Delicious hot chocolates โ˜•, Christmas markets, and joyful caroling ๐ŸŽถ are in order! Despite enjoying this emotionally charged time of year, Caplena cannot help but flaunt our true nature – after all, we are artificial intelligence that categorizes emotions and sentiments better than it feels them – we leave that to the humans ๐Ÿ˜œ. We are aching to categorize something, and what could be more Christmassy than jolly Christmas markets? ๐ŸŽ…โœจ

What are the most common things people mention when they happily talk about their most recent Christmas market visit? To find out, we studied three highly rated – but different – Christmas markets to analyze their Google reviews.

Google Maps Review Page of a Christmas Market in Switzerland
Singing Christmas Tree Market in Zรผrich, Switzerland
Google Maps Review Page of a Christmas Market in New York
Winter Village at Bryant Park in the United States, New York

Google Maps Review Page of a Christmas Market in Germany
Medieval Christmas Market in Germany, Mรผnchen

The Science Behind ๐ŸŒŸChristmas Markets Spirit๐ŸŒŸ

Perfecting the Christmas Markets’ Spirit is a scientific process.๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ”ฌ Have you ever been to an amazing Christmas market that only had one good thing? Us neither. At Caplena, we contend that the key to that jolly feeling of love and togetherness is a blend of various topics. A mix alone, however, isn’t enough. The more the ingredients are balanced, the better! Using the Treemap, we can see the derived topics and their balance within our scientific recipe.

Treemap consisting of various review topics, including ice skating, worth seeing, pretty place, amazing Christmas food, etc.
Caplena’s analysis of the reviews automatically generated these key topics

Our treemap of Christmas topics appears to be relatively balanced. No one topic dominates half of the space. Let’s examine the topics in more detail.

Christmas Markets Ingredients๐Ÿด

A dash of this and that…

๐ŸŽ Aesthetics

Taking the top two spots are aesthetic-related codes. An ideal location (i.e., the general atmosphere of the city or market) is key. Smaller details follow; think fairy lights, fragrances, a shiny garland entwining pine boughs, glass ornaments, and all the other little touches bringing the season to life.

*Bonus: if the place has a historical vibe to it ๐Ÿ“œ

Aesthetics has the strongest correlation with overall ‘Excellent Experience’ according to the relationship chart.
The driver chart shows that a nice setup has by far the highest impact on customer satisfaction.

๐ŸŽ Food & Mulled Wine

Food is the way to the โค๏ธ

The treemap proves this point clearly. All foods from different countries and cultures were combined into one code. Mulled wine is just like wine, but with a holiday spirit. In fact, it had such a high volume of mentions that it deserved its very own code. Because wine not?

The food code ties into every positively associated code, binding all the good elements of a Christmas market together. In fact, there is barely a code involving food not combined with one another. Have a look.๐Ÿ‘‡

Amazing food correlates strongly with mulled wine, pretty place, vibes, worth seeing and ice skating.
‘Amazing Food’ has strong connections to almost all other codes.

๐ŸŽ Fun Activities

People like to eat, but (after) they have filled their bellies, some like to participate in light activity to digest all the delicious food they just consumed. In activities, ice skating takes first place by far. Also on the list are other attractions like bumper rides ๐Ÿš˜ (although you might want to wait a while after eating for those)๐Ÿ˜œ.

via GIPHY

๐ŸŽ Christmas Music

๐ŸŽต Santa Baby, so hurry down the chimney tonight ๐ŸŽต Christmas isn’t Christmas without music. Researchers examined people’s ability to recall memories after hearing a clip from a song in a 1999 study. During that time, they were able to recall specific emotions and events. Listening to some Christmas tunes might make you wistful for your childhood or simply make you feel festive and happy ๐Ÿ˜Œ.

๐ŸŽ Family Friendly & Jolly Staff

It might seem like a minor point – but nothing destroys a wonderful Christmas market more than rude staff or people complaining about kids being there. Yes – not all of us are huge fans of children – but they represent the innocence and pure joy that Christmas tries to instill in us all ๐Ÿ‘ช.

