The artist, Anne Truitt, believed that ideas floated in the air, available to anyone for the taking. I thought of this today when I read a recent Forbes article on text analytics. It combined ideas from two of my recent posts. First, in order to at least break even on text analytics, you need a plan. The author is preaching to the choir. See my post titled “Plan your dive. Dive your plan”.
Second, in order to create a plan, you have to consider the benefits that text analytics will provide as well as the costs. Not all text needs to be analyzed. However, it can help you spot high-priority issues or customer defection. In the example of preventing churn, you need to know how much a customer is worth. As I mentioned in a post on text analytics, overlaying customer data to customer feedback will help you determine what action you take. For example, you may choose not to retain some customers who threaten to leave because they are unprofitable.
In summary, text analytics can be a powerful tool when used in the right situation. But first you have to determine if its worth applying text analytics.