Net Promoter score: A Key customer experience metric to measure customer loyalty Continued...

This is part 2 of Article on NPS, In part 1 I have covered, what is NPS , How to calculate NPS and Average NPS score of few industries, read part 1 here. In this final part, i will explain

How business can use NPS to drive growth ? and How you can improve NPS ?

How business can use NPS to drive growth ?

NPS is a trusted measure of customer loyalty. It can help companies understand their audiences by quantifying customer sentiment toward products and services.

Streamlined interaction with prospects and customers

Knowing about their detractors, passive and promoter and the reason for same is the first step towards a customer-driven culture committed to improvement. With this knowledge business can plan their communications with prospects and customers.

Create and develop new products

Properly timed NPS survey based on customer lifecycle stage, helps business to understand customer experience about their product, where promoters help them to identify positive experience which can be replicated at other areas and detractors help to identify gap or rather I will say opportunity for product improvement.

Reduce potential churn

Detractors are those NPS survey respondents between a score of 0-6, indicating that they would likely not be willing to recommend your product or service to others. And just as investing in your promoters can offer dividends for your company's growth, focusing on detractors is important, too. NPS helps to prioritize reaching out to detractors and make them feel heard and valued, This might make them less likely to churn or atleast stop them to spread negative word of mouth.

After all, it cost 5 times more to acquire new customer – than it does to keep your existing customer base.

Communicate with active customers

Though the original intent with Net Promoter Score was to give us a more quantitative view of how are we doing on the product, but it’s actually become a new channel of communication and feedback from users that we wouldn’t have received otherwise. Hence its good for business to adopt NPS early to track customer feedback.

How you can improve NPS ?

Quick feedback loops

Addressing your customers’ concerns quickly demonstrates that you are genuinely concerned about their satisfaction and that your business puts client interests first. As a prompt response to low NPS customer can prevent things from getting escalated whereas one unfavorable feedback that doesn’t receive a response can lead to additional brand-damaging comments on various websites. A good rule of thumb is to close the feedback loop within 24 hours. Automation can also be used to improve efficiency by allowing you to make the most of your time. 

Encourage feedback

If you don’t hear a complaint, it doesn’t mean that everything is perfect. Many customers who feel ignored simply stop doing business with you or switch to your competitor, without even giving you the opportunity to make their experience better. But what if you don’t hear about the problems your customers are facing then how are you going to go about fixing them? Easy solution is to make it simple for the customer to get in touch with you. Don’t let the NPS survey be the only way they can reach you. Be available to provide customer support on the channel that they prefer using, It could be your website, mobile app, or social media.

Don’t wait until customers come to you. Be proactive in reaching out to them and asking for feedback

Show that you care

Listening is another crucial element of showing that you care. You should get a sense of how your customers feel by paying attention to the tone of voice and punctuation – are they stressed, angry or frustrated. Knowing this information can help you choose the right approach

Delight the detractors

Go out of your way to make them feel special and respected. Give your customers even more than they asked for, “wow” them, make them feel like they are your most valued customer. That requires to go a step beyond just solving the problem.

Reach out to customer personally, discounting the product, offering free shipping or even offering it free of charge.

Learn from your mistake

Treat each feedback as a chance to become better. Detractors are a valuable source for providing you with an honest feedback – what you need to improve to create a better experience for your customers and distinguish yourself from the competition. A customer who had an unpleasant experience but was overjoyed by the way you handled their complaint is more likely to become a passionate advocate for your brand than someone who is indifferent or even satisfied.

By truly listening to your detractor, you can turn unfavorable feedback into an opportunity to drive growth for your business.

Wrap up

NPS is gold standard metrics to measure customer loyalty and helps business to increase their promoters, reduce detractors hence more revenue and profits but this metric alone will not help you to measure your customer experience. This metric in combination with Customer Satisfaction (CSAT) and Customer Effort score (CES) will give a fair idea of how customer think about business product and services and how it can be improved. I will be covering CSAT and CES in my upcoming posts.

Thanks for reading !!