Customer feedback has evolved from traditional methods like surveys and follow-up emails to more indirect channels such as call centre conversations, online chats, product reviews, and social media posts. While customers are becoming less likely to respond to formal feedback requests, they are still actively sharing their opinions, just in more candid and unstructured ways.
This shift presents both challenges and opportunities for organisations. Indirect feedback can reveal deeper, more authentic insights into customer sentiment, helping companies improve products and strengthen relationships. However, many are unprepared to manage this type of feedback due to its volume and unstructured nature, which highlights the growing need for better tools and strategies to harness it.
Social media has transformed how customers interact with brands. Platforms like Facebook and X have become digital forums where customers share both praise and frustrations. Similarly, online reviews have grown in influence, with many customers consulting them before making purchasing decisions. For businesses, these channels provide valuable insights into consumer sentiment and perception.
Despite this, many organisations continue to manage social feedback in silos and struggle to incorporate it into a broader feedback strategy. Failing to capture and act on feedback holistically can result in missed opportunities to engage customers and resolve issues before they escalate.
Unlocking the full potential of indirect feedback
According to the latest Qualtrics Consumer Experience Trends Report, consumers in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region generally have a more optimistic outlook on their experiences, with trust and purchase intent metrics both 3% higher than the global average.
This makes indirect feedback an especially valuable resource. To effectively capture, analyse, and act on it, organisations need systems that can integrate insights from channels such as chatbots, emails, social media, and call centres in real time.
With the growing use of AI, it is now possible to apply analytics to unstructured data, including social media messages and voice recordings. These tools can detect sentiment, context, and intent, helping ensure that important nuances are recognised. When used effectively, such capabilities can support more responsive strategies, enable earlier intervention, and help teams better understand and address customer needs.
Measuring the impact
According to Qualtrics’ APJ Market Trends, researchers across JAPAC are facing a range of challenges, with 38% reporting budget constraints and 27% citing increasing vendor costs. Understanding the return on investment (ROI) of analysing indirect feedback is key to gaining organisational support. It helps demonstrate how customer insights contribute to measurable outcomes in two main areas: growth and cost reduction.
By identifying friction points through indirect feedback, companies can improve satisfaction and drive revenue. At the same time, identifying inefficiencies, such as issues that trigger unnecessary service calls, can help reduce operational costs.
Adapting to the new norm
To keep pace, organisations need to go beyond surveys and engage with customers on the channels they already use, such as social media, contact centres, and review platforms. With AI-powered tools, companies can analyse this feedback, respond effectively, and gain a competitive advantage through more responsive and personalised experiences.
Integrating tools that help visualise consumer behaviour, intent, and sentiment — such as real-time analytics, session replays, or heatmaps — can support deeper understanding of how users engage across digital channels.
Ultimately, the value of indirect feedback lies in what companies do with it. AI enables faster action, equips frontline teams with timely insights, and supports issue resolution at scale. When these insights are applied consistently across customer interactions, they not only improve experience but also deliver tangible business results.
A new approach to customer understanding
It’s time to move beyond traditional surveys and listen more closely to the candid feedback already shared across social media, contact centres, and review platforms. With AI-enabled tools, businesses can make sense of this unstructured input, respond more effectively, and identify opportunities they might otherwise miss.
Customer silence is not the absence of feedback. It is a different kind of signal; one that, if properly interpreted, can help organisations adapt, improve, and build stronger relationships in a rapidly evolving digital landscape.
