Briefs

By Jeff Kelly, 19 Jun 2008 | SearchDataManagement.com

For Intuit Inc., maker of the popular TurboTax software, customer feedback that was once hidden amidst the flood of customer emails, comments and forum responses ultimately saved the company millions of dollars once it implemented text analytics.

Like many, the Mountain View, Calif.-based company solicits customer feedback via email, surveys and forums. Responses often return in the form of unstructured content -- freeform text, comments detailing customers' likes and dislikes. Rather than hiring an army of analysts to read each comment, Intuit uses text analytics software from Reston, Va.-based Clarabridge to gain a broad view of its unstructured content, to analyze customer sentiment and to identify trends.

"Once we understand what motivates our customers, we can make improvements," Chris Jones, Intuit's manager of analytics, said earlier this week at the Text Analytics Summit in Boston. "Feedback is a gift."

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