David’s Bridal CEO Jim Marcum says reading one-star reviews online is the key to improving a business, writes Kaitlin Milliken for Senior Executive.

Marcum starts every morning by reading one-star reviews to find out what customers are having issues with when it comes to David’s Bridal.

“[Brides are] telling us every day what’s working and what is not working,” said Marcum. “There’s a reason that the customer walked out of there upset.”

Due to this practice of reading reviews, David’s Bridal implemented more flexible return policies and started including garment bags with purchased dresses – which used to be sold separately.

“One of the first things I did in coming on board was to ensure that we were scraping every customer comment anywhere in any channel that was being made,” said Marcum. “And since we’ve been doing that, we’ve made a massive change in how we think about the customer. She’s in the center of everything we do.”

Listening to customers has paid off for David’s Bridal quite a bit since Marcum first joined the company in 2018.

He helped boost the company’s Net Promoter Score from the high 40s to the mid-70s, and has led his team to adapt to a more virtual environment due to the pandemic.

Read more about Jim Marcum and David’s Bridal at Senior Executive.

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Editor’s Note: This post first appeared on MONTCO Today in December 2021.