to customer loyalty (Page 27), a single loyalty question was included in each of the two purchase experience survey modules — one for airline brands and one for hotel/resort brands. Like questions in the loyalty section, the results of this single question show that business travelers have much higher rates of loyalty. This is likely due to the fact that these types of commuters travel more frequently, and also participate in reward programs at much higher rates.


LOYALTY FOR AIRLINE AND LODGING BRANDS

When comparing business travelers directly to leisure travelers, business travelers are more than twice as likely to be loyal to specific airline carriers. Those who travel for both business and leisure also demonstrate a higher rate of loyalty compared to leisure-only travelers.

Results for hotel/resort loyalty were similar to the airline loyalty results: there was higher level of loyalty among business travelers versus leisure travelers. That said, business travelers showed less loyalty toward hotels/resorts compared to airlines, and leisure travelers showed slightly more loyalty toward hotel/resort brands versus their loyalty for airlines.


PAGE 17

Reward program participation is also a question featured in the loyalty section (Page 29), but the two questions below delineate this topic by airline and hotel/resort brands. Like loyalty, business travelers are much more active in reward programs versus leisure travelers, and more travelers in general participate in airline reward programs versus hotel/resort reward programs.


REWARD PROGRAM PARTICIPATION

For airline reward programs, those traveling for both business and leisure are the most active participants, with 75% participation. Leisure-only travelers, on the other hand, participate in airline reward programs the least, with 51% participation.

Business-only travelers participate in hotel/resort reward programs at the highest rate, although they don’t participate as much as they do for airline reward programs (69% versus 73%), while also typically participating in fewer individual programs. Leisure-only travels participate at the same rate but, unlike business-only travelers, they often participate in more individual programs.


PAGE 18

In both the airline and hotel/resort survey modules, we asked a poignant question about what changes companies could make to more effectively meet consumer expectations. Price played a big role in the responses we received from both questions. To ensure that we captured the full spectrum of consumer expectations, we also included an open-ended field. A handful of airline survey participants took advantage of this option to indicate a desire for greater seating comfort.


MEETING EXPECTATIONS

When we asked what changes could help airlines better meet expectations, ticket prices and fees played a prominent role in the responses we received. Also of significance to business travelers was more routes and flight times, which would likely make business traveling more convenient.

While lower prices was the top response among all three groups, reward program perks ranked quite high among business travelers. In fact, reward program perks was more than twice as important for business travelers as it applies to hotels/resorts as it was when applied to airline travel.


PAGE 19

The dot-com boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s brought with it a number of third-party, online booking sites. Many of these brands have become a familiar part of the travel process. While websites of both airlines and third parties remain the dominate destinations for ticket booking, businesses should strive to understand how consumer behavior and preferences might change as technology evolves.


TICKET BOOKING OPTIONS: TYPICAL VERSUS PREFERRED

Business travelers were more likely to book a plane ticket via a third-party site than either leisure travelers or those who traveled for both business and leisure. This is likely due to the fact that many corporate travel offices have contracts with companies like Expedia and Orbitz.

While business travelers typically book with a third party (above), it turns out that almost 70% of the time they’d prefer to book directly with an airline via websites, app or over the phone. Airlines should seek to understand why this disconnect exists between business travelers’ actions and preferred actions.


PAGE 20

Like airline ticket booking, websites are the primary hotel/resort booking destination for the vast majority of all travelers. One surprising difference between airline and hotel/resort booking method preferences is the significant portion of consumers (among all three groups) that would prefer to call a property to book a room. This result averaged 13% for hotel/resort bookings, versus only 6% for airline ticket bookings.


HOTEL BOOKING OPTIONS: TYPICAL VERSUS PREFERRED

Booking a room both directly with a property and with a third party proved the most popular options among business travelers, unlike airline tickets, where it was the least popular.

Interestingly, consumer preference for booking a hotel/resort room via an app lagged far behind that same preference for booking an airline ticket. Hotel/resort brands should seek to understand if this has to do with the design and functionality of their apps, or if this preference is driven by some other cause.


PAGE 21

For many consumers, price shopping is an important and routine part of the purchase process. This is especially true for travel-related purchases like airline tickets and hotel rooms. And while this practice is universal across traveler segments, there are some distinct differences between traveler types.


PRICE COMPARISONS

Price shopping for airline tickets is far and away the norm across each of the three traveler types, although business travelers shop prices at a rate that’s about 20% below that of leisure travelers. This is likely due to multiple causes, like sudden trips, reimbursement of ticket costs and corporate travel offices that arrange flights.