๐ŸŽ Shopping

Christmas Markets wouldn’t be complete without… the market! Ironically the very thing it is named after comes in last on the list of Christmas market staples.

See the whole Christmas Markets dashboard here

Bar chart showing topics from most important topics (top) to least important (bottom).

Things That Ruin the Spirit of Christmas Markets

Whilst most of the reviews are quite positive, BEWARE of the few things that very much bothered people. You can best measure satisfaction vs impact using the driver chart.๐Ÿ‘‡

Driver analysis shows the various topics, including 'too expensive' which is on the far left side.
The far left side of the driver chart shows what negatively affected people’s perception of the Christmas market. The higher, the bigger the negative impact. More about Driver Chart Analysis here.

Christmas Markets only suffer from three major negative factors. If the market is too expensive, for instance, the negative NPS score is quite high. A small or crowded market comes second. Finally, although ice skating is the third most important code, it carries the highest risk of disappointment due to paying a lot, rude staff, and long wait times.

Conclusion

Having proven what makes an amazing Christmas market – and what to avoid – let’s turn our attention to you, our customers! Thanks for being a part of our success. We wish you a happy holiday season. Now that you have all the ingredients that make Christmas markets so magically Christmassy – you are sure to have a beautiful Christmas holiday (backed by facts) ๐Ÿ˜œ๐ŸŽ„

Santa Claus holding a Caplena visualisation dashboard sharing the Caplena team's thank you and best wishes message

PSST…. Would you like an early Christmas Gift?

Caplena conducts sentiment analysis using AI to understand how your customers or employees genuinely feel so you can spend less time on the analysis and more time on the results! ๐Ÿ†๏ธ
Let's Begin!

Among Europe’s favorites. Vienna’s pride. The Wiener Schnitzel is special and cherished around the world. But beware of imposter Schnitzels. โ€œWhat other Schnitzels?โ€ may you ask. These include the Frakh Panรฉ from Egypt, the Tonkatsu from Japan, and the Parmo from the UK. We decided to analyze customer feedback to identify the best Austrian Wiener Schnitzel restaurant in Zรผrich (where Caplena is headquartered). I mean what did you expect? As highly analytical people, why wouldn’t we swarm at the chance to do as much research as humanly possible to get the best Wiener Schnitzel in town? ๐Ÿ•ต๏ธ Thank God for machine learning, am I right?

Disclaimer: Before we move on, we would like to remind you all that these restaurants performed exceedingly well. This blog post is knit-picking on a small scale ๐Ÿ˜Š

Now, let’s ask the customers for feedback!

The Best Wiener Schnitzel: Overall Insights
[Check Out Our Interactive Dashboard Here]

Average NPS Score of 4 for Schnitzelhuus
Average NPS Score of 4 for Bernerhof
Schnitzelhuus, Bernerhof & Hofwiesen NPS Scores
Average NPS Score of 4 for Hofwiesen

Wiener Schnitzel Contestant #1 – Schnitzelhuus

Overall Rating of Schnitzelhuus broken down into categories, including: Overall food; schnitzel quality; customer service; price; location and place; etc.

Top three codes: 1๏ธโƒฃ Food delicious (23%), 2๏ธโƒฃ Best Schnitzel in town (22%) & 3๏ธโƒฃ Friendly service (15%)

Overall, reviewers were very satisfied with the food – especially the Schnitzel. The restaurant has a good atmosphere and an inviting interior.

However: High Schnitzel ratings seem to be offset by inconsistent reviews: long waiting times, bad food, and at times, questionable customer service. Visitor volume – in itself a good thing – increases the chances for mistakes, which might explain these mixed reviews. Out of the three, Schnitzelhuus has the most reviews by far (433), compared to Hofwiesen’s (225) and Bernerhof’s (176) respectable amount. 

Wiener Schnitzel Contestant #2 – Bernerhof

Overall Rating of Bernerhof broken down into categories, including: delicious food; friendly/nice;austrian cuisine; too expensive; amazing; long waiting time; etc.

