Net Promoter Score (NPS) is something I come across at many of my clients. Some clients already have reporting in place, others are just getting started. In this blog post I will share a little background on NPS and my experience visualising it.
NPS is used to measure client satisfaction. It is a KPI that tells you how satisfied your customers are. It can also be used to measure satisfaction of your employees. It gives a score that varies between -100 and 100.
Happy customers tend to buy more and more frequently. Happy employees work better and are healthier. And if they are really happy (e.g. Promoters), they will tell their friends who can also become customers/employees. Knowing your NPS can help determine your company's strategy.
With one simple question: How likely are you to recommend us? On a scale from 0 to 10. Ratings 9 and 10 are the Promoters. Ratings 7 and 8 are the Passives. The rest are the Detractors. The NPS is % Promoters - % Detractors, which results in a number between -100 and 100.
"Negative bad and positve good? Unfortunately it is not that simple..."
Negative bad and positive good? Unfortunately it is not that simple. NPS scores vary per branch and also per country. In the Netherlands we consider an 8 to be really good, while in America everyone strives for a 10. There is actually an European NPS calculation in which 8 is also a Promoter and 6 a Passive, but I have not seen any of my European clients use this version.
The most important thing to realise when visualising a single value KPI like NPS, is that a single value doesn't mean anything unless it is shown with a trend, benchmark, or target. Is 23 a good NPS? If it was 14 last year, it is. If it used to be 50, then no. If your target is 20, then yes. If the rest of the branch is 30, then no. Etc.
The other important thing when visualising NPS is the Passive group. It is very hard to convince a Detractor to become a Promoter: they are not satisfied and it will take a lot of effort to make them happy. The most likely outcome is for them to become Passives, which doesn't impact your NPS much. It is much better to focus on your Passives group: they already rated you a 7 or 8 which means they are quite satisfied. With only a little more improvement or extra attention they will become Promoters.
NPS questionnaires often have a follow-up open question after the NPS question, asking: what can we do better (to receive a 9 or 10)? The comments on this question given by the Passives yield very important insights. Visualising them seperately is therefore worth while.
So, how likely are you to recommend reading this blog to a friend or colleague?
