Steven Bernstein, Solutions Consultant, Satmetrix

Steve began his session on improving your NPS in Service and Support by asking the packed room who was able to show ROI on their systems. Very few hands went up. Steve went on to explain how these departments can evolve from cost to profit-center status by focusing on the economic value created by an increase in loyalty. He shared a Satmetrix client example showing that a 3% increase in satisfaction led to a 1% increase in loyalty. By quantifying the value of loyalty, Support and Service can gain recognition as a revenue generator in the organization. Steve then shared best practices for increasing loyalty in the areas of 1) operationalizing feedback and 2) changing employee behaviors. On the first point, he shared another client example (Virgin) where key loyalty drivers first were identified based on learning from transaction feedback. In the example customers were satisfied with their purchase, but seemed to be disgruntled when they received their first bill. Virgin therefore believed they had a billing department problem. However, when they looked across the customer experience, rather than simply evaluating the transaction level feedback, it turned out that there wasn't a billing problem at all. The billing event was only a trigger for a broader problem -- it was the moment that the buyer realized a missed expectation from what they were sold. It ended up being a sales problem. Steve stressed the importance of understanding the entire customer journey to identify the right drivers to focus on.

Steve then talked about how to take action at three levels: front-line employees, management and executives. Front-line employees need to see the impact of their interactions and decisions on the customer experience. A great way to do this is by sharing areas for them to focus on, sharing supporting verbatim comments and being sure to celebrate success. Steve talked about the importance of communications from executives supporting the program and assigning internal champions. He also discussed how to enable action through a process that identifies which customers to engage, when they should be contacted, who is conducting the contact and what happens after the follow-up.

Steve ended his presentation on the subject of targets, especially as they relate to compensation. Steve emphasized the importance of score stability before creating a compensation program, aligning operational and structural goals, ensuring trustworthy data and the understanding the relevancy of NP impact at the right touch-points. In summary, Steve suggested reading the Satmetrix white paper "Can Support Drive Profitable Growth?"