Survey Says C
:
Get it Right with Net Promoter Score
ustomer feedback is imperative for the growth of your business. Whether it’s product or
service related, you need to understand how
customers feel about their interaction with your organization.
But that doesn’t mean you should stop asking your cus-
tomers for feedback. It just means that you have to find a better way.
Marketers understand the value, which is why they spend
One minute, two questions
and through scheduled e-mails deployed at regular intervals;
to solve this problem. The concept is simple. A single ques-
posts throughout the day to monitor both positive and nega-
or friend?” — lets you know how your customers feel about
time surveying customers online after purchases are made
not to mention meticulously searching Twitter and Facebook
tive comments. Receiving feedback is timely and costly, and
results are typically so skewed that it’s unwise to take decisive action based on the data.
The biggest flaws with e-mail and online surveys are the
number and type of questions asked. Most customers would be happy to provide feedback if it:
• Didn’t take up too much of their time; and
• Gave them the opportunity to express themselves openly and honestly.
Questions such as “How did you hear about us?,” “How
easy was our website to navigate?,” and other marketingrelated questions do not belong in surveys. First of all, that
information is available through web analytics — and it will be more accurate from this source as well. Also, these questions are meaningless to customers, so few of them will take the time to answer.
Net Promoter Score (NPS) was developed several years ago
tion — “How likely are you to recommend us to a colleague your organization. Based on a scale
of 0 (not likely at
all)
10
through
(extremely
likely), responses are broken down into
three
cat-
egories. Customers who 0-6
are
answer
While it might be tempting to survey your customers on everything from product selection to customer service knowledge to the size and color of your shopping cart icon, doing so is a mistake.
called
detractors, as they are clearly unsatisfied. Customers who
answer 7-8 are passive, as they don’t have strong feelings either way. And customers who answer 9-10 are your pro-
moters. They’re the customers who love your brand and sing your praises.
To calculate your NPS, simply subtract your percent-
And, while it might be tempting to survey your custom-
age of detractors from your percentage of promoters. For
knowledge to the size and color of your shopping cart icon,
percent) are promoters and 10 (20 percent) are detractors,
ers on everything from product selection to customer service
doing so is a mistake. The more questions you ask, the fewer responses you’ll get.
example, if you receive 50 responses one month and 32 (64
your NPS is +44. The number isn’t a percentage as your NPS is either positive or negative.
The higher the score, the better. But it’s important to
measure your score against your industry results to help you
gain an understanding of how you are doing compared to
your competitors, since some industries, such as health care,
Fall 2011
have relatively low scores across the board.
This question alone doesn’t provide actionable informa-
tion, nor does it tell you how likely customers are to buy
6
Customer Care News
from you again. So we recommend using a simple follow-up question: Why?
Using open-ended questions in surveys is generally
frowned upon as the responses are difficult to track and measure. However, asking customers why they answered the
first question gives them the opportunity to express how they
feel about anything and everything related to your organiza-
tion. You can learn more from this one question than from
100 other standard survey questions; and, more importantly, customers will take the time to tell you their thoughts. You can see how valuable this information is. Imagine responses such as:
How likely are you to recommend us to a colleague or friend? 9
Why? I was on a tight deadline and accidentally exited
your program without saving my work. I called support, and in less than five minutes was shown where the auto-saved version of my report was located. What a lifesaver!
How likely are you to recommend us to a colleague or friend? 7
Why? I was locked out of my account. It was after hours
and your online chat feature wasn’t available, and I had to
wait several minutes on hold to speak to a rep. The issue was resolved right away, but you should have other support issues available after hours.
Ross Kramer
How likely are you to recommend us to a colleague or friend? 2
Why? Your online help manual didn’t answer my ques-
response must be read and carefully considered. It’s a good
help me, so I called and waited on hold for five minutes
ers know that you value their feedback and the time they
tions, so I tried your online chat feature. That person couldn’t before speaking to someone for less than a minute. He
transferred me to someone else, and again I waited on hold for several minutes. The next person couldn’t help, either. I was finally transferred to someone who could help, but the
rep, John Smith, was extremely rude. I hope I don’t have to call again.
These responses provide real feedback you can use to
improve your customer service department and online support materials.
Unlike other surveys, you can’t simply dump these
results into a spreadsheet to crunch the numbers. Each
www.customercarenews.com
took to respond.
Over time, you’ll discover what your customers love about
your organization and what you can do to improve. No other survey provides that kind of actionable input. CCN
Ross Kramer is a co-founder and CEO of Listrak. He has
nearly 15 years of executive leadership, successfully launching and directing three technology start-ups. Kramer is a thought-leader within the online marketing community, lending his expertise
to conferences, seminars, articles, blogs and webcasts. Listrak provides engaging e-mail solutions, services and software to
help online retailers maximize revenue and customer
Fall 2011
Closely Monitor Responses
idea to respond, personally, where appropriate, to let custom-
interaction. Find Listrak online at www.listrak.com or call at 877-362-4556 to learn more.
7