Love The One You’re With | How Existing Customers Can Fuel Growth
How To Create & Implement A Net Promoter Score Survey
There is something primal in driven people to pursue the unconquered–whether business or personal.
All the while, there is a counter notion said best by Love the One You’re With songwriter Stephen Stills (of Crosby, Stills & Nash), supporting the notion of loving and growing with the ones who love you (if you haven’t heard the song, check it out here). Similarly, Blues artist Johnnie Taylor imparts that it’s Cheaper to Keep Her (song found here). Yet, I digress with my passion for music. Ahem, back to my second love, marketing.
Today, I’m rocking with Crosby, Stills & Nash and rolling with Johnnie Taylor as we apply the concept of sticking with and growing deeper in relationships to our current customers via simple market research. There is potential to grow our businesses by paying attention to the needs, desires, and habits of the customers who already believe in us rather than fishing in the ocean for new fish — which takes so much more time & money.
Instead of allowing the words “market research” scare us, let’s embrace it by asking customers if they like you, and why.
One way to do this is to find out your Net Promoter Score from existing customers and use this information to grow your business.
Developed in 2003 by Bain & Company, Net Promoter Score measures the loyalty of customers to a company with a ONE-question survey asking customers how likely they are to recommend the business to a friend. Once received, you can ask a customized follow-up question for those with positive and negative feedback such as “what do you like about us so much,” or “what can we do to improve your experience,” respectively.
People get antsy when you ask too much of them, which is why this research tactic is widely regarded, used and respected. Ask the one question with a rating scale from 0 (not at all likely) to 10 (extremely likely).
Once responses are in, NPS responses are tabulated into 3 groupings:
- Promoters: These are your people. They responded with a score of 9 or 10.
- Passives: Meh. Customers ranking you a 7 or 8. In their eyes, you’re doing ok. But they are thrilled enough with you or your offering to tell others about you (which serves superior value when our customers are our advocates and true influencers!)
- Detractors: Haters! Haters want to hate, and when they spread their venom they can hurt the good thing you’ve got going on. They rank you a score of 0 to 6. They’re unhappy and will likely not buy from you again, AND what’s worse is that they may tell others about their experience.
Follow these steps to develop your Net Promoter Score survey and get in true relation with your tribe.
Step 1: Use a free survey tool such as Typeform (my fave — so pretty layouts & colors), Google Forms or Survey Monkey. See above Omerge Alliances NPS survey layout.
Step 2: Think of an incentive for people to complete your NPS survey, e.g. complimentary or discounted service, or product or a chance to win a gift card.
Tip: Offering more gift cards will increase participation — think about it. Would you be more encouraged to do something if you had only one chance to win, or a one in 20 chance.
Step 3: Compose the one-question survey, “How likely is it that you would recommend [Organization X/Product Y/Service Z] to a friend or colleague?”
Consider asking ONE follow-up question to rationalize their answer.
Step 4: Test the survey by sending it to yourself. Make sure the Company Name and any relevant branding you’d like to see appears.
Step 5: Press Send! Get it out in the universe.
Step 6: Add it up baby! Calculate your Net Promoter Score.
Subtract the percentage of Detractors from the percentage of Promoters.
For example, if 20% of respondents are Detractors, 40% are Passives and 70% are Promoters, your NPS score would be 70–20 = 50. Your mark is 100, so continue to repeat this exercise annually and aim to get closer to 100.
Spending time doing this may prove a greater time investment than advertising to reach more people. And it may be scary to hear what people think of you and your product. But, knowledge is power. And power propels your business. So, consider giving the NPS survey a shot before launching increased ad & promotional spends.
Use the survey results to inform product or service development, and to understand your customers’ preferences and behavior. If interested in more on this, we like this article from Qualtrics, which also includes some NPS Templates too.
Olivia F. Scott is Assistant Professor of Advertising at Loyola University, Adjunct Marketing Professor at NYU, and Founder of Omerge Alliances Marketing Consultancy. Learn more at oliviafscott.com.
