NPS is More Than a Number
How to launch an effective survey program and earn loyal customers
The Net Promoter Score is a measure of loyalty not satisfaction. I hate the word satisfaction. When was the last time you were truly satisfied with something? If you’re just content, you’re without an appetite. You’re not hungry for more. I want hungry customers. Customers who will buy more and bring their friends to my table. I want our products and services to go beyond the typical consumer experience. I want to surprise, delight and motivate our customers.
As with any relationship, at times we screw up. At some point our products and services are going to miss the mark. We’re not perfect and when it happens, our satisfied customer may leave to the enticing’s of another and recount to their friends our imperfections. But if they are loyal, they’ll stay, give us a second chance, and help us to become better. Loyalty grows from trust. Asking for and acting on feedback is sign of trust.
What is NPS?
If you’ve taken a survey in the last ten years, you’ve been asked this question: “How likely are you to recommend this product or service to a friend, family member, or colleague?”
You are asked to respond by selecting a number on a zero to ten scale with zero being “Not at all likely” and ten being “Extremely likely.” This question is part of the Net Promoter Score or Net Promoter System developed by Fred Reichheld and Bain & Company in 2003.
How is NPS Calculated?
NPS groups survey responders into three categories: Detractors (those who select a number between 0–6), Passives (those who select a 7 or 8), and Promoters (those who select a 9 or 10). Detractors are disloyal customers who will likely churn and shame your brand. Passives are your satisfied customers. Promoters are loyal customers who buy more and praise your brand.
The Net Promoter Score is a number between -100 and 100. It is calculated by subtracting the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters. Passives aren’t directly part of the equation. Why? They don’t care. They are not out praising you and they are not out shaming you. They thus don’t make a huge impact positively or negatively. If your NPS is positive, you’re likely growing and generating referrals from your promoters. The score is a basic thermometer of customer loyalty.
Now Stop Obsessing About the Number
NPS varies by industry. Benchmarking scores can help you determine a baseline. But if you are only looking at the score to measure your success, you will fail. There’s more to the story. Find out why the customer is a detractor, passive, or promoter. Include an open text question, wherein the customer can tell you about their experience.
In their response look for common topics and opportunities to make changes in your organization. The Net Promoter System is designed to make feedback more actionable. Customers are directly telling you what they value. It shouldn’t require a data analyst to understand when and why a customer is unhappy.
Map Your Customer’s Journey
Surveys may be transactional — offered after a customer makes a purchase or relational — offered at various intervals during your customer’s journey. Determine what you want to know when.
Decide how to track the customer’s NPS group over time. Monitor how they change and what affected their score. A detractor can become a promoter quickly if you listen and act on their feedback.
You should know who’s receiving surveys and who is responding. Incorporate your existing user, persona, demographic, and psychographic data into your survey response data. What are your passives purchasing? When are your detractors churning? What are your promoters staying? If you don’t know your customers, get to know them. Read their survey responses and talk to some by phone, in-person, or email.
To make it easier on yourself, automate your survey invitations. Use a software program. Surveys can be administered by email, phone, text message, or kiosk. There are tons of survey platforms out there such as Satmetrix, Qualtrics, QuestionPro, SurveyGizmo, SurveyMonkey, and AskNicely. Some are specifically designed for NPS, others offer all sorts of bells and whistles. Review your budget and requirements, then demo each platform until you find your winner.
Extend the Survey Invitation
It’s not a sales pitch. It’s a “how are you?” and a request for help. You want the customer to be happy and loyal. You value their feedback. Show it. Make the invitation personal and fun. Call them by name and remind them of their purchases. Have colorful images, engaging copy, and an interactive survey. Many survey software platforms offer gamification or surveys with animations.
Collaborate with Multiple Departments
You cannot make it alone. Include marketing, IT, legal, sales, HR, and others who can make your program better.
The creative teams in your marketing department can help you come up with fun new ways to invite participation. IT can help you with automation. Legal can help ensure you are following the Federal Communications Commission guidelines for text messaging and collecting/storing personal identifiable information. The sales team can use survey feedback as they negotiate contract renewals, up-sell new features/products, and interact with fresh leads.
HR can help you build NPS training and methods to support employees when they receive harsh criticism from their customers. They can also help you navigate developing best practices for incorporating NPS into performance reviews and compensation. Educating your employees on what NPS is and how it works is essential. Many will oppose NPS and even more will not understand it. Provide training materials, webinars and newsletters. Help them understand why and how the NPS program is beneficial.
Get Leadership Buy In
If your leaders don’t understand NPS neither will your junior employees. Bain & Company suggest there are two loops wherein individuals, teams, and leaders work together to learn from feedback and make improvements. In their book The Ultimate Question 2.0, they go so far as to suggest leaders regularly spent time working a shift on the phone with customers.
Hearing the actual voice of the customer changes you and your product. It becomes harder to maintain the cognitive-dissonance that allows leaders to trade off a customer’s wellbeing for short-term profits. When was the last time your senior leaders spoke with an average customer?
Senior leaders must be committed to generating more promoters. They have the authority to make actual systemic changes.
Prepare for Cheaters
People are smart. Your employees will find a way to game your system and inflate their score. For example, they may try to withhold surveys from certain customers or pay certain customers to submit them. They may change customer’s contact information and reroute a survey. They may pretend to be someone else and fill out surveys. They may have their friends and family submit praise after praise in false survey responses.
Strategize now to prevent it. Limit how your employees can send surveys and how survey responses can be edited. Plan ahead now for how you will address cheating. Make a policy. If an employee is caught engaging in this behavior, what is the consequence? How will you monitor your system, check for foul play, and enforce your policy?
Make Reports Useful
Employees need feedback in a digestible format so they can take action. It may be in an instant email with a single verbatim survey response or a dashboard where they can filter and comb through all survey responses. One employee may not need to know the financial impact of this detractor’s survey, they just need to know that their customer needs help with one product feature, right now.
Speak with your teams and develop reports that they’ll actually want and use. Many of the survey software providers offer pre-built reports. Test using what’s already been created first. If it’s unhelpful, explore making your own. After you’ve rolled out reporting, set a date for when you will reevaluate these reports and make adjustments.
Follow Up with Responders
Don’t ask for feedback if you are not willing to listen. Read your customer’s survey responses. Learn from them. Take action. Thank your customers!
Final Thoughts
Customer relationships like any relationship take time and dedication. Loyalty is not purchased, it is earned. No product, service, or survey program such as NPS is going to always meet my expectations. For now, I’m in the promoter group.
