Most CX dashboards lead with the average star rating. It's easy to read and easy to report. It's also the last number to move when something goes wrong.
Why the average moves last
An average is weighted by everything that came before it. A location with years of reviews can take months of complaints before its rating visibly drops, and by then the problem has been running the whole time.
The rating tells you something changed. The review text tells you what.
What to watch instead
Three numbers move earlier, and each one points at a cause rather than a symptom:
- Negative share by topic: of the reviews that mention waiting, delivery or staff, how many are negative.
- Change against last period: which of those shares is rising, not just which is high.
- New issues: complaints that didn't appear at all last month.
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Try this week
Take last month's reviews for one location. Tag each one with a topic and whether it's positive or negative, then compare the negative share per topic with the month before. The topic that rose most is your first conversation with that store.
Our guide walks through building a three-level taxonomy from your own reviews.
How to build a review taxonomyReply to the email and tell us what you track today. We read every reply.— The Falcon team