NPS and our apricot tree
Dr. Maxie Schmidt ????????????????
Vice President, Principal Analyst | Helping Customer Experience Leaders Be More Effective | Author | Speaker | CX Measurement Queen | Bill Bluestein Award Winner
The Net Promoter Score reminds me of the apricot tree at our house.
?? Our apricot tree sometimes disappoints our family, like this year when it produced exactly one (!) fruit.
But: We’ve had it for a while. We don't know if another tree would do better. We live in a rental home, and our landlords have the final say. Replacing the tree would be a real effort. Who knows if another tree would do better.
That's why we don't ask ourselves, "Can we rip it out and replace it?" but rather, "What can we do to make the apricot tree produce better?"
?? NPS also sometimes disappoints us CX leaders and our colleagues.
But: It has been around for a while—both in the industry and in many companies. Your executives—like our landlords—often have the final say. And let's be honest, replacing NPS is a huge effort with an uncertain outcome. ?
That's why if your company uses NPS, I recommend spending less time on the question, "Is it the right KPI?" and using the gained time to answer the pragmatic question, "If we have NPS, how do we use it optimally as a KPI?"
领英推荐
We Give Pragmatic Answers To Burning NPS Question In Our New Research
To help you, my colleague Pete Jaques and I have written a new report. We have summarized the key insights on the following questions in two blogs:
And for Forrester clients: Find all details in our Report Net Promoter Score (SM) Essentials
Freelance CX Consultant | Ex-Forrester | Global Research, Advisory, Keynote Speaker on CX, EX, UX
6 个月It's a simple analogy but makes the point crystal clear Maxie. CX Measurement Queen indeed! ? ??
Customer Experience | Professional Services | Transformation Leader | Design & Real Innovation | Driving Growth & Revenue Generation
6 个月Dr. Maxie Schmidt ????????????, your apricot tree analogy to NPS is creative and insightful, showing why businesses hesitate to replace a long-standing system. However, I believe the conversation should extend beyond optimizing a single metric. A broader approach with multiple metrics, AI-driven analytics, and real-time feedback will offer deeper insights than NPS alone. Even when implemented fully, NPS is still inherently transactional limited, as I’ve mentioned before. I wonder why Forrester continues to defend it. While NPS offers a quick snapshot of customer sentiment, no single metric—whether NPS, CSAT, or CES and any other—can fully capture the customer experience. Only a group of metrics, KPIs, and data sources can provide a comprehensive view. B2B organizations need broader, dynamic feedback systems that leverage AI and data analytics. As AI and CX evolves, the need for this historically overrated metric will diminish. Businesses need smarter, data-driven strategies to sustain long-term customer satisfaction, loyalty, adoption and growth.
Fellow at the Field Bell Institute | Author of The Customering Method
6 个月I can’t think of another vocation that suggests it should use tools that don’t work and actually damage its function and credibility. And then wonder why it doesn’t have a “seat at the table”.
More than obsessing with the score itself 'My NPS is better than your's ?? , organisations need to put the data at work first and make sure their NPS drives loyalty...all aspects of loyalty (i.e: retention, enrichment & advocacy as per Forrester definition of loyalty). If the data shows that NPS effectively drives loyalty, then the next big question to answer is what drives NPS, or what specific aspects of your experience drive NPS. Only then can we start focusing on improving aspects of the experience that matter for both the customer and the business. There is a logical & data driven sequence into making the best of NPS and ending up making a wonderful apricot jam out of your apricot tree. Those are my 5 cents on the topic Dr. Maxie Schmidt ????????????. Happy to carry on the discussion here.
Chief Research Officer, Maru UK (A Stagwell Company)
6 个月NPS is too often used as a CX touchpoint KPI, when in reality it is a loyalty measure. It’s important to use NPS for what it is - a relationship CX metric rather than how people feel about a one-off?interaction.