Listening Beyond the Stars: How to Hear What Your Customers Aren’t Saying

When it comes to customer feedback, it’s easy to focus on the extremes. That one glowing five-star review, or the one-star rant, can dominate our attention. But what about the silent majority? The customers who had a perfectly fine experience, paid their bill, and moved on without leaving a word?

For many brands, this vast middle is a blind spot. Decisions are often made based on the opinions of the loudest voices, leaving untapped insights buried in the silence. The challenge—and the opportunity—is learning to listen to what’s not being said.

Here’s how brands can start uncovering these hidden insights:

1. Shift Your Perspective on Feedback
   Feedback isn’t just the complaints or praise, it’s also the quiet signals. Look for patterns in the middle of the spectrum: repeat behavior, subtle comments, or even the absence of engagement. These signals often point to areas that truly impact the customer experience.
2. Use Technology Wisely
   AI and analytics tools can be powerful mirrors for your data, but they aren’t mind-readers. If the data you feed them is biased toward extremes, the insights will be too. Always pair technology with human judgment to capture the nuance of neutral or “silent” feedback.
3. Build a Culture of Trust and Curiosity
   Listening to customers starts internally. If your employees don’t feel safe speaking up, you’ll never hear the full story from your frontline teams. Psychological safety isn’t just an HR initiative, it’s the foundation of world-class customer experience.
4. Correct for Bias, Act with Transparency
   Every feedback system has blind spots. Being transparent about how you collect, analyze, and act on feedback builds trust with both customers and employees. This encourages honesty and leads to insights you can actually rely on.

The silent majority may not leave a review, but they’re leaving clues everywhere. When we learn to tune into them, both through data and through the voices of our employees, we unlock a level of insight that can transform the way we connect with customers.

I’m excited to be presenting a panel on this very topic at Execs In The Know’s Customer Response Summit in San Diego on September 18.

Our session, hosted by Lisa Oswald, is titled “The Signals We’re Missing” and will explore how to truly listen to the silent majority of customers, the ones whose feedback isn’t captured in traditional surveys, filtered through bias, or lost in outdated systems.

The Execs In The Know Advisory Board will tackle questions like:

1. How do we build trust so more customers are willing to speak up? Where are surveys falling short, and what’s replacing them?
2. What cultural blind spots are baked into how we collect and interpret feedback?
3. How can AI-powered sentiment detection uncover unspoken truths and emerging emotions, when applied intentionally and ethically?

If we want to meet customers where they are, we must learn to listen even to what they don’t say. I’m really looking forward to this panel and the insights we’ll share.

Guest blog post written by Ruth Rose, VP, Strategic Growth at Transcom