The GetFiveStars Customer Spotlight periodically highlights one of our customers to find out why their business chose our customer feedback platform, what they like about it, product suggestions, the results and more. We’ll ask a handful of questions and their answers will be posted un-edited.
This Customer Spotlight features Kai Kanani Sailing Charters who operates snorkeling, whale watching (in-season) and sunset tours with daily departures from Makena/South Maui. Snorkel equipment, instruction, and select food/drinks are included in all snorkel tours. They have marine naturalists on-board, so you can learn more about all of the fascinating underwater life you see. They provide free shuttle service from select locations and even have GoPro4 cameras available for rent on-board.
Photo from TripAdvisor review by Jencornell
We asked the following questions about our customer feedback platform with Jennifer Lysuaght who is Kai Kanani Sailing Charter’s Director of Sales & Marketing.
1. How did you come across GetFiveStars?
In my previous experience working with Fortune 500 brands, I had always envisioned a way to collect customer feedback (both positive and negative) without necessarily broadcasting the sentiments across the Internet. No one seemed to have a customer satisfaction feedback loop that allowed the brand to take action for improvement, while also being mindful of reputation management.
When I started to work with smaller companies like Kai Kanani Sailing Charters, it was obvious that they live and die by the reviews they receive on 3rd party review sites like Trip Advisor and Yelp. I simply did a Google search and after eliminating many CRM providers, I thankfully found GetFiveStars.
2. How important are reviews to your potential customers?
Reviews are very important to our potential customers and although we have several persuasive value propositions that set Kai Kanani apart, consumers still have many choices in the local Maui market.
The reviews we receive help potential guests get an idea of what a tour with Kai Kanani will be like and it allows us to shine through an authentic voice. There have been several instances where guests have commented that the reviews they read on a platform such as Trip Advisor or Facebook finalized their decision to choose Kai Kanani…and they were not disappointed.
We display over 300 customer testimonials using the GetFiveStars Testimonial Widget on our own website as well.
4. How easy or difficult did you find the set-up process of our platform?
I found the set up process to be very intuitive and quick. The customizable templates for email communication were very easy to navigate and the resulting “look and feel” felt perfectly on-brand. I also like that we can shift thresholds and make changes in real-time.
5. Tell us about how using GetFiveStars has improved your business to date?
In the four (4) months in which we have utilized GetFiveStars, we have received nearly 500 reviews with a 16% response rate to the feedback email requests. That, in and of itself, is far beyond the industry average for email communications. Also, although the data is not perfect, anecdotally I can say that both the quality and quantity of reviews via 3rd party sites such as Trip Advisor and others have improved dramatically.
6. What is one thing about our platform that stood out the most in using it?
The price for the value received. Small businesses need solutions like GetFiveStars that don’t have high monthly minimums or lengthy contracts. The price is negligible compared to the high value received through reputation management, email communications, and reporting.
7. How has proactively asking for feedback from your customers impacted your business or customer service?
With the implementation of GetFiveStars, our business now has processes around addressing negative feedback and relaying all feedback, both positive and negative, to everyone from our reservationists to captains and crew members.
It has allowed us to improve areas that were repeatedly cited in sub-par feedback while also recognizing individuals providing superior customer service. Not to mention, we have been able to address a higher percentage of unsatisfied guests one-on-one, and not publicly.
