Cheryl Zajac, VP, Client Insights at Bizrate Insights shares the types of context its team looks for to pull the most useful information out of survey results — and how human understanding factors in. 

What you’ll learn from Cheryl in this interview:

  • The importance of human insights over relying on AI.
  • How small fixes can drive big impact for your business.
  • Feedback quality over quantity leads to more value.

Read the full interview with Cheryl Zajac by Digital Commerce 360 in their 2026 Leading Vendors Report.

Amid the millions of survey questions you handle each year for clients,  how do you ensure the human stories behind those numbers aren’t lost?

This has been one of the biggest shifts for us in recent years. At Bizrate Insights, we’ve always been good at scale, millions of surveys and data points, but it’s easy to become so focused on the numbers that you lose sight of the nuance behind them. That’s something we’ve been very intentional about, leaning into this area to ensure that we don’t lose sight of the people behind the numbers.

To bring that to life, we recently formed a Client Insights Team, a newer function at Bizrate that’s reshaping how we interpret and deliver data. They’re insights experts who connect the dots between ratings and reviews to uncover why customers feel the way they do. We sometimes pair human expertise with AI to surface patterns more quickly, but we never lose sight of the human nuance. Our insights process always begins and ends with real people.


How do you help retailers connect feedback across online, mobile, in-store and call-center experiences?

Most customers don’t think about their shopping experience by channel; they’re trying to solve a need. For our clients, connecting these moments into a single story is challenging, so we focus on making holistic journey measurement easy, allowing them to see the end-to-end experience from their customers’ perspectives.

Every Bizrate Insights client has access to our full suite of journey measurement surveys, including pre-purchase, purchase/post-purchase, and post-delivery surveys, with no additional fees or survey limits. This flexibility enables them to gather robust feedback to represent various audiences across the entire customer journey, without worrying about budget or data caps.

All this data feeds into our data platform, VitalSigns, where our clients can see how one small friction point in checkout might ripple into service calls or even store returns, for example. Some clients prefer a hands-off approach and review insights independently, while others want us working right alongside them to dig into the results and plan next steps. Either way, the goal is the same: to provide a holistic view of their customer journey and make it as simple as possible to turn that feedback into action.


Want to benchmark your CX strategy?
We offer a free CX audit that shows where your website shines and where you can unlock more value.


What approaches do you see help the most in translating data collection to meaningful change for your clients?

The biggest difference with Bizrate Insights is that we’re a managed service, not just a survey provider or a data dashboard. We take the time to learn about our clients and their goals, understand their strategy, and become familiar with their customer base, so that when the data comes in, we can read it in context.

That’s what turns reporting from data into real insight. A dip in satisfaction doesn’t mean the same thing for every retailer. Sometimes it’s a supply chain delay, sometimes it’s expectations set by competitors or an overall market downturn. We stay close to the data and to the people behind it so that the numbers don’t just sit on a report. They drive decisions that enhance the customer experience.



How do you balance quantitative metrics like satisfaction scores with qualitative feedback to surface emotional drivers and customer sentiment?

For us, it’s a balance of art and science. The science comes from the quantitative data (ratings), the movement in scores, the trend lines, the benchmarks. The art comes from interpreting what those changes actually mean to customers and our clients.

The qualitative feedback (reviews) is a gold mine for understanding nuance and the “why” behind the ratings. AI can help organize feedback themes faster, but it’s our people who pick up on the tone and emotion. The combination of scale plus empathy — and human context — gives our clients both precision and perspective. It’s how we help our clients act quickly without losing sight of what customers are really saying.

Ready to turn your customer feedback into action?

To celebrate our eighth year ranking as a top ratings and reviews vendor, we’re giving you a peek behind the curtain with a free CX audit.

Discover how Bizrate Insights can help connect data and feedback to optimize your customer experience.

Get your free CX audit today.