NPS is absolute C***
Steve Towers, CPPC? ACXC? CXMan ?Service??Revenue ??Cost
?? Customer Experience & Business Transformation Leader | Driving Growth Through Innovation.?? I help you deliver Triple Crown benefits, Revenue Growth, Cost Reduction and Service Uplift ?Simultaneously?
NPS is 'Not Practical Seriously'?
Here is a by no means complete list of reasons why so many are deluding themselves with such a flaccid measure of success.
1. Too much is expected of a simple response to a set of complex issues and emotions
2. The bias inherent within NPS makes the scoring highly subjective
3. NPS is simply not representative in reflecting sophisticated emotional responses to a complete customer experience
4. NPS samples are insufficient i.e. of the total customer base how many responses would we need across a range of touchpoints to make NPS statistically valid?
5. NPS is subject to 'score begging' - in other words, the scores can be skewed by simple bribery or downright cheating
6. NPS is often misused to bonus people, creating sub-optimal customer experiences and the score begging problem again
7. There are far more accurate and representative ways to understand the quality of a customer experience, from an individual, every interaction measured without exception, to the understanding of the total customer experience
8. NPS leads to false-negatives, producing results that seem plausible and lull you into a false sense of security that things are improving
9. NPS is misused to play one business function against another
10. Don't be surprised if you ask people to dumb things, and reward them for it, that they will get really smart at doing it. NPS is exactly that.
11. Many so-called NPS experts are zealots. Not surprisingly if you ask them whether NPS works they will, of course, say yes, because ultimately they are paid to make it appear so.
12. NPS can be likened to taking the temperature in weather forecasting. It is a bit of data, however, in weather forecasting, there are so many factors (wind, direction, strength, barometric pressure, humidity, dew points etc.) we must measure to understand (a) what is the real weather, and (b) what does that mean going forward. Using NPS is like predicting the next ice age based in today's temperature taken in isolation.
13. NPS is a very blunt subjective measure that should not be used. It is actually worse than not measuring at all.
My kicker?
We have to get more scientific about the customer experience :)
Find out how to get beyond the NPS nonsense and visit:
Client Management | Customer Success Leadership | Sales Engineering
6 年Yep, its great trending data and should be treated as such.?
Experienced Marketing Manager | Expert in Campaign Management & Marketing Automation | Driving Results Through Innovative Strategies
7 年Sure, many of these points have merit and measuring NPS without taking them into account can lead to a lot of time wasted pursuing the wrong outcomes. However, as Annie neatly points out, there's a lot of things beyond chasing a number that can be done with an NPS program. Understanding the trends that lead to detraction or advocacy and how they apply to the changes made within an organisation is obviously incredibly important. As is keeping on top of the advocacy bias by continuing to provide customers reasons to remain advocates (beyond just their brand loyalty) and addressing the issues your advocates do have. Both of these things can be done quite easily when you take the time to collect and analyse the data your customers provide. NPS programs shouldn't be just a passive activity of collecting numbers and if that's all it is for your organisation, then all of the points Steve makes wring true.
Chief Operating Officer / Early-Stage Investor & Advisor / Author & Columnist / Community Builder
7 年Deeply respect where the opinion is coming from. However, in the gaps and downsides presents a significant opportunity for CX leaders to actually do something with both the data presented and where there is lack of data. Great leaders will do both. The question itself is intended to be attitudinal, and I don't think anyone actually expects linear referencing from those who submit 9's and 10's. Especially when there is an opportunity for the customer to add verbatims and when that data is mined. there is a lot of richness that CX people can add to their VOC programs and inform product and program development. Like with any tool, you can do great things, you can do nothing, or it can make you lazy.
CEO who is passionate about creating a purpose led organisation, placing Employees and Customers at the centre of strategy.
7 年Anna Hardie
?? Customer Experience & Business Transformation Leader | Driving Growth Through Innovation.?? I help you deliver Triple Crown benefits, Revenue Growth, Cost Reduction and Service Uplift ?Simultaneously?
7 年One statistician I saw gave presentation that out of all the customers who said they would refer a friend or family member, only 1.5% actually did. Love that Ed Ed Powers, really says it all...