Quantifying Satisfaction
Using Net Promoter Score to assess relationship health
If we’re doing our job well in account management, it should lead to two things: facilitating great work and taking care of our clients. The first part is fairly straightforward. It’s about how well we understand a client’s business problem, distill it to become a well-written brief and set our team up to succeed. If we do those things in harmony with the client there’s (hopefully) a higher probability for our work to be on mark and successful in market. The results will speak for themselves.
That second part, taking care of our clients — ay, there’s the rub. Far more nebulous. And trying to quantify it can be like trying to eat soup with a fork because it involves measuring satisfaction. Are clients happy with what we’re doing on behalf of their business? Sure, sometimes they tell you in person or send a kind, unsolicited thank you note. Even better, they may surprise you with treats. Those occasions are golden, worth savoring (literally, if treats are involved) and lead to morale boosting.
If clients are not happy, reflection can be a little more somber. These occasions involve commiseration and learning opportunities. And no treats.
Beyond keeping a tally of positive and negative client comments, how can we actually quantify satisfaction and know how we’re doing?
Four years ago we instituted an annual client survey. In addition to asking a few open-ended questions about our performance and service offerings, we incorporated Net Promoter Score (NPS). NPS is calculated on the response to a single question: “How likely is it that you would recommend our business to a friend or colleague?” That answer, given on a 0–10 scale, identifies a client relationship as a Promoter (those that respond with 9–10), a Passive (those that respond with 7–8) or a Detractor (those that respond with 6 or lower).
The cumulative client NPS responses yield a final NPS score, on a 0–100 scale, determined by the percent of promoters minus the percent of detractors. That score becomes the metric we use to quantify overall client satisfaction (more on that later).
It is an incredibly valuable insight to know if a client is a promoter, a passive or a detractor. This knowledge creates an aperture to connect with a client and discuss the health of the relationship. And, as I’ve previously written, nothing beats a good ‘ol fashioned in-person talk. As we’ve utilized NPS in our own surveys, it’s allowed for such conversations to occur with our clients — both positive and challenging. Ultimately, we incorporate feedback and strive to see a change in future NPS response for the better.
As for the NPS score itself, time for a little context. How good is good? Let’s take a look at the extremes: if everyone were a promoter (rated a 10) and there were no detractors, the NPS score would be 100. That would be one hell of an achievement. Conversely, if you had no promoters and all detractors, the score would be -100. By Jove, that’s an even bigger feat! But generally speaking, an NPS score of 25 is considered average, and 50 is considered very good. Anything north of 50 is excellent.
So, how did STRUCK fare in its 2016 survey?
Our NPS score is a 60.
We’re very proud of that. Our responding clients were majority promoters, with some passives and absolutely zero detractors. That’s a great feeling.
According to B2B International, B2b companies (inclusive of ad agencies) can typically expect an NPS score between 20–25. Thus, a 60 suggests we must be doing some things right. It also suggests our clients kinda like us. Or, maybe we caught all of them on a really good day when our survey hit their inboxes.
That’s not to say the survey was a total and complete love fest. We asked for and received critical, open-ended feedback. We discussed it with our account management and Executive teams and we moved forward on how we can improve.
For any Struck client that’s reading this? Thank you for participating in our survey and for all of your feedback. It’s very much appreciated. It’s necessary. Without it, we can’t grow or learn.
As for next year? If we continue to do well by our clients and produce Greater Than work, here’s hoping for 60+.
Onward and upward.
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