Our third Feedback Masterclass took us deeper into the world of customer experience than ever before. After exploring how to collect and how to display reviews in the first two sessions, this instalment focused on understanding what your customers really feel – and how you can measure it.
Hosted by Connor Wright, Head of Customer Success at Feefo, the session unpacked why customer sentiment matters, how NPS brings loyalty into focus, and how AI is reshaping the way businesses turn feedback into action. We also heard from one of the UK’s fastest-growing coffee brands, Discount Coffee, on how they used sentiment data to make real operational change.
Here are the highlights and the insights we loved.
Key Takeaways
- Sentiment goes deeper than star ratings – it reveals the emotions and loyalty signals that drive retention, advocacy and long‑term value.
- NPS becomes far more powerful when combined with verified reviews, giving you the what and the why in one place without adding customer friction.
- Passives hold the key to growth – understanding why customers score you a 7 or 8 can unlock big improvements in loyalty.
- Acting on sentiment drives real results – Discount Coffee used NPS insights to change delivery carriers and saw immediate uplift in promoter scores and conversions.
- AI is transforming review management, surfacing themes at scale and cutting through noise – but only when it’s integrated thoughtfully, not bolted on.
Customer sentiment: More than a star rating
Connor opened the session by explaining that while star ratings give a snapshot of customer satisfaction, sentiment digs much deeper. It captures the emotions, opinions and loyalty signals hiding beneath the surface – and that’s where the real value lies.
Measuring sentiment helps teams spot pain points sooner, align internally, and make improvements that ultimately drive retention, advocacy and growth.
But with so many potential metrics, surveys and feedback touchpoints, many businesses risk falling into feedback fatigue – overwhelming customers with requests and then overwhelming themselves with data.
The solution? Centralising feedback into a single source of truth. It reduces friction for customers, simplifies internal processes and provides a clear map of the customer journey. That foundation becomes essential when moving from raw data to meaningful insight.
NPS: A deeper measure of loyalty
One major tool in that journey is Net Promoter Score® (NPS).
Connor walked through why NPS is such a powerful indicator of sentiment – not just whether customers were satisfied, but whether they’ll actually return to purchase again and recommend you to someone else.
The three customer types you meet through NPS
- Promoters (9–10): Loyal advocates who are likely to recommend your brand.
- Passives (7–8): Generally happy but easily swayed by competitors.
- Detractors (0–6): Unhappy customers who may not return –unless you act.
What stood out was how seamlessly NPS can sit within Feefo’s existing review flow. Instead of sending separate emails (a major driver of feedback fatigue), NPS becomes a natural part of the review process. Customers are already engaged, already sharing their thoughts – and by placing the NPS question alongside the text review, you get the what and the why in one place.
Connor also highlighted the importance of tagging – by branch, product line, region, customer type and more – to uncover patterns you might otherwise miss.
Discount Coffee: Turning insight into action
Our guest speaker, Zac Chiswell, Operations and Innovation Director at Discount Coffee, shared how sentiment transformed their approach to loyalty.
Despite strong star ratings, they noticed a problem: customers who loved the product weren’t always coming back. Satisfaction wasn’t translating into loyalty –and it wasn’t clear why.
What the data revealed
When they activated NPS within Feefo, the picture shifted. The team realised that while product reviews were glowing, delivery issues were dragging NPS down. Passives were consistently calling out late or mishandled parcels.
Without NPS and text insights side by side, this would have stayed hidden.
The bold change
Armed with evidence, Zac took this to senior leadership and made the case for switching delivery provider. It meant a higher cost – but the impact was instant:
- Passive scores climbed into promoter territory
- Customers noticed the improvement
- The team gained clarity and alignment around customer experience
- Feefo widgets across their website saw a 15% uplift in conversions
One of Zac’s biggest messages?
“Your NPS can turn your customers into your sales force.”
His three takeaways were simple but powerful:
- Don’t separate your feedback tools. Friction kills engagement.
- Dig into the why. Stars give the number; reviews give the story.
- Act on what you learn. Insight without action doesn’t move your score.
AI-Powered Sentiment: A new era of insight
Next, we heard from Charlie Newman, Data Product Manager at Feefo, who explored how AI is reshaping review analysis.
The modern feedback problem
Businesses are no longer struggling to get reviews – they’re struggling to process them. Teams are drowning in data, and two common traps keep appearing:
- The anecdote trap: Overreacting to one emotional review.
- The general sentiment trap: Knowing things look “good” or “bad” but not knowing why.
- Grouping themes
- Surfacing patterns you’d never spot manually
- Reducing confirmation bias
- Turning thousands of reviews into a structured view of customer reality
Where AI changes the game
AI takes the heavy lifting out of managing customer reviews by:
But as Charlie emphasized, AI isn’t a silver bullet. If it’s used as a bolt-on, it can miss context and flatten nuance.
Tag Analytics: Closing the gap
Feefo’s new Tag Analytics report brings AI and traditional statistical modeling together. By feeding the AI structured metadata – like product, branch, season, customer type – it produces insights that reflect your real operations.
Tag Analytics reveals which issues genuinely move your rating, and which ones only sound urgent. It removes guesswork and replaces it with evidence.
When improving your average rating by just 0.1 stars can increase conversion rates by up to 25% – knowing how to do this is hugely beneficial.
Charlie shared examples from travel, retail, insurance and manufacturing – all using AIpowered sentiment to direct training, optimize campaigns, support coaching, and even shape marketing content.
Three steps to turn sentiment into strategy
Charlie wrapped up with a simple blueprint that any business can implement:
- Tag and segment:
Structure your data so AI can analyse it in context. - Quantify rating impact:
Identify what’s hurting (or boosting) your rating most. - Prioritise with evidence:
Focus on the changes that will drive the biggest commercial impact.
It’s a clear, practical way to move from collecting feedback to transforming it into meaningful change.
See you at the next masterclass
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us live. Our next masterclass will explore how to act on feedback –turning insight into real improvements across your organisation.
In the meantime, watch the session recording, read the guide and explore the new AIpowered reporting tools now available in Feefo.
Until next time!
