The Net Promoter Score

What is the Net Promoter Score? What is the NPS? It is a universal number and with a universal question that allows every organisation to benchmark themselves against other organisations. What then is the question? Interestingly, there is an internal staff question and an external client question, but they are basically both the same question.

The internal staff question is – would you recommend others to work in your organisation? This is the question that all internal staff surveys ask the staff to understand the satisfaction of their teams, their divisions, their organisation, and then compare that against other organisations. It does not have to be the same sector. It does not have to be the same market. It does not have to be the same country.

What then is the external client question? It is basically the same, would you recommend others to use services or products or your organisation? Once again, that question can benchmark all organisations against each other. Why then ask that question? This question is important to us because it tells you about attitude and perception and reputation. And it also gives you an opportunity to identify areas for improvement. So, if one division would not recommend it, recommend their friends and family to work there, then you could be working with them to understand why. Why wouldn’t they do that? What do you need to improve?

Don’t get me wrong. We should be asking more questions than this just one question. However, this is what the Net Promoter Score is. It is recommended that all organisations ask their staff this question every quarter and break it down by division, by team, by function so you can track the trends. And it is recommended that you ask all clients at the end of your interaction, would they recommend your product or service?

We often get those emails that say, how would you rate us? Well, that is what that data is. That data is collecting feedback. The really good feedback often then will prompt you to give the company a Google ranking or a Google comment or a Facebook comment, which is fantastic for marketing and promotions for your organisation. And a poor response will go straight to their customer service team for them to contact you to understand exactly what happened and how can they improve your customer experience.

So are you actually asking this question now? Are you asking the Net Promoter Score? If not, why not? Because it will give you some good point in time data that you can use to then act.