Price shopping for hotel/resort rooms provided a similar result to that of airline ticket price shopping, although the practice was slightly less pronounced as it applies to room shopping. Again, business travelers price shop at rates below that of their leisure traveler counterparts.


PAGE 22

In a set of questions designed to understand the differences in shopping habits between business travelers and leisure travelers, it’s discovered that leisure travelers typically spend longer amounts of time shopping both for flights and rooms. These results could be due to a number of reasons, but show how each of these two groups might receive promotions and marketing messages in different ways.

*Methodology 2016 data: Conducted by Google Consumer Surveys, August 8–12, 2016 and based on 200 online responses. Sample: National Adult Internet Population. ✝Methodology 2016 data: Conducted by Google Consumer Surveys, August 8–12, 2016 and based on 202 online responses. Sample: National Adult Internet Population. **Methodology 2016 data: Conducted by Google Consumer Surveys, August 8–12, 2016 and based on 202 online responses. Sample: National Adult Internet Population.

TIME SPENT SHOPPING

Business travelers indicated a fairly short purchase runway for flight tickets, with 81% purchasing in 3 days or less. This compares to only 56% of leisure travelers. Furthermore, results showed that business travelers were three times more likely to purchase immediately compared to leisure-only travelers.

Time spent shopping for a hotel/resort room closely aligned with the results regarding airline ticket shopping (above). Business travelers purchased immediately at more than twice the rate of leisure travelers. Furthermore, leisure travelers were also more likely to continue shopping for a room even after they had already made a reservation.


PAGE 23

Customer satisfaction is commonly measured as it applies to customer care, but the customer’s level of satisfaction with the purchase process is equally important. Like customer care satisfaction, it appears that business travelers have higher rates of dissatisfaction. Brands should explore the root cause of this to better meet the satisfaction requirements of one of their most valued customers, the business traveler.


SATISFACTION — AIRLINES

Similar to other satisfaction results, it’s clear that the industry has its work cut out for it. That said, businesses travelers had the highest rate of “Very Satisfied,” though satisfaction rates were generally comparable across all groups.

Look at combined “Very Satisfied” and “Satisfied” results, purchases made directly with the airline provides the highest level of satisfaction, while purchases made with third parties provides the lowest level of satisfaction.


PAGE 24

Similar to the inquiry about airline purchase experience satisfaction (previous page), this same question was posed in relation to booking a hotel/resort room. In general, satisfaction levels with hotels/resorts were an improvement compared to those of airlines, although business travelers continue to have elevated rates of dissatisfaction in comparison to leisure travelers.


SATISFACTION — HOTELS/RESORTS

While business travelers have much higher satisfaction rates for the purchase process of hotel/resort rooms compared to airline tickets, dissatisfaction levels remain elevated.

While hotel/resort satisfaction rates were much better compared to airlines, purchases made directly with properties continue to provide a higher level of satisfaction. That said, the satisfaction gap was considerably less than with airlines.


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CUSTOMER LOYALTY


Section Highlights

• Business travelers report significantly higher levels of brand loyalty (Page 27)

• Regardless of brand loyalty, the majority of consumers still shop around for the best possible discounts and/or deals (Page 27)

• Business travelers expect quality in a wide range of areas in exchange for their brand loyalty, whereas leisure travelers are mostly concerned with price and consistent results (Page 28)

• Reward program participation and brand loyalty are positively correlated, and business travelers demonstrate both higher levels of reward program participation and loyalty (Page 29)

With so much competition for each individual traveler, customer loyalty is a key concept for travel-related brands. Even when a brand has earned a customer’s loyalty, in almost every case, that loyal customer will still shop around for the best possible deal. While price does matter, travel-related brands need to determine what matters most to their own customers, and deliver to get a leg up on the competition.


CUSTOMER LOYALTY

Not only do business travelers travel more often, they are also 30% more likely to have loyalty toward specific brands when they do travel. Furthermore, the majority of leisure travelers indicate they are not typically loyal.

Similar to a pair of earlier price comparison questions (Page 22), leisure travelers are more likely to shop around compared to business travelers, although a majority of all traveler types make it a point to shop for the best deal.


