• by Katie Hickey , Columnist, July 13, 2018

Brands have more access than ever to the direct feedback of their customers. If you’re smart, you’re using this feedback to guide virtually any decision about your brand strategy. With that said, many marketers wondered: What was IHOP thinking?

Changing its name to “IHOb" was a surprising move that many were quick to criticize. Now that it’s back to its original name, there are a few things marketers can learn from what many deemed a “PR disaster.”

In a customer-centric world, too many brands are afraid to take risks. But IHOP’s bold move represents the smart risks that can actually center the customer’s needs while increasing market share.

The power of indirect feedback

While soliciting direct feedback is crucial for gaining valuable insights from your customers, indirect feedback is just as important and often more helpful since it provides unsolicited opinions that are more genuine. Though customers might not have been begging IHOP to make burgers, they also weren’t really saying much of anything about the brand — IHOP’s “word of mouth” score was abysmally low.

So what are customers talking about, if not breakfast? Burgers. And they’re eating 50 billion of them a year. Since the stereotypically older IHOP crowd might not be talking about the brand on social media, the brand shifted to where conversation was happening.

The strategy paid off. The announcement generated plenty of buzz for the brand (after all, when was the last time you talked about IHOP?). It also directly impacted sales, with the brand selling four to seven times as many burger orders as they were before.

The move showed a savvy use of social listening strategies to understand the larger conversations customers are having, even when they’re broader than the brand itself. IHOP couldn’t have gleaned these insights based on the buzz surrounding its brand alone, and this shows companies can take bigger risks when looking beyond themselves.

Listen in to keep loyal customers happy

While the adage remains that any publicity is good publicity, IHOP took a lot of flack for its pivot to burgers. Faced with this criticism, the brand took care to point out to loyal IHOP fans that its famous pancakes weren’t going anywhere. Any brand that takes a risk like this has to take similar precautions, as significant shift in strategy has the potential to alienate loyal customers if not handled correctly. These moments provide opportunities for your brand to truly listen to your customers and ask the questions that will guide future strategy.

Moments of transition also offer great opportunities to solicit direct feedback from loyal customers and ensure you’re not shedding long-time fans as you acquire new ones. Avoid this double-edged sword by listening to your customers and reassuring them you can still provide them with what they loved in the first place.

Given heightened competition and rapidly changing customer expectations, every company must take risks at some point. But brands can use the feedback they have from their customers — both indirect and direct — to inform the risks they take and create truly exciting, customer-centric experiences.