Net Promoter Community

Roby:

You are right to hypothesize that this question has been addressed before.

Here's a link to one prior version of this question:  http://www.netpromoter.com/netpromoter_community/message/1926#1926

You'll find that the question comes up in several forms, but the answer always comes down to this: What matters is your score RELATIVE TO the relevant competitive set from which your customers make purchase decisions.  If your score is the best among those companies from whom your target customers would reasonably be choosing, then you're the leader and you should strive to widen the gap.  If it's the worst in your business, then it's highly likely you will lose market share (if you aren't doing so already), so narrow that gap fast...

Here's a description of how to think about this:  Relative NPS

Rob

Partner

Bain & Company, Inc.

There are two ways of understanding competitive performance.

1. Use external benchmarks that have been gathered from panel data (e.g. B2C benchmarks on this site)

2. You can also add in some competitive questions into your own survey - this is often used within B2B. Ask your customer to name a 2nd supplier that they work with most (after their dealings with your company) and you can ask some questions around competitive performance. Be aware though that as these are your customers, you may see lower scores for competitors than you would in an external benchmark.

Alison Davidge

Senior Manager, Net Promoter Programs

Satmetrix

NPS can be quite volatile. This may be driven by a number of different factors such as industry space, sample, element being measured.

What you need to consider is:

1. Are you measuring overall loyalty or a specific touchpoint?

2. Is your sample consistent over time - or does it's constituent parts change month on month?

3. In which industry space does your company work?

4. Are you measuring a single market or multiple countries?

Depending on your answer to these questions, that could provide an explanation for the volatility of your score.

We do also recommend (!) that you measure over time and look at the overall trend.

Alison Davidge

Senior Manager, Net Promoter Programs

Satmetrix

If that is the case, I would suggest that it is the fact that you are measuring the customer service channels. Maintaining a consistent level of service in telecoms customer service departments can be a real challenge. This is not necessarily down to the efficacy or knowledge of your staff, but is often impacted by technical and environmental issues.

For example, (thinking B2B telecoms) if you have a month where customers are impacted by a high number of outtages, the score in that month will be lower than in other months where outtages happen less frequently.

Another example - from B2C mobile telecoms - a company that I once worked with had targeted a sign-up mailing in a new area based on their projected dates for providing better coverage for that geography. Plans were delayed but customers had signed up. Their customer service scores tanked for the next 3 months.

In both these cases, the issues were outside of the control of customer services - but it was their score that took the hit.

When looking at the peaks and troughs in your performance, you may want to pinpoint any outside factors that may have impacted the scores.

I hope this helps - but let me know if you have any other questions.

Allie Davidge

Senior Manager, Net Promoter Programs

Satmetrix

Absolutely! And a real-time customer feedback system also allows you to operationalise the data much more easily.

I've noticed that there are a number of current threads on the forum that are all linked to NPS metric-watching. It's all very well to track the data but my question to everyone would be: What action are you taking on the back of the feedback to get short-term, tactical wins (i.e. follow-up with detractors) and longer term strategic wins (e.g. process changes etc).

NPS is not just a metric. It is a discipline that needs to be adopted by the whole organisation. Having real-time feedback allows for real-time action. Closing the loop with customers is key and ensuring that you are communicating improvements regularly to all customers is very important.

Interestingly enough, at the recent London Net Promoter conference, Fred mentioned that it was perhaps a mistake to have named it NPS (Net Promoter Score) and he perhaps should have chosen NPP (Net Promoter Program.)

Tracking a metric without taking action will not lead to improving scores. Until the organisation is fully behind action and accountability, your program will not move forward.

Allie Davidge

Senior Manager, Net Promoter Programs

Satmetrix

Hi there

Couple of questions:

1. B2B or B2C?

2. Which geography (cultural impact plays a role here.)

3. If B2B, are you looking at SMB or Strategic Accounts?

Allie Davidge

Senior Manager, Net Promoter Programs

Satmetrix