By Gavin Klose
Co-founder, Feedsy
These are questions that small businesses often ask – or should be asking…
How can we improve our business to make life better for our clients? How can we make our business more attractive to new customers (and grow our bottom line)? How can we identify unhappy customers and turn them around to become raving fans? Which clients love us so much they’d be prepared to refer us to others?
The answer is simple: customer feedback.
So why don’t more businesses ask for it?
Many don’t know how or think it is too difficult (so put it in the “too hard” basket).
Whilst others find it too awkward to ask.
Well, the good news is: asking for customer feedback can be easy.
There is a simple and well tested method to ask why happy clients love you and even better, whether they are prepared to recommend your services to someone else? This same method also ascertains how happy clients are with your services (and why), and whether there are any problems that need fixing.
And the constant feedback helps businesses improve what they do and how to promote it.
This method is called: the Net Promoter Score (NPS).
What is ‘Net Promoter Score’ (NPS) and what Makes it Special?
NPS was created in 2003 by customer loyalty guru Fred Reichheld based on his research in measuring customer satisfaction, customer retention and its link to revenue growth and profitability.
It is estimated that NPS has been adopted by over two thirds of Fortune 100 companies.
So, what is it?
NPS is a simple survey tool designed to gauge a customer’s satisfaction.
What makes NPS so special is how straightforward it is. NPS is based on a single question:
How likely is it that you would recommend our company/product/service to a friend or colleague?
Why is NPS Typically Used?
According to leading research, NPS gives you an overview of how your company ranks in terms of customer experience. In other words, this one question gives you a good indicator of the goodwill–and hopefully greatwill–you’re generating.
NPS helps you leverage greatwill with referrals and identify flaws in the customer experience to then improve them.
When to Use NPS
Use NPS after you have provided a customer experience. Whether you’ve offered them some advice, fixed an issue or after hosting an event, you’re in a great position to capture their feedback with the hope of converting it into referrals, and learn how you can improve your score 9and your business.
You’re also giving an unhappy customer a private channel to raise and resolve their concerns without them making their dissatisfaction public on social media!
How to Use NPS
Using NPS is simple.
First, you’re asking clients two broad questions (usually via email):
- “How likely is it that you would recommend us”; (1-10, 1 being unlikely, 10 being extremely likely) followed by:
- “Why did you give that score?”
Then, you divide your responses into three groups based on the score revealed.
- NPS 9-10: very satisfied and likely to refer you. These are leads you should follow up for referrals and further feedback.
- NPS 6-8: carefully consider their feedback and advise them if you make changes because of it.
- NPS 1-5: consider contacting the customer to discuss their experience/concerns, and advise them if you act on the feedback to improve your service.
This one score shows you which customers are possible referral leads and offers improvement insights as you build your business.
Feedsy is currently trialling FeedsyNPS which automates the entire NPS process:
- Asking for the NPS
- Asking why the score was given
- Thanking the scorer
- Asking for and facilitating a referral (for scores of 9 or 10)
- Providing the NPS feedback to the business.
Feedsy can help automate your Net Promoter Score with its affordable FeedsyNPS.
