Dining feedback is what restaurants value most. How does IPPUDO collect and apply it so successfully?
Maximizing the value surveys bring to users and providing more professional, attentive service has always been SurveyCake's goal.
To share a wider range of survey applications and help users across fields unlock SurveyCake's value, we interviewed enterprise users from various industries about their experience and how they use SurveyCake to advance their business goals. We are deeply grateful to these industry leaders for their generous feedback, which helps us keep improving our service.
In Taiwan, a nation of food lovers, one of the most fiercely competitive markets is the restaurant industry.
Cuisine from every corner of the world is always within reach, and new restaurants open one after another. Customers come easily, leave easily, and all too easily never return. How do you claim a place in such a crowded market, grow steadily, build brand recognition, and become a national favorite?
"We take the voice of our customers extremely seriously, and use it to improve our service.": IPPUDO
One of the leaders of the restaurant industry, IPPUDO is a pioneer of the ramen world. Founded in 1985 as a shop with just 10 seats, IPPUDO won the TV Tokyo ramen championship three years running in the 1990s, then took the crown again in 2005 at the "strongest ramen king showdown in history," earning the title of Ramen King.
Today IPPUDO has more than 130 locations across Japan and over 120 more in cities around the world, including Singapore, Hong Kong, the United States, and Sydney, plus multiple branches in Taiwan.
Why does the Ramen King use SurveyCake? What survey scenarios does it run? What results has it seen? And what has long-term use taught them?
Before SurveyCake
Q: What was your original survey method?
Before SurveyCake, we ran dining satisfaction surveys on paper. After collecting the paper feedback, we spent enormous labor compiling the data, and gaps happened all the time. Once we found a gap, we had to go back one by one to confirm and clarify, which cost us a great deal of time.
On top of that, we regularly launch new menus to give diners a fresh experience. With printed surveys, a menu change meant producing an entirely new questionnaire. Frequent menu updates meant frequent survey changes and constant printing costs, so we wanted to move from paper surveys to online forms.
"Ditch the paper survey. It takes too much labor to run and compile, and the data still might not be accurate."
Q: Why did you choose SurveyCake?
After comparing several survey services, we found SurveyCake's layout and colors very pleasant, and the interface more human-centered. We did not need to spend much time learning it, which freed up more time for other work.
The dashboard also offers many free templates. We did not have to study each question type ourselves; SurveyCake matches suitable question types and features to different scenarios for us. Extremely easy to pick up, and a huge time-saver.
"SurveyCake is simple and approachable. Even beginners get up to speed fast, with no time lost learning to switch over."
After SurveyCake
Q: What is your monthly data volume?
For dining satisfaction alone, we collect more than 8,000 customer responses every month.
Q: How does IPPUDO create a high response rate?
Customer feedback matters enormously to us. It tells us what customers love about our products and service, so we can amplify it in marketing, and what they are unhappy with, so we can fix it fast. We try to collect feedback from every diner possible, for example by offering coupons or lucky draws as incentives to complete the survey.
The first year after switching to online forms was frustrating. The response rate nearly halved. But we gritted our teeth, observed, and kept adjusting to see whether we could raise the response rate while still saving on personnel costs.
Early in the transition, diners were not used to answering surveys on their phones; phones were mostly for taking photos. To raise the response rate, we adjusted the survey layout and content, controlled the number of questions, and optimized the response experience so more diners would finish the survey.
Completion rates still vary widely between locations. High-speed rail branches see low response rates because everyone is in a hurry, while department store branches are relatively high.
"How to create a high survey response rate: 1. Offer incentives such as coupons or lucky draws. 2. Adjust question count and survey layout to optimize the response experience."
Q: Beyond dining satisfaction, what other scenarios do you use it for?
We typically use it on the training side and as a customer complaint platform, with daily responses and follow-up. Occasionally certain stores run special promotional campaigns, and we target those stores with dedicated surveys.
We also launch new products every quarter, so we survey customer satisfaction and analyze customer segments for each new release.
"Beyond dining feedback and satisfaction, it also handles complaints, marketing campaigns, and new product segment analysis."
Q: What costs has SurveyCake saved IPPUDO?
Printing costs, first of all. Menu updates change survey content, and we adjust for new product launches roughly four times a year. SurveyCake saves us the cost of constantly reprinting questionnaires.
But the biggest saving is in personnel. We used to have dedicated staff scanning and compiling every day and pulling data for department managers. With SurveyCake online forms, we save up to 70% in labor costs, and those people can do other work.
"Save on printing, and cut up to 70% of personnel costs. Those people can do more productive work."
A Word for SurveyCake
Q: What do you like most about SurveyCake?
What the free SurveyCake BASIC plan can do is already remarkably powerful. The biggest strengths are polish and layout. Google Forms tends to look like a student project; the difference in quality is real.
The free templates also help us enormously. We apply the question format and content directly, without building a survey from scratch or spending time studying question type features.
You Can Capture the Voice of Your Customers Too
Our thanks to IPPUDO for taking the time to share their experience and candid feedback, helping us understand the platform's current strengths and weaknesses so we can deliver a better survey service. As a restaurant industry success story, it also shows peers how to use surveys for feedback collection and effectively raise response rates.
Sign up for a free SurveyCake account today. Build your own dining satisfaction form, capture customer feedback, optimize products and service in real time, and strengthen your marketing.
