George Mason University announced today that the Center for Retail Transformation at the university’s School of Business has entered into a partnership with TruRating, a customer experience and insights company with offices in London, Atlanta, and Sydney.
TruRating is a technology provider offering retailers real-time and reliable customer insights, often via a one-question digital survey at the point of purchase. Retailers can use the technology to gauge customer sentiment on highly specific aspects of the in-store or online shopping experience. TruRating currently captures 80 percent plus in-store and 50 percent plus online responses compared to traditional post-purchase responses, which average 1-2 percent. As of June 2022, the company reported collecting more than 350 million customer ratings through its platform.
As part of this partnership, TruRating will share anonymous data and collaborate on research projects with Center-affiliated Mason faculty, as well as allow a secure route for Mason marketing researchers to deliver customer surveys in the field.
In exchange, the Center for Retail Transformation will share industry insights and strategic advice with TruRating. This will include bringing academic knowledge to bear to diagnostic tools to benefit TruRating’s customers, as well as facilitating collaborations with Mason students that will enable TruRating to harness a ‘Gen Z’ voice that retailers often struggle to access at scale.
Gautham Vadakkepatt, the Center’s director and associate professor of marketing at Mason’s business school, says, “This partnership with TruRating allows us to conduct cutting edge research on the state of retail and also lets Mason researchers understand what are the drivers of shopping behavior.”
"We are thrilled to be working with such an outstanding university—this partnership between George Mason University's Center for Retail Transformation and TruRating will be of huge benefit to retailers," said Georgina Nelson, TruRating's CEO and Founder." An academic collaboration of this nature means we can deliver even greater insights into the current and future states of the retail industry and equip our clients with the best possible toolset to serve the ever-evolving consumer landscape.”
Launched in 2020, the Center’s ambitious vision is “to be the foremost academic institution to drive transformation in retail.” Its mission encompasses educational content and career-shaping opportunities for Mason students, research initiatives, and industry outreach. The Center for Retail Transformation is dedicated to helping the sector – especially start-up, small- and medium-sized players -- not only survive and thrive amid this disruptive era but also do so sustainably, while increasing representation of minorities and other disadvantaged groups at leadership levels.
About TruRating
TruRating, founded in 2014 by consumer rights lawyer Georgina Nelson, provides feedback with industry-leading response rates (80 percent plus in-store, 50 percent plus online) via a patented system that delivers micro-survey questions at the point of sale. By combining payment validated responses with transactional data, TruRating helps retailers understand how each area of their customer experience impacts customer spend, sentiment and loyalty. TruRating’s data also fuels an online recommendations platform designed to challenge an industry that is dealing with increasingly frequent accusations of unrepresentative and inauthentic content.
Find out more at trurating.com.