Is real-time customer feedback a dream, or a nightmare?

Before NRF 2020, Jon Reed, co-founder (and blogger/analyst) of Diginomica, “had a major axe to grind with HappyOrNot’s instant customer feedback”. 

Reed’s initial outreach to HappyOrNot, contrary to his belief when he sent it, was one that did, in fact, peak our interest:

“So I was at an airport recently, and a “happy or not” thing was in use at the gift shop. A nice employee at the register was dejected because the last customer, they didn’t have what they wanted, so he clicked “unhappy,” which dings the employee and hurts her performance review, even though it wasn’t her fault. She was just the one stuck delivering the bad news about an item they don’t carry.

 “In short, I have real concerns about “happy or not” because of things like that, which tend to undermine already beleaguered and underpaid employees. “happy” or “unhappy” doesn’t matter nearly as much as why and what’s being done about it… If Ville would like to have an honest discussion about that type of problem and what to do about it, then I’m interested in an interview. Otherwise, I’ll pass.”

Ville rose to the challenge and met with Jon at NRF 2020 to answer Jon’s hard-hitting questions. Post-NRF, Jon wrote about this discussion in the recent Diginomica article Is real-time customer feedback a dream, or a nightmare? My in-person challenge to HappyOrNot co-founder Ville Levaniemi.

Did we change his mind? Read on to find out what he thinks now.