Method category: Evaluative product experiment

How to Use This in GLIDR

The Net Promoter Score Survey is a simple way to measure customer loyalty and growth potential with a one-question survey that may involve follow-up questions to learn more.

In GLIDR, an NPS Survey will be an Experiment that you may want to replicate every 6 months to 1 year, depending on the results and your product's frequency of use. In the Plan phase, set a target metric for the NPS you hope to hit, then move it to Run and send out the survey. Create a piece of Evidence - Other and add links or attachments with your raw survey results. Once it's completed, calculate and write the NPS in Key Insights and move your Experiment to the Analyze phase. In this phase, based on user feedback or other data you gathered, figure out how to update your project accordingly.

Learn more about each of those aspects of GLIDR:

Article excerpted from The Real Startup Book
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The Net Promoter Score (NPS) identifies customer loyalty to the brand or product. The survey uses a score from 0 to 10 to answer the question: “How likely is it that you would recommend [company X or product Y] to a friend or colleague?”

NPS was first introduced by Frederick F. Reichheld in a Harvard Business Review article, “The One Number You Need to Grow.”

Out of a score of 0 to 10, people who give a score from 9 to 10 are considered “Promoters.” People who give a score from 7 to 8 are considered “Passives,” meaning those who are satisfied but not very loyal to your brand or product. People who give a score from 0 to 6 are considered “Detractors.”

The NPS question can be followed up with another question to find out the reason(s) for the score the customer gave. By doing so, the Net Promoter Score can be associated with both qualitative and quantitative results.

NPS tracks loyalty and can identify the ambassadors among your customers. It is commonly used as a simple customer satisfaction metric.

The NPS is not just one question but rather a group of questions probing to understand the customer’s feeling or loyalty towards the company, product, or service.

By understanding the reasons of the scores, you can determine how many people will become ambassadors. It can also determine where your company, product, or service stands in word-of-mouth marketing.

The survey can be sent to customers at one time. The results can be compiled and analyzed in about a week. NPS surveys can be sent every six months or every year to determine changes as well.

An NPS survey is simple and straightforward. You can use third party survey companies such as Survey Monkey or traditional pen-and-paper methods. You can even just send the question via email to your customers directly.

Many companies send NPS questions together with other survey questions to save time and resources.

By understanding the reasons why customers are loyal to (or recommend) your company, product, or service, loyalty economics can be calculated.

While there are some variances in the interpretations of an NPS result, the original NPS score calculation is achieved by subtracting the percentage of respondents that are labeled “Detractors” from the percentage of respondents that are labeled “Promoters” like this:

NPS = % of Promoters – % of Detractors

However, interpreting the scores is only half the benefit of the NPS questionnaire. The second part of the “Why” question is equally important if not more than the actual NPS itself. Understanding the reasons why your customers may or may not promote your company, product, or service can lead to breakthrough insights.

By understanding the “Why” components of NPS surveys better, you can identify which customer segments are more valuable and what do they want more from your company, product, or service. Moreover, you can also identify the reasons certain customer segments become detractors or passives.

The timing of sending the NPS questionnaire to customers can lead to biased results. For example, if you sent out the survey shortly after you have upset several customers, they will not give high scores. Likewise, if you have recently made several customers happy, they will rate your customer, product, or service higher.