Improving Your Net Promoter Score

You’re probably asking the questions, “What’s a net promoter score anyway, and why should I care?" That’s fair: most people wouldn’t know what the term means. It really doesn’t even apply to individuals, but it can give you something to think about if you’re looking for a job.

First, let’s look at the net promoter score. It’s all about customer service measurement. Surveys have long been the most common and useful tool used to measure customer service satisfaction. Short or long, surveys often ask the same question: "How likely would you be to recommend our service (product, restaurant, airline…you fill in the blank) to others?" At least, that’s the question mentioned in the Forbes article, “Is Your Customer Service Broken? How To Know, And A Simple Way To Fix It.”

Surveys may help a company find out all kinds of interesting data, like what colors customers prefer, or which product they like the best. All this information is helpful in product development. But companies know that if customers don’t like a product for whatever reason, they are likely not to recommend it to others. Referrals are the most valuable and cheapest way to promote a product or service. By asking this one question, companies can find out if customers really like the product enough to become a cheerleader and promoter of their products.

It’s pretty simple to set up this measurement. It’s based on a rating score of 1 – 10, with 10 being the most likely to refer. If a customer rates the likelihood of referral from one to six, those customers are actually detractors. These are the people who may have had a bad experience with the product or service or with customer service reps they called to solve a problem. They’ve had a bad experience, and are more likely to trash your company, customer service process, product, service, website—anything even remotely related to your company. They require serious damage control. Left alone, they can do a lot of harm, especially if they take their complaints to the Internet and one of the many online rating sites.

The next group gives a rating of  seven or eight. Bland, boring, neither hot nor cold. These can be worse than the detractors, because they are neither for you nor against you. No passion either way.

Then there are those who rate you as a nine or 10. These are your raving fans. These are the customers you can count on to tell their friends how great your products and services are. They are worth their weight in gold because they are free advertising and public relations. Take a survey and subtract your detractors from your promoters to find your net promoter score. A 90-percent or above says you’re smoking the competition, or at least delighting your own customers. 

If you fall off with a score of 90 or less, there are some things you can do to improve your score. First, talk to customers. One-on-one. What’s going on and what are the problems? Really listen and implement changes based on customer suggestions. Conduct surveys periodically to track whether your score is improving or not.

It’s not enough to conduct a survey every five years. Data gets old fast. Customers needs change. Tracking customer satisfaction often can help boost your Net Promoter Score to the 90’s and above, ensuring customers are out singing your praises.

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