Net Promoter Score®, we’ve talked about it before, and you know what? We’re doing again! Why? Because NPS, when used right, is a powerful tool for any business and organization. But first, let’s recap.
What is it? NPS is a metric developed in 1993 by Fred Reichheld as a way to measure customer loyalty.
How does it work? NPS is based on a single and simple question: “How likely is it that you would recommend this [company/product/service] to a friend or colleague?” However, we recommend you add an open answer question. This way you allow respondents to elaborate on whatever score they’ve given you and it helps you take action!
How is the score calculated? The NPS ranges from -100 to 100 and it can be seen as a report card for your company, product or service, grading the overall customer experience. Respondents are segmented into three groups according to the rating they gave:
Promoters (score 9 – 10) are loyal and will recommend you to their networks. They are your ambassadors and are therefore more likely to remain customers and increase their purchases over time.
Passives (score 7 – 8) are satisfied for now but your company, product and/or service didn’t leave a lasting or permanent impact. They won’t vouch for you but may mention you within the right context.
Detractors (score 0- 6) are not happy! They will actively spread negative word-of-mouth and tend to be louder (and scarier) than promoters.
What does the score mean?
We find that people often wonder what their score means and how to deal with it. Well, the NPS is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors, therefore a positive score means you have more promoters than detractors and vice versa. To increase your NPS, you have to boost the percentage of Promoters by reducing Passives and Detractors. This gives you a straightforward metric that you can share with your employees and use as a motivation tool to provide the best customer experience possible. 
Nevertheless, if you want to turn your insights into action you should start digging deeper into your NPS. The real value of your NPS is revealed when you start tracking it over time, therefore it’s imperative that you send out NPS surveys after critical touch points, allowing you to identify trends and figuring out what works and what doesn’t.
Identify trends
The trend of your NPS is more important than the score itself. Customer attitudes change constantly and they may depend on various factors, you want to be able to understand and identify NPS trends and make strategies accordingly. For example, a healthy trend would be to see an increase in Promoters among those customers that have been with you the longest. If this is not the case, you might be running the risk of losing long-term customers, meaning that you need to pay close attention to the open-ended feedback and identify the factors that are causing this trend.
Pro tip: Send your NPS survey immediately after the customer has been in contact with your company, product or service. For example, right after customer support solves their query.
Quantify effects of changes to your product or service
By tracking your NPS over time, you can quantify whether changes you make to your product or service affect the customer experience. This enables you to figure out what works and what doesn’t and allows you to address concerns immediately. For example, if your customers are experiencing bugs related to a recent feature release, this might reflect negatively on your customer’s support NPS. Tracking your NPS will reflect this and show that the problem is not necessarily related to your support agents but to the unexpected bugs. Consequently, your strategy will be focused on improving feature releases instead of wasting resources in adding support agents.
With Enalyzer, you can use time series charts to track your NPS over time and get a clear overview of your customer segments. Enalyzer reports show real-time updated data, allowing you to act immediately to your customer’s feedback and therefore improve the customer experience you provide.