Net Promoter Techniques Boost Reputation Marketing Effectiveness
There are many measures of customer satisfaction and loyalty. Various consultants survey customers to determine their level of satisfaction with a brand, and most companies are content when their customer satisfaction levels are high. However, high customer satisfaction levels in a survey might provide a false sense of accomplishment.
Fred Reichheld’s book, The Ultimate Question, documents research that he had previously published in the Harvard Business Review, and that research indicates that the most effective survey metric is the response to the question, “How likely is it that you would recommend this company to a friend or colleague?” Reichheld demonstrated that responses to the “recommend” question are the metric that is most closely correlated with business growth because it measures customer loyalty. This Net Promoter Score is determined by subtracting the percentage of surveyed promoters from detractors.
The Ultimate Question and a follow-on book, Answering the Ultimate Question: How Net Promoter Can Transform Your Business, provide valuable advice for business leaders interested in using the “recommend” metric as a customer loyalty measure. However these methods rely on surveys to identify loyal customers and detractors, and even carefully-planned surveys can deliver biased results. Some customers may provide a very strong response to the “recommend” question and never actually recommend the business to anyone. Other customers may provide a negative response, but never actually dissuade other potential customers from becoming customers. There is a gap between stating an intention in responding to a survey and acting on that intention.
There is another non-survey measure that businesses often ignore, but it can be perfectly accurate in identifying loyal customers and detractors. When a business gets a letter of appreciation or a letter of complaint, that letter identifies a customer who feels strongly enough about your business to take action to commend or complain. When a review for your business is posted online, the customer submitting the review has also taken action to commend or complain about your business. If you pay attention to this feedback you receive for your business, you can take action to solidify your relationship with your most loyal customers and you can work to repair your relationship with detractors.
The Net Promoter methods are a great way for your business to improve customer loyalty and grow your business. However, don’t forget that there are other ways to identify your customer evangelists and your critics. IX Brand SEO Services Company can suggest practical ways for you to use this information to grow your business.
Have you used Net Promoter surveys for your business? How well has it worked for you?