Top three codes: 1๏ธโƒฃ Food delicious (36%), 2๏ธโƒฃ Friendly service (23%) & 3๏ธโƒฃ Best Schnitzel in town (15%)

People love the food, consistently mention the friendly service, and have people *drooling* over their Schnitzel. Bernerhof boasts authentic Austrian cuisine, an inviting atmosphere, and an enjoyable interior. In terms of expensiveness, Bernerhof (& Hofwiesen) seem to reign with 7% for both. It’s interesting that the next code (for both) says pricing is “Normal for Switzerland.” 

Wiener Schnitzel Contestant #3 –Hofwiesen

Overall Rating of Hofwiesen broken down into categories, including: Delicious food; friendly/nice; like Austrian cuisine; best schnitzel; good atmosphere; nice design; etc.

Top three codes: 1๏ธโƒฃ Food was delicious (40%), 2๏ธโƒฃ Friendly service (30%) & 3๏ธโƒฃ Like Austrian Cuisine (21%). 

Hofwiesen has the highest number of mentions (codes) for delicious food, which is, most importantly, authentic Austrian. The friendly service also has the highest rating out of all three restaurants. Customers enjoy the overall Austrian vibe, the amazing Schnitzel, the great atmosphere, and the nicely designed restaurant overall. Hofwiesen has no bad codes exceeding 1% in frequency, except for one Too Expensive code that we discussed previously.

Wiener Schnitzel >>Only<< Ratings

A comparison of the best schnitzel in each restaurant studied. Schnitzelhuus has 22%; Bernerhof 15%; and Hofwiesen 14%.
The bar graphs above showcase the ratings for only the schnitzel dish.

Wiener Schnitzel – Food Performance

When celebrating Schnitzel day, there are three codes that we decided to judge the performance of the food:

1 – Wiener Schnitzel Quality

2 – Austrian Cuisine Similarity

3 – Overall Food

The three restaurants differ greatly. Schnitzelhuus has by far the highest percentage of Best Schnitzel in town codes (22.4%), while Bernerhof follows in second place (14.8%) & Hofwiesen (14%) in last. Hofwiesen has the least Schnitzel-specific ratings, but it also has (by far) the most Like Austrian Cuisine (21.3%) codes compared to Bernerhof (10.2%) and, most surprisingly, Schnitzelhuus (only 2.3%!) Ironically, the place with the highest schnitzel ratings also has the lowest similarity to Austrian cuisine.

Bernerhof & Hofwiesen have no mediocre or bad tags associated with their Schnitzel, while Schnitzelhuus is also at risk for Mediocre (1.6%) & Bad (1.6%) quality. 

Wiener Schnitzel Performance Tree Chart Comparison

Tree chart comparison of the 3 restaurants studied
The above tree chart can serve as a good first glance at data. It can be used to compare the percentages of the three codes. Check out the interactive version at the end of this blog post!

Food in General

In this discussion, we’ll address all the dishes, not just the Schnitzel. Most people will write a generalized review without describing the exact food they ate. Hofwiesen wins again for the overall positive food codes. Bernerhof is second, Schnitzelhuus is last.

In deciding a winner, it is not only important whether ratings are positive or negative, but also how they are balanced. It is ideal to have a balance between the three categories. Visually, it is evident in the Tree Chart above that Schnitzelhuus cannot meet all three criteria in a balanced way. 

Last Details

It’s now down to Bernerhof and Hofwiesen. Both restaurants serve delicious food with the best schnitzels in town and an authentic Austrian atmosphere. If we were to look at all the codes related to negative sentimentBernerhof has seven negative codes, which also happen more frequently and Hofwiesen has five that happen less frequently. Thus, if we had to select one of these shawls based on knit-pickiness, Hofwiesen would be our choice!

We have a winner! Hofwiesen๐Ÿ†

The choice of Hofwiesen is not accidental. The Schnitzel had only excellent ratings, and the overall style of Austrian cuisine aptly matches the wiener to the schnitzel. Customers highly praise the venue, the food, and the customer service. Well. We know where we’ll be on September 7th. You probably know now, too!

With our interactive dashboard, you can dive deeper into the insights, and if you wish, draw your own conclusions!

