Getting regular customer feedback should be an important part of any business. There are many methodologies, tools, and applications out there to accomplish this task. One of my favorites for customer feedback is Net Promoter Score (NPS). (What is Net Promoter?) While NPS has many supporters, it can also elicit negative views, such as challenging the statistics of the scoring system, or being too simplistic a methodology (how can you boil everything down to one question?). It’s one thing to be satisfied with an experience/product; it’s another to be actively singing its praises to everyone you meet. I’d like to share three reasons why I am a promoter (pun intended) of NPS: it’s simple, it’s actionable, and it creates a strong system.

Simple

There are many surveys that take 10+ minutes to complete; I usually stop answering if it takes longer than 1-2 minutes. While all those questions may be valuable, in today’s fast-paced world, you want to quickly gauge how your customers feel, and not burden them with long surveys to gather feedback. By having just one base question (likelihood to recommend) and 1-2 follow-up questions (the why), you can get quick responses and have real-time data to gauge customer feedback that doesn’t require months to collect and analyze.

Actionable

By asking the simple NPS questions, you can easily determine how to take action on a survey.  Not only does the number value give you a prediction for renewals, it also helps you reinforce promoters to help with referrals and upsells, as well as understand detractors and why they feel the way they do. You can immediately follow-up with customers on their feedback. Hint: most companies do not do this, so it is almost always a pleasant surprise when customers hear you have actually read their survey response and want to follow-up. Regardless of what you believe on the statistical scale (0-10, 1-5, etc.), you can take immediate action from NPS results.

System

In addition to the quick actions mentioned above, the most important value of NPS is the system you can create. You create a year-round, real-time process to engage with customers (vs. a single annual survey). You develop processes to quickly follow-up (which is differentiated in the market per above). You can find key touchpoints on the customer corridor where you can proactively or reactively impact loyalty. You reinforce a culture of truly putting customers and their needs first. You acquire a deeper stream of data to better predict and reduce churn, create referrals and upsells, improve product offerings and customer support, and ultimately, create more loyalty and drive more profits.

I’m a big believer in NPS, but regardless, I encourage you to not only adopt a methodology, but create a true system that creates and fosters customer loyalty.

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