The 4 keys to driving action with NPS feedback

Companies often struggle to decode customer feedback, which can make it challenging for leaders to take clear action. While Net Promoter Score^® isn’t a quick fix, we’ve identified four key skills that can help you transform your NPS^® from just a number into a clear action plan.

From brick-and-mortar stores to e-commerce, one thing remains constant: providing the best possible experience for your customers is a top priority. This means offering excellent products or services that delight customers and keep them coming back for more.

To achieve this, many organizations use Net Promoter Score (NPS) to measure loyalty and turn negative feedback into positive outcomes; because bad customer experiences are costing your business.

Specifically, 67% of consumers cite a negative experience as one of the primary reasons for switching brands.

To counter this, it’s important you take your NPS and use it to fuel an ongoing program of listening, learning, and taking action.

The four stages of NPS progression

Uncovering who your promoters, passives, and detractors are is only one step of the process. Organizations who use NPS successfully deploy it as part of an overall system with the sole purpose of driving action. What story does it tell about your customer relationships? If the number of promoters you have is increasing, chances are your brand image is on the rise.

Conversely, a massive decrease in promoters could be a warning there’s an issue that needs addressing along the customer journey. To get a sense of different deployment approaches, here are four stages of NPS typically seen across businesses:

• Survey & report: Organizations in their infancy of using NPS dwell on this stage longer than they should. Here, you’ve bought into the hype and have begun asking the NPS question without making any meaningful changes to operational processes, products, or the services you provide. Organizations who stay in this stage risk having their NPS programs either fail or provide little to no impact.
• Ask & respond: As organizations become more comfortable with NPS they install a closed-loop process of responding to feedback. When done right, frontline teams create a constant stream of customer insights that drives improvements.
• Listen & improve: As organizations continue on the NPS path, they begin to understand the drivers behind their promoters and detractors. At this stage, NPS is used in combination with other elements of experience data, from customer interactions and journeys.
• Learn & adapt: In this advanced stage, NPS has moved past being an independent program and integrated into an experience management program. NPS is used to drive the ongoing process of discovery that uncovers leading signals of shifts across customer segments and operation units. Organizations in this use NPS-related insights to drive real-time action and strategic decision making.

Driving Action with NPS

The effectiveness of any NPS program relies on the positive changes and interactions it generates. Without tangible outcomes, NPS becomes merely a numerical distraction. To drive meaningful action, consider the following approaches:

1. Immediate Response

   If you want your customer experience efforts to really shine, make sure you consistently follow up with everyone impacted by an experience. By genuinely listening to customer feedback and examining your data, you can identify the key issues influencing your NPS score and act on customer dissatisfaction right away.

2. Continuous Improvement

   Make regular updates to your operational processes by tapping into a steady stream of both X- and O-data insights. You'll find it easier to diagnose and prioritize areas for improvement if you keep that feedback loop going.

3. Process Integration

   Ensure you are getting the most out of your data by weaving your insights into key operating processes and systems. For example, if you gather employee feedback and analyze it, you can continually enhance and refine your leadership development program.

4. Strategic Decision-Making

   Focus on keeping your customers' feedback at the heart of business decisions. The best way to tackle product investments, mergers, acquisitions, and more, is to follow the insights from the individuals interacting with your brand. This will not only steer you in the right direction but also help you build strong connections with your customers

Some Extra Tips from Us

• Build a loop of listening to understanding and action: When looking back at your VoC program, continually ask yourself, 'What have we learned?' and 'What improvements are we making?' This will help ensure that you stay on the path to customer satisfaction.
• Engage with your customers efficiently: Leverage useful tools for ticket management, status updates, and tracking. This approach will help you address concerns promptly and enhance overall customer satisfaction.
• Break down feedback from detractors and promoters: The factors that create promoters aren’t just the opposite of what forms detractors. By looking at them separately, you can pinpoint specific actions to reduce the negatives and boost the positives.

How we can help

Qualtrics® XM^® for Customer Experience^TM helps organizations to surface customer friction and guide frontline teams in the moment to better serve clients. Our NPS solution is a simple, but powerful platform that will enable you to measure, analyze and improve your NPS across your organization.

Note: Net Promoter, Net Promoter Score, and NPS are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Fred Reichheld, and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.