Did you enjoy this blog post? Check out our Adidas vs Nike customer review champion blog post for a similar analysis.

PSST…. Would you like an early Christmas Gift?

Caplena conducts sentiment analysis using AI to understand how your customers or employees genuinely feel so you can spend less time on the analysis and more time on the results! ๐Ÿ†๏ธ
Let's Begin!

I invite you to take a deep breath, get in the right headspace, be calm…..

For a moment, think about balance – what does it mean to you? Have you considered Zen-ing up your life before ๐Ÿง˜? In today’s review, we compare Headspace and Calm through the lens of their respective customer reviews. Using Caplena’s text analytics tool, codes are assigned to the reviews based on their properties.

It doesn’t get more honest than that! 

All data for this article was obtained with Caplena’s latest feature – which allows you to import data directly from eight different review sites.

It’s easy as pie ๐Ÿฅง! Simply copy & paste the link and let Caplena do all the dirty work for you.

Curious? Try it out here and go to ‘Integrations‘. Learn more about integrations here.

Background Information: Headspace vs Calm

Headspace vs Calm logos. Headspace has an orange sun smiling from underneath the logo writing whilst Calm has a simple wording logo against a blue background.

Headspace and Calm appear to be blissfully tranquil behind their pleasant aesthetics. In reality, however, they are battling for supremacy over the $1.2 billion meditation market. While it may seem fierce on paper, Calm’s CEO swears that the competition is really not as intense as it seems.

Michael Acton Smith

Taking Buddha’s words to heart, it would appear these CEOs wear their egos like loose-fitting garments. Practicing inner peace regularly will surely reap a multitude of benefits. Meditation has been proven to enhance sleep, mood, and anxiety – as well as offer mental, emotional, social, and physical benefits. As a result of COVID, mental health issues have skyrocketed, resulting in an increased demand for mental health apps. Statista predicts that meditation apps will grow by 8.5% annually from 2019-2029.

Example 1 โ€“ Covid & Mental Health

Two  barchart reports on the effects of COVID-19 on people's mental health in the UK and US. Since COVID, 19% reported symptoms of depression in the UK and 42% in the US.

Headspace vs Calm Ratings

For the purpose of this comparison, we imported 10,000 reviews per platform to analyze within Caplena. In terms of customer satisfaction, we found that Headspace scored four out of five stars on the customer satisfaction scale (see Example 2 below), while Calm scored three out of five stars. But let’s get to the core of the matter: Analyzing the free-text responses. Here are the insights we gained ๐Ÿš€

Example 2 – Customer Satisfaction Scores

๐ŸŸ  Headspace

๐Ÿ”ต Calm

Headspace NPS Score of 4
Calm NPS Score of 3

Headspace vs Calm Analysis – General & Negative Insights

Based on an analysis of both app reviews, the main positive codes included: Wide Selection of Programs, Liked the Narrators, Better Overall Mental Health, Less Anxiety, and Better Sleep. Intriguingly, there are also several reviews that praise the app – but then also criticize it in the same response. At Caplena, we would describe this as a verbatim response with two contradictory sentiments (see Example 3). 

When conducting feedback analysis, responses like this are quite common. Many of us find aspects of one thing enjoyable while other parts of that same thing are unpleasant. Oftentimes, an AI will get easily confused by this and mislabel the response. Luckily, Caplena uses sentiment analysis to effectively categorize two contradictory statements from a single source ๐Ÿ™Œ

Example 3 – Two Sentiments in One Verbatim Response

Notice how customers point out something positive “I do like this app” followed by something negative “but it would be better if there were more free things.” Caplena gives these two specific codes and then accordingly categorizes them.

When taking a closer look at the apps separately, we found the combination of Negative Billing and the aforementioned positive codes to predominantly affect Headspace users. This is not to say, however, that Headspace has more negative reviews โœ‹! Calm has twice as many Billing Negative and Too Expensive codes (see Example 4 for comparison). This is an interesting insight considering both apps have the same annual cost of $69.99.

Without pointing fingers, Cost and Billing issues seem to be the major problem for both apps. However, reviewers were more likely to praise and point out something negative in the same statement for Headspace – than for Calm.

