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Have you ever asked for a friend’s suggestion for a product you needed and then given it a try?
How likely were you to trust your friend to seek his opinion and then take action based on that?
Yes, you know the answer to that pretty well!
The reality is – It matters what your friends have to say about a brand.
So, imagine the power of what people have to say about your company and how it can have an impact on your business!
Your customer is the ‘king,’ and customer satisfaction should be your number one priority as it is of utmost importance.
But how do you know what your customers think about your product?
A simple tool that can gauge your customer’s overall sentiment for your business is Net Promoter Score – One of the simplest yet the most popular metrics to measure your customer’s satisfaction content.
In this blog today, you will learn all about Net Promoter Score and how you can get started with it in your business.
Let us get started with the basics first so that you understand how it can be used.
So what exactly is the Net Promoter Score?
Net Promoter Score is a metric that measures customer loyalty and is indicative of the customer’s experience with your brand.
You must be wondering how exactly this even work does, right?
So, it is very simple and involves asking one simple question to your customer, i.e., “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend Company XYZ to your friend, family or colleague?”.
Respondents are expected to rank their satisfaction and their likelihood of recommending your product/service to their peers.
Well, let us now understand the working behind the score to understand it better.
How to Calculate Net Promoter Score?
Your respondents can be majorly put into three main categories based on their rankings.
Those ranking you with a six or below are categorized as “detractors.”
Those ranking you with a 7 or 8 are categorized as “passives.”
Those ranking you with a 9 or 10 are categorized as “promoters.”
But that’s not it.
To calculate the score, all you need to do is subtract the percentage of your detractors from the percentage of your promoters.
NPS = %Promoters – %Detractors
With your Passives having absolutely no effect at all.
Here’s an example to understand this better.
Suppose you launch new marketing automation software and an online survey tool for 100 of your customers. While checking out the results, you observe that 10% rate your business between 0-6 while 80% of your respondents ranked you 9 or 10. Since you take a sample size of 100, each of your groups is representative of a percentage. Therefore, to calculate your NPS, you will subtract ten from 80, thereby giving you a 70, your Net Promoter Percentage, and seven as your Net Promoter Score. A +7 NPS is considered as a good NPS (Anything >0 is considered as a good NPS).
What is the Importance of NPS?
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Although a Net Promoter Score would not give you an exact picture of your company’s performance, it is somewhat reflective of your company’s progress. It will give you a fair idea of how your customers feel about your brand.
Not only that, it will roughly tell you how many of your customers would be willing to promote your brand through word of mouth, which, again, is based entirely on how your company can satisfy and please its customers.
Believe it or not, ‘word of mouth recommendations’ remains a strong source of compelling people to buy and try a product or a service.
Another reason why NPS is a commonly used and well-recommended metrics is due to its simplicity.
There are thousands of other metrics available in the market to measure a company’s progress, but they’re extremely complex and can not be understood by anyone. NPS gives you a quick image of your customer’s experience with your company and can help anyone understand. A low NPS can also trigger the company to take corrective measures and to change strategies. It can even be measured over time and can be used to track progress from year to year.
Now that you know all about it let us understand how you can get started with Net Promoter Score.
How To Get Started With Net Promoter Score In Your Business
If you don’t know, then ALWAYS ASK your customers!
The whole purpose of calculating the NPS is to know what your customers feel about your brand and how willing they are to recommend you to their peers. You would not know it unless you ask! So, you have to have a starting point that asks them for their feedback regarding their experience. Encourage participation from their end, and only then can you gather some information.
So, remember – Don’t hesitate to ask!
DO NOT survey everyone at once.
Most organizations go by surveying all their customer base in one go. This approach is common but is not the best. It gives you an image of your customer’s experience in that particular time only and is not representative of their experience over time.
Therefore, a better way to approach this is by breaking down your customer base into smaller groups that are not all surveyed at once but are surveyed over time so that the sample is representative of your performance over time.
TIMING Matters!
Preparing surveys and sending them out, and then calculating your NPS is not what it is all about. Strategizing the process better for true results is what will help you prosper in the future.
Hence, comes the ‘Timing’ into the picture. Timing is extremely important.
To get the right results, you have to think about your survey’s timing, and there is no particular time that is perfect for every business. It varies from business to business.
So, to get the best results, see what suits you.
Sometimes customers can not fill the survey right after their purchase as they need time to experience the product, while in the case of some services, it is better to survey them right after.
Therefore, do not just dive right into it; instead, observe, assess, and think of a time that would best suit your customer for filling out your survey.
Surveying just ONCE is NOT enough.
Again, just how surveying all your samples in one go is not recommended, so is not surveying your customer’s overtime.
The purpose of a Net Promoter Score is not to give you a snapshot of your company’s performance at a point in time but a complete image of your progress over time along with your customer’s experience.
Therefore, surveying just once a year would not suffice. Taking a survey every now or then in shorter intervals would not only tell you about how your customers have been feeling over time but would also help you track your progress better. That way, you can even point out changes in trends and track your customer’s behavioral pattern as well.
Do not forget to FOLLOW UP!
Don’t just do all this for nothing.
Regularly follow up with your customers about their experience.
And now that you have come so far make use of the information you have gathered.
Also, remember that the NPS is not everything, and you have to focus on feedback.
Translate the feedback and the suggestions you get into a ‘plan of action’ for improvisations.
Know that you have to continue to serve your customers better by building relationships with them, valuing their feedback, and continuously working on their complaints. Only then can you see your way through referrals.
Achieving a good NPS just once is not enough; maintaining it is of equal importance and demands continuous hard work.
Conclusion
Do you want to usher in your business in multiple areas, such as satisfying your customers, building relationships with them and building loyalty, motivating your employees to do better, multifold your current revenue, and transition into a revolutionizing renewed brand?
If that is the case, then we would suggest that you think no further!
NPS can help you understand your customer’s satisfaction, help you assess their feedback, and gradually help you improve your business’ performance so that with time, your business needs no marketing and can even skyrocket just through word of mouth marketing!
This tool can turn your customers into brand advocates for your business.
And consider these social proof tools also and witness favorable changes for your business within no time.
