Decoding brand perception through online customer reviews: A comparative study across geographical locations

Analyzing online reviews is essential for measuring reputation due to the rich availability of data, cost-effectiveness, and time efficiency compared to traditional survey methods. This study details brand perception and customers' experiences of Nordic logistics in 2023, aiming to elevate reputation and gain deeper insights into customer expectations and satisfaction to guide improvements in service delivery and communication strategies. A custom-developed web scraper collected unsupervised data from Trustpilot, utilizing advanced text mining techniques, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency (TF-IDF), Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling, and sentiment analysis. Key service attributes, emotional tones, and positive and negative themes valued in user-generated content are uncovered in electronic word of mouth. Findings reveal that customers prioritize fast, reliable services with clear communication. Negative feedback highlights issues with delivery accuracy, damaged packages, and inconvenient pickup locations. Satisfaction with home delivery, parcel shops, and parcel lockers is higher in Denmark than in Sweden. Dao Denmark showed the best net sentiment scores, followed by GLS Denmark, Instabox, Bring Denmark, and Bring Sweden. PostNord Sweden showed a negative trend. This research contributes to academic literature and provides valuable insights for logistics companies to enhance service delivery, ultimately leading to better customer experience and stronger brand loyalty. Regional differences and customer priorities offer implications for business practices and strategic planning.