You already use the Net Promoter Score℠ (NPS®) methodology to track your customers' relationship with your product, but what do you do with that indicator afterward?
Asking customers for feedback and finding out how willing they are to recommend your company is the first step, and congratulations on implementing this methodology.
Now it's time to define how you will use the collected data to improve your service – or even your product!
Here you will learn how to use the NPS index in a practical way. This article is straightforward and will cover:
- Review of the initial concept of NPS® (with a link to more in-depth free material if you are interested in better understanding this method);
- Practical tips for closing an inner loop; and
- Practical tips for closing the loop with the client.
If this is what you were looking for, you've come to the right place! Without further ado, let's go?
NPS®: What is it really for?
As you well know, NPS®is the most commonly used method for measuring and tracking your customer's recommendation levels for the product or service you offer them.
The reason it's so common is that it's a relatively simple method to apply and can be used as a success indicator for the entire company. It's based on the simple question:
On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend this solution to a friend or colleague?
Because it's quick to answer, this short question receives a high response rate from customers. Another great thing is that you quickly find out how many of your customers are detractors (score of 0 to 6), neutrals (score of 7 to 8), or promoters (score of 9 to 10) of your brand.
Great, isn't it? Yes, it is, but of course, what matters most in the end isn't the sample size or the research results.
What really matters is what you and your team do with that result. We use the expression 'closing the loop' to describe this action of using the result for both internal and external purposes.
How do you currently use the NPS® indicator?
Before you start thinking about a new part of your NPS® closing-the-loop process, I invite you and your team to ask yourselves: what does the current process look like?
If you already perform some type of loop closure, even without an established process, it's time to put it on paper.
Or perhaps in a spreadsheet. Here are some questions that can guide you and your team in this analysis:
- What action is taken based on each piece of feedback received through your NPS®?
- Is any particular action taken when we identify detractors?
- How do you and your team work to transform neutrals into promoters?
Based on this, you can create a small table and record the actions currently being taken. This table is just to help you better visualize the situation.
Now that you have an overview of the current situation, it's time to really start defining internal and external processes that will transform the status of each detractor or neutral into that of a promoter!
NPS®: How to perform external loop closure
External loop closing is what you need to do with the customer. As you can probably imagine, closing the loop is synonymous with tying up loose ends. In other words, it's the moment to finalize the NPS® cycle.
I decided to separate loop closure suggestions according to each of the three statuses. After all, each one demands different actions! Shall we begin?
Closing the loop with promoter customers: show gratitude
The goal of closing the loop with promoters is to make them feel valued for their feedback. According to them, there isn't necessarily any improvement that needs to be made to their solution, but that doesn't mean their opinion is worth less than that of another customer.
satisfaction with your company is the most valuable thing you have, right? That's why when you receive positive feedback, you should value it, of course!
There are some very simple and effective ways to show your gratitude to them, here are a few suggestions:
Give as a gift
How about showing your gratitude with a reward? If you already have some merchandise or even a gift coupon, now is a good time to use it.
Perhaps a small gesture of appreciation is enough to completely surprise your client and end up in a prominent spot on some social media platform!
Ask for directions
Your client is satisfied with your service and probably thanks you for the day you delivered exactly the solution she needed!
This is a great time to remind her that she may have friends with a similar problem to the one she had before meeting you. In other words, she could recommend your services to help a friend who has a similar need.
Tip: To further encourage this referral, you can give her and her friend a bonus.
Suggest a customized upgrade
If your client already likes your solution as it is, then they'll like it even more with an upgrade, right?
And you don't even need to give it away for free. Since your promoter customer already knows the value of your business, they're a perfect candidate for an upsell. But of course, you can't just suggest any upsell.
Since you also know and value your promoter customer, it's important that you demonstrate this by suggesting an upgrade that makes perfect sense for them right now.
So take a good look at how this customer has been using your solution and suggest an upsell that is useful and generates value for them!
Closing the loop with neutral customers: demonstrate value
Your neutral customer is in a make-or-break moment. And probably leaning more towards break. The fact that this customer doesn't love your product means they may be open to trying any competitor's product.
Furthermore, the indifferent attitude of this type of customer makes them difficult to identify, as they are the least likely to respond to surveys. Now, the question is:
What can you do about it?
Show that you care about them and try to help them use your solution in the best way possible. The biggest factor that generates indifference in customers is that they don't see enough value in your product to consider it indispensable!
This means that your role is to work towards generating that value. It's likely, for example, that these clients don't know how to use your solution properly or simply haven't taken the time to explore it.
Here are two actions you can take to correct this:
- Give a guide about your product as a gift;
- Offer a guided tour of your solution to answer questions.
Closing the loop with detractors: make them love you!
Red alert. Your detractor client probably already wanted to churn with you but hasn't yet. So, get ready to put in the effort!
Closing the loop with them means understanding the reason for their dissatisfaction with your product or service and finding a way to resolve it. It's time to regain the trust that person placed in you by becoming your customer: use all your creativity!
But where to begin?
This client must be experiencing a specific problem, so the first step is to understand that problem. My suggestion is to take this opportunity to personally contact this client. Or, send a well-crafted email that includes:
- Thank you for the feedback;
- My apologies for the inconvenience;
- A clear demonstration that you will strive to solve the problem; and
- One or two questions to help identify what the problem might be.
At the end of the email, remember to thank them for the opportunity to resolve this situation and offer your availability for a phone conversation, should they wish.
With the customer's response in hand, you can plan your next steps to regain that customer's trust.
The challenges that may have led your client to become dissatisfied with your company can be numerous. Therefore, the ways to solve them will also be numerous. If the problem is a lack of information or difficulty using some part of your product or service, for example, you can send guides or even teach them what can be done in a video conference.
Use your creativity and remember to learn from the situation and report these difficulties to your team – thus closing the loop internally as well.
If you are unable to solve the problem, you can show your helpfulness and suggest a simple solution to the client – even if it has nothing to do with your company. As contradictory as it may seem, this transparent way of handling the situation will likely make them feel valued and regain trust in you.
NPS®: How to perform internal loop closure
You've already discussed the feedback received with your client and kept them informed of the actions taken – now it's time to bring that information to your team.
Closing the internal loop is a way to transform the experience with that customer into learning for the entire company. And, as we've already discussed in other materials, the goal of closing the internal loop is simple: to optimize and improve the quality of service provided.
Before you start building an internal loop closing process, it's also important that you scan the current process. To do this, you can answer a few questions:
- What lessons have we learned so far based on customer feedback?
- How were these lessons learned implemented?
- How does the team communicate improvements made based on customer feedback to the internal team itself?
Now that you have an overview of how the information obtained from your NPS® is used today, it's time to think about how you can use this information even better. Some ways that companies around the world use this data are:
- Recording ideas from customers to take into account when planning the product roadmap;
- Create internal churn prevention processes based on data analysis from NPS®;
- Create internal upsell processes based on cross-referencing data between NPS® and product usage; and
- Create referral campaigns for new customers based on NPS® data.
Each of these ways to close the NPS® looprepresents a huge opportunity for your company to grow consistently and become increasingly data-driven. After all, with decisions made based on data, you and your team end up refining your internal processes with precision.
Conclusion
If you're not already actively using your NPS survey results, it's time to act! Start now – and feel free to share this article with your team so everyone understands the importance of this post-data processing step.
NPS is a registered trademark, and Net Promoter Score℠ and Net Promoter System℠ are service marks, of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc. and Fred Reichheld.