“Don’t mess up the corn”: How KFC serves up exactly what its customers want

There’s getting to know customers…then there’s KFC getting to know customers. At Experience London, we heard from Cat Envis - Guest Insights and Analytics Manager - on how one of the world’s biggest brands is turning vast amounts of customer feedback into insights, big and small. From the importance of gravy in the north of England, to industry-wide issues in the supply chain.

With over 1,000 locations in the UK, each KFC store receives an enormous amount of feedback from customers. 

From delivery times and order accuracy, to taste and customer service.

It’s frankly impossible for any store manager to sort through, let alone action. 

And that means KFC HQ can’t identify trends or ways to optimize the customer experience more widely.

KFC relies on Qualtrics XM Discover to listen, analyze and act on real-time customer feedback.Customer feedback that isn’t a simple 1-10 rating, but verbatim comments sent directly to KFC or gathered across delivery partners or Google.

Top 3 things we learned from KFC

• There’s gold buried in unstructured data

85% of data is unstructured, including call logs, social reviews and chat convos. 

But that data is harder to parse and act on, compared to a simple rating or NPS score.

KFC knows what other brands are also discovering now - there’s much greater value in unstructured data (if you can understand it). 

It means KFC can connect people's unfiltered opinions, to specific drivers of satisfaction (like the importance of ensuring the right gravy thickness). 

And when KFC combines that with its operational data (O-data), it's able to see clearly what matters to different regions and demographics.

From gravy in the north of England, to corn in the southwest (but mostly during the summer months when families are holidaying!).

• Managers take action, when actions are clear

KFC stores get manager-level dashboards, with data and actions specific to a store. 

It means that instead of poring through massive amounts of data, store managers can quickly see what’s happening in their world.

Managers can now generate so much more value from customer feedback, and use it to make real-time improvements.

In turn, they’re able to improve the experience for their employees as well and make them feel closer to the brand’s customer-centric mission.

• When you know what matters most, you can invest in it

Unstructured data doesn’t just enable you to take small actions. It helps you think big as well.

The ability to translate vast amounts of unstructured feedback into something more tangible can help direct the wider strategy. 

For KFC that could be identifying which products are driving satisfaction, and which aren’t.

Or which stores are demonstrating the ways of working that need to be rolled out everywhere.

All of those insights derived from individual comments, gathered on one platform, analyzed at speed, and turned into clear, visual actions.