thefunnel

NPS (net promoter score) is an interesting and somewhat popular measurement of customer satisfaction and loyalty, but does it work and what does it really mean for B-2-B marketers, and what can they do about it?

Quick definition: Would you recommend a product or service on a scale between 0 and 10. The 9 and 10 are promoters and, 0 – 6 detractors and 7 or 8 are passives. Subtract from promoters, and you have NPS.  A NPS score of 60 – 80% is considered high.

Let’s now look at a few considerations facing B-2-B marketers

• Are you going to include both customers and non customers in the metric? If you do / or not understand why.
• In your industry, does the score vary by your different product categories?
• Is it a measure on service, support or product capabilities or all of the above? How do you know which one to improve?
• What does the score mean for products for which you are the market leader versus products that you are let’s say #3 or #4?
• What do you do when scores are high, but you’re still not gaining market share? How do you reason this?
• If you have a high score can you charge a premium? What about non customers, are they going to pay a premium as well?
• For products which are purchased infrequently how do you make sure that what customers say they intend to do, is what they actually do?

An example (let’s assume small business B-2-B). I own a PC. Certain brand. Would I recommend? Yes, probably =9. Will my next PC be the same brand? Maybe, maybe not, it depends. On what? What else is out there? What the price is? Maybe I just want some variation!The fact is that I don’t consider myself in anyway disloyal, even if I buy another brand. However, maybe the third time around (5 years later), I’ll go back to my first choice, if all things are right.