Example 4 – Bar Chart Comparison of Both Apps

Barchart comparing Calm and Headspace in various category frequencies, for example, negative billing, better overall mental health, narrator's voice, better sleep, etc.
Here you can compare the codes that showed up at a considerable level during the analysis.

Headspace vs Calm Analysis – Positive Insights

Because we are knit-picking on such a small scale, let’s also talk about the many positive features both apps have! Let’s begin by looking at overall customer satisfaction – what do people rave about the most?

Headspace

Most popular with Headspace is how the programs are structured, helping with Anxiety ๐Ÿ˜Œ Better Sleep ๐Ÿ’ค and Better Overall Mental Health ๐Ÿง˜. Improved Focus ๐Ÿ’ญ has a higher rating than Calm. (See Example 5).

Calm

Most popular in the Calm app: Liked the Narrators ๐ŸŽค, Better Sleep ๐Ÿ’ค and Overall Mental Health ๐Ÿง˜. Good Music & Ambient Sounds ๐ŸŽต have a higher rating than Headspace, too. (See Example 6).

Example 5 – ๐ŸŸ  Headspace Rating Scores

Example 6 – ๐Ÿ”ต Calm Rating Scores

Barchart for Headspcae with rating scores.
Barchart for Calm with rating scores.

To distinguish the two further – we made Caplena look for links that occurred less frequently. We found that the Like the Narrators code was also highly present in Headspace reviews – though less often than for Calm. Positives remained unchanged for Calm. In a similar manner to Headspace, users found the app to be helpful while also criticizing it in the same statement (mainly) for its pricing.

Still unsure? Let’s dive deeper into the details.

Most often mentioned for Calm were its Sleep Stories as well as Liked the Narrators and Nature Sounds. While mindfulness teacher Tamara Levitt ๐Ÿ‡บ๐Ÿ‡ธ primarily narrates Calms sessions – Andy Puddicombe ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง narrates the Headspace sessions. Although it may be a small detail, if you prefer a specific accent, you should keep this in mind when choosing – especially since meditation involves a lot of listening๐Ÿ‘‚ 

Andy Puddicombe, narrator of Headspace, giving a presentation in a blue shirt.
Credit: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE / Web Summit
Tamara Levitt, Calm narrator, smiling at the beach.
Credit: Photoshoot for Experience Life Magazine 2019

Headspace reviewers appreciated the Wide Selection of Programs the app offers, as well as how easily the app guided them through the processโœจ This can be helpful for those who find themselves overwhelmed when confronted with too many choices. Calm, on the other hand, puts you in the driver’s seat ๐ŸŽ๏ธ and enables you to pick something very specific that speaks to your current state of mind. Depending on how much detail and choice you want, this is an important factor.

Another difference that comes down to personal preference is that Headspace offers three, five, or ten-minute segments for meditation – whereas Calm is more focused on longer meditation sessions (think 10 minutes and up). Last but not least, they differ in their art styles as well. Headspace uses graphics with strangely relaxing bright colors – while Calm offers soothing real-life pictures of serene environments.  

Conclusion

Both apps were very much praised by reviewers – although sometimes the price was an issue. It was genuinely hard to find more than a few reviews which did not like the apps for other reasons. Thousands of reviews suggest that these two meditation applications are capable of doing a great deal of good for your mental health.

Calm seems to be more focused on longer, very specific meditations with a lot of choices. Headspace is more focused on shorter spurts of meditation, general mental well-being, and guiding you through all the steps. The money factor is widely disputed, but at the end of the day, a majority of the reviews clearly show that it is worth it. The choice is yours – we’re just bringing the feedback analysis ๐Ÿ˜œ

Interested in more insights? Here’s our interactive dashboard, where you can view, interact with, and read individual reviews. Here’s a glimpse of how it looks:

PSST…. Would you like an early Christmas Gift?

Caplena conducts sentiment analysis using AI to understand how your customers or employees genuinely feel so you can spend less time on the analysis and more time on the results! ๐Ÿ†๏ธ
Let's Begin!