Net Promoter Score Analysis: Digging into the Data
Written by Support EXP
If you’re trying to improve customer loyalty with your brand, you’ve probably heard of the Net Promoter Score (NPS)® (if not, read our article on the basics of NPS).
The metric is a popular way to measure the commitment levels of your customers and help improve their journeys with your bank or credit union.
Generating the numerical score is just the start. To get the most out of your net promoter score, you need to take it a step further with a deeper analysis of your NPS.
Take an honest look at your results, keeping your purpose for measurement in mind: why do you want to improve customer loyalty? What do you want to change about the way you interact with your customers?
With a good analysis strategy, you can transform your NPS from a number on a page to a launching point for improved customer retention.
In this article, we discuss the best ways to analyze your NPS score, compare it with scores of similar financial institutions, and make practical changes that improve the experience for your customers.
Key Takeaways:
- Effective review of your NPS score requires carefully tracking data, finding feedback patterns, and following up with respondents, both detractors and promoters.
- It’s important to remember that NPS can be affected by outside events, so don’t put too much stock in minor data fluctuations.
- There is no one “best” NPS score; average scores vary by company type.
- To get the best NPS score for your business, learn from companies with high scores and focus on your own unique customers, their feedback, and their needs.
- Use data from the NPS along with other metrics and management strategies for the most comprehensive data that gets at the root of any pain points.
- There are plenty of tools available to help you track NPS and improve relationships with your customers: don’t be afraid to use them!
How Do You Analyze Net Promoter Score?
It’s tempting to treat NPS analysis as a short-term game, looking for a quick boost in your score.
However, to truly improve your customer service, you need to carefully track your improvement pattern over time. Don’t just aim for a higher NPS; dig deeper into what the number might represent.
Maybe it’s improved frontline performance, or maybe it’s more five-star reviews and satisfied customers. Look beyond the number and focus on concrete areas of change.
Another important aspect of Net Promoter Score analysis is follow-up.
You need to track the reasons behind a low score and address the causes. Establish timelines for revisiting the problem area, monitor your progress, and reward employees and managers who make effective changes.
A word of caution: while it’s important to analyze your net promoter score carefully, beware of attributing every dip and change in NPS score to your direct responses. Often customer expectations are affected by external events that fall outside the scope of your analysis.
For example, maybe rising inflation has people generally discouraged about retail or their financial situation, or perhaps they’re more willing to tolerate poor customer service because of labor shortages in the market.
While you shouldn’t attribute every change in your NPS to an uncontrollable outside factor, it’s important to keep in mind that external events can influence your survey score.
Net Promoter Score Examples: What Are Good NPS Survey Results
When conducting your Net Promoter Score analysis, looking at examples of successful companies with consistently high NPS can be helpful.
These companies show what’s possible, though you should always take their experiences with a grain of salt. If their industry is very different from yours, you may experience unique obstacles or need to define a lower score goal.
If you’re shooting for a high NPS, it is possible to achieve and sustain it: financial services provider USAA, for example, consistently receives an extremely high NPS at the top of their industry. In 2019, they stood at an impressive 79.
So, what is a good NPS score? It’s more complicated than a single set of results. Some industries are known for overwhelmingly positive NPS survey results, with many happy customers and a very high score across the board when it comes to NPS survey data. Other industries are inherently more polarizing, with more demanding customers who are less likely to give positive feedback about a service or product. If you’re comparing your company’s performance with others, make sure you’re comparing apples to apples! Look at the data and feedback within your industry to get the best picture of NPS data analysis in your niche. While a very high NPS score is great, what qualifies as “good” feedback will vary. It’s better to stay realistic and focus on industry data rather than aim for high business scores that don’t reflect reality for your company.
How to Use NPS survey data to improve a score
So, how do businesses make it to the top?
One strategy is focusing on a narrow market. This allows companies to tailor their services to the needs of their customers.
When analyzing your NPS, learn from companies that achieve consistently high scores. Evaluate what they are doing that makes them stand out in their industry. Identify the key differentiators behind their customers and solutions.
With a well-developed customer experience strategy and a focus on the drivers behind your NPS number, achieving and maintaining high scores over time is possible for your company. It can even improve revenue and help you scale up your company!
How Can I Use NPS Data Analysis Effectively?
