What does the Net Promoter Score mean?
“How likely is it that, on a scale of 0 to 10, you would recommend Company X to family, friends and colleagues.”
The Net Promoter Score, introduced by Bain & Company, consists of the question you see above. The so-called NPS question. By asking this question, you measure to what extent your customers would recommend your company to people they are close to.
If one of your customers wants to recommend your product or service to a friend, in other words: word-of-mouth advertising, you benefit from free marketing. This potential customer trusts his or her friend rather more than when you advertise how good your product or service is. The NPS therefore gives you an indication to what extent your customers are willing to recommend you and to what extent you benefit from this form of marketing.
It is also true that customers who answer the NPS question with a 9 or a 10 (and would therefore recommend you) are more likely to make a repeat purchase themselves. Therefore, NPS also gives you a good indication of how loyal customers are!
Promoters, passives en detractors
Respondents are divided into three groups based on the number they give:
- Promoters
Promoters are loyal customers who are very satisfied. They purchase more products and/or services and would recommend your company to family, friends and colleagues. - Passives
Passives are customers who are reasonably satisfied with your company’s product and/or service. However, if a competitor offers a more attractive offer, there is a possibility that they will leave your company. - Detractors
Detractors are clients who would discourage rather than recommend your company. These customers could damage your company’s image.
Calculating the NPS
To calculate the NPS score, reduce the percentage of promoters by the percentage of detractors. The result is then displayed as an absolute number. This number can be between -100 and +100.
Ask further after getting a score!
Whatever NPS score you end up with, positive or negative, you must act on it. By contacting dissatisfied or very satisfied customers you can understand what is going on, why customers have had a certain experience and can improve this.
But when your feedback is not followed up, the NPS is nothing but a number. Sure, it indicates customer satisfaction, but you have to go deeper into this to increase that score. It is therefore important that you know what your customers think and why they give that score. Only this way will the Net Promoter Score really live within your organization.To know why customers are dissatisfied or dissatisfied, it is best to ask more in-depth questions in your NPS survey. This can be done with drivers (pre-defined answers) or an open text field. Especially when customers have taken the trouble to fill in an open text field with a clear description of their story, they also deserve feedback. And with this feedback, you close the feedback loop with your customers.
How not to use the NPS
The Net Promoter Score is meant to give you an indication of the loyalty of your customers. It really is a metric and not a ‘target’. If you use the NPS as a target for your employees, its value can be lost. The danger is that:
- You set unrealistic targets for your employees.
- You only focus on the scores and not on the floor.
- Employees to do cherry-picking
Would you like to know more about the use of the NPS and things to consider? Read it here!
Start measuring the NPS? Insocial will help you!
Insocial helps you to set up a smart, short and powerful NPS survey. You can automatically send this out at different moments during the customer journey. This way you know exactly when your customers would or wouldn’t recommend you and especially the reason behind this.