PAGE 27

What encourages loyalty among travelers (bottom chart)? For business travelers, they seem to want it all, whereas leisure travelers want a good deal and a consistent experience. While travel brands seem to be doing a fairly good job at cultivating loyalty among their business travelers, they need to carefully explore how they can establish similar success with their leisure travelers (aside from lowering prices).


EARNING CUSTOMER LOYALTY

While a slight majority of business travelers feel brands do enough to earn their loyalty, that is not the case with leisure travelers.

Although reliability and consistency are important components for the encouragement of loyalty among all travelers, price plays a central role for leisure travelers. World-class customer care also contributes to loyalty, though to a lesser extent for leisure travelers.


PAGE 28

It would be sensible to assume a connection between reward program participation and brand loyalty, but how strong of a connection really exists? We set off to find out by cross-referencing results from this section’s initial loyalty question (Page 27) with the reward program participation question (below). Clearly, the results demonstrate the importance of reward program enrollment for travel-related brands.


REWARD PROGRAM PARTICIPATION AND IMPACT ON LOYALTY

Not surprisingly, business travelers are the most active participants in reward programs and, as an extension, also those who travel for both business and leisure. Seventy-seven percent of business travelers participate in one or more programs compared to only 61% of leisure travelers.

Is there a connection between brand loyalty and reward program participation? Indeed. Survey participants who are active in one or more reward programs are (on average) more than three times as likely to count themselves as loyal versus those who don’t participate in any loyalty programs.


PAGE 29

What more do consumers want out of travel-related reward programs, and what has the most influence over how consumers select which brands to do business with? The first of these questions was handled with an open-ended question in which responses focused on getting more in the relationship. In response to the second of these two questions, it is revealed that price is a central influencer for the travel consumer.


REWARD PROGRAM IMPROVEMENTS AND INFLUENCE

In an open-ended question about what brands could do to improve their reward programs, consumers emphasized freebies and special deals or discounts. There were also several responses aimed at improving the redemption process — greater ease, lower threshold for redemption and points that don’t expire.

Once again, price plays a central role in influencing the consumer. That being the case, reward program perks played a significant role among all traveler groups, while customer care quality played an especially prominent role among leisure travelers. Surprisingly, brand loyalty/familiarity plays a minor role in influencing consumer choice.


PAGE 30

What more could travel-related brands do with their reward programs to surprise and delight you as a customer?*

Google Consumer Surveys reports on the inferred age and gender of anonymous respondents based on the websites users visit, as well as their location based on IP addresses. Income and urban density are then approximated using census data for particular geographic regions. Inferences, as they relate to these categories, may not be available for all survey participants.

Please note that it’s possible that Google Consumer Surveys may mis-categorize people. For example, if someone visits websites that are usually frequented by younger people, they may be categorized as younger than their actual age. Similarly, if a household uses a shared computer, we may categorize that “user” based on the combined interests of the household.

Provided the complexities of participant screening questions through the study’s body of surveys, we present un-weighted findings. When targeting an audience representing the U.S. Internet population, Google Consumer Surveys attempts to find respondents that match the distribution of people in the U.S. by age, gender and location as reported in the U.S. Census Current Population Survey (CPS). When outliers were observed in the data as they relate to the inferred age, income, gender and urban density, we made an effort to highlight these findings.

METHODOLOGY


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Execs In The KnowFor over 15 years, Execs In The Know has built a reputation of excellence in the Customer Management Industry and a worldwide community of over 50,000 Customer Experience Professionals. Execs In The Know connects people to engaging industry content, thought leadership, current trends, peer-to-peer collaboration, networking and industry employment opportunities. Examples of this can be seen at their Customer Response Summit events, roadshows, webinars, workshops, Blog Talk Radio segments, Industry Benchmarking Series, blogs, thought papers and social communities.

To learn more about Execs In The Know, visit www.ExecsInTheKnow.com.

COPC Inc.COPC Inc. is an innovative global leader that empowers organizations to manage complex customer journeys. The company created the COPC Customer Experience (CX) Standard and provides consulting, training and certification for operations that support the customer experience. Founded in 1996, COPC Inc. began by helping call centers improve their performance. Today, the company works with leading brands worldwide to optimize key customer touchpoints and deliver a seamless experience across channels. COPC Inc. is privately held with headquarters in Winter Park, Florida, U.S. and has operations in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America, India and Japan.

To learn more, visit www.copc.com.

ABOUT THE STUDY’S AUTHORS


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travel & hospitality · the customer care experience, the purchase experience and customer...

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