When you’re conducting an analysis of your Net Promoter Score, don’t let the scores be the only metric you’re using.
To be truly effective, use NPS as part of a comprehensive customer experience measurement and management program. Consider the NPS score as a good starting point for a more complete strategy that provides solutions for each user.
From this starting point, you’ll want to separate your responses into three categories, based on where they fall on the 11-point Net Promoter scale: the net promoter (with a score of 9-10), the passive, or neutral (with a score of 7-8), and the detractor (with a score of 0-6). You want to maximize your promoters while minimizing the number of detractors. Consider the feedback from each group of respondents: what made promoters give you such a high score? Is there a common thread among answers from detractors? Compile this data and look for trends in the responses from your customers.
When it comes to your competitors’ NPS, be aware of where other companies stand, and learn from organizations that have improved their NPS.
However, don’t make outperforming another company’s number your goal. Instead, spend your time and energy improving your customer experience based on insights from your collected data and feedback. It’s good to keep an eye on competitor data, but if you obsess over matching their solutions and copying their management style, you might lose brand distinction – users might even feel that their experience with your company has worsened!
With this approach, you’ll see your NPS score rise organically, and you’ll see results in the form of happier customers and better reviews.
To properly analyze your Net Promoter Score, remember to keep in mind why you are conducting the survey: what are your goals with your scores? Are there areas you’d like to change?
Then, use the score to help you see where you need to make improvements and help you understand where you’re making progress.
To use the NPS effectively and do the best analysis possible, you should also focus on the areas where high-performing companies stand out.
Companies with loyal customers share a few common traits that you can focus on when you’re working to improve your NPS score.
These businesses offer services that customers actually need, they’re fast and efficient, they provide accounts that are simple to open, and they offer innovative technology and products.
While you shouldn’t focus on all these areas at once, pick one or two at a time to address as you work toward improving your customer loyalty and NPS.
Best Tools for Net Promoter Score Analysis
To effectively analyze your score, it’s important to use good NPS tools that can help you create your digital survey, encourage customers to give feedback, and give you a good overview of the results and what they mean for your business. Below are some of our tips for finding the best tools to create and manage your data.
When Getting the Initial Score
To get an initial net promoter score, you’ll need a platform to host your survey. While in-person and phone surveys have been the top survey choice in years past, today an online survey is usually your best bet for the most customer feedback. Almost everything is online these days, from shopping to ebooks, so conducting your surveys on the same platform will help you get more feedback. It’s convenient, fast, and meets your customers where they’re already spending time.
A well-designed survey is the starting point for a clear view of what your customers are thinking and feeling about you. With so many demands for resources, it’s tempting to go for a basic, in-house survey. But let’s face it – one size does NOT fit all!
Given the wide range of experiences – think of all the touchpoints, the numerous ways your customers do business with you – it’s even more crucial to have the expertise to know what questions should be asked. Without a well-constructed and calibrated research tool, your investment of time and resources might be wasted on findings that send you in the wrong direction!
A useful customer survey is designed not only to ask the NPS question of “Would you recommend us?” but to ask follow-up questions that get to the authentic WHY underlying the customer’s response – the motivation or driver of the customer’s reaction to their experience with you. The best analyses will even mine customer comments to uncover sentiments that might not be detectable based on the scored response. Qualitative feedback – the authentic Voice-of-Your-Customer – can provide a lot of insight from information that isn’t always reflected in the scores.
For Detailed NPS Analysis
It’s critical to conduct a detailed analysis of your net promoter score if you want to get the most out of this metric.
You’ll want to compare the scores with your goals, track down problem areas, and understand where your customers are experiencing challenges.
The analysis process may feel challenging, but fortunately, you don’t have to go it alone.
At Support EXP, we can help you use NPS and other customer experience metrics to diagnose your pain points and create a strategic plan to address them. With a comprehensive plan in place, you’ll have a long-term strategy that produces happy, loyal promoters year after year.
If you want to learn more about how Support EXP can help your business with NPS, in-depth analysis, and consultative expertise, schedule an appointment today!
Have More Questions? Reach Out to Our Team Of Experts
Net Promoter®, NPS®, NPS Prism®, and the NPS-related emoticons are registered trademarks of Bain & Company, Inc., Satmetrix Systems, Inc., and Fred Reichheld.