Is your NPS score real?

Lift the sheets up, you already know what’s under it

Remember that super-high NPS you got last month, where everyone was cheering and bonuses were being paid? What if it wasn’t real? Like a mirage of water in the desert, providing a sense of false hope you could anchor yourself towards.

Mr. Car Salesman, your time is up. It’s been long known the high-pressure tactics we all endure when going to the local car yard. And that all makes sense when commission structures are connected with sales, but little did you know that bonuses are also paid on the results they receive from customer experience surveys.

Though, it’s funny when you consider it because auto brands know the importance of collecting brand-level advocacy. Yet, juxtapose it with the cunning coercion from car salesmen. It doesn’t sound like a match made in heaven, and it certainly isn’t.

Maybe first impressions shouldn’t always count

The last time someone asked you how you were going, you most likely replied “Good.” Your ‘feedback’ was an automatic response that you have unconsciously said thousands of times already. And it is this same level of thought portraying the protective layer of our true selves, that many organisations are basing their critical customer decisions upon.

When you ask a question in a simple survey in environments that are not conducive to some form of introspection, you risk gaining irrelevant and unreliable data. Rather, real and unblemished customer perceptions — or ‘sentiment’ — comes from scouring Reddit feeds or trawling through Facebook comments left on your company’s carefully manicured social media that will prove most valuable to your decisions.

Look outside the glasshouse, there may be more than you think

Don’t mistake your NPS score as the bee’s knees to your customer experience. Sometimes it just needs a pair of fresh eyes to tell you the truth of what it’s like working with you. Look around, see it, hear it. It’s all around you. Step outside the glasshouse.