Is Net Promoter Score Just a Vanity Metric?

Let me start this with an example. When you have an infection and you visit the doctor, what is the first thing they check? They monitor your temperature or blood pressure to see where you are at. They check if you have a fever, high or low blood pressure. Only after that do they run more tests to pinpoint the infection and its cause.

NPS (Net Promoter Score) is exactly like that thermometer when it comes to customer experience. Once you have an NPS score and verbatim from follow-up questions, it gives you a direction. But the work just starts there. You need to do interviews, combine the scores with operational metrics, and dive deep to get the true picture and find the root cause of customer dissatisfaction or satisfaction.

In my opinion, NPS gets your whole organization talking about customers, so I will always choose NPS every day if it gets your stakeholders and employees talking about customers. That is your first step towards becoming customer-centric. But would NPS be your only metric? No. Should you tie bonuses of employees to NPS scores?Absolutely not!

Understanding the Value of NPS

If you look at the Net Promoter Score of some of the Fortune 500 companies, you might think that companies can still thrive even with a bad score:

Disney: -7 Facebook: -21 Walmart: -4 Marathon Petroleum: -7 Berkshire Hathaway: -6 McKesson: -4 Honeywell International: -7 Delta Air Lines: -2 Cigna: -5

So, what’s the point in checking NPS, if even these giants have scores lower than neutral?

While it may seem counterintuitive, NPS is not just a number. NPS provides valuable insights into how happy or unhappy your customers are with your product or service. This is how NPS works:

Listen to your customers through surveys and feedback. Analyze the data to identify patterns and areas for improvement. Improve your product or service based on customer feedback. Grow your business by creating a positive customer experience.

By using NPS, you can truly understand your customer sentiment, hear their needs, and make data-driven decisions to enhance your offerings. This is a crucial step towards becoming more customer-centric.

Using SurveySparrow for Enhanced NPS Surveys

Since that's the case, I would highly recommend you to try an amazing platform called SurveySparrow. You can start with a free account, and no credit card is required.

What makes SurveySparrow exceptional is its multi-format ability. It offers chat-like surveys, conversational forms, and creates an engaging experience for your respondents. As a result, you can expect a 40% higher completion rate. This means you get more actionable insights and a more accurate understanding of your customer base.

Conclusion

While NPS may not be a foolproof metric, it is a powerful tool for improving customer experience. By understanding customer sentiment, identifying areas for improvement, and making data-driven decisions, you can turn your company to the next level. So, embrace NPS as a valuable tool, but remember that it is just one piece of the puzzle in creating a truly customer-centric organization.

Feel free to ask any questions or share your thoughts. I am always happy to help.