The pressure to engage in data collection and analysis to produce metrics for your company can be overwhelming. The myriad points of data you may be encouraged to collect are even more overwhelming. But what metrics will actually help you gauge your company’s success as it relates to customer service and, ultimately, growth?
For some time, there has been a lot of talk about the Net Promoter Score®. This score is derived by asking the customer a single question: How likely are you to recommend [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][your company] to a friend or colleague? and is accompanied by a numerical scale to rate that likelihood. The resulting scores can be used to determine how many customers fall into recruiter, detractor, or neutral groups. The numbers of these three groups can serve as a snapshot of a company’s current customer satisfaction and potential for growth, but over time, these scores reveal a more telling picture. By continuing to track this data point, you will know if your company is making positive changes (via growth in the promoter category), stagnating, or developing new opportunities for improvement (via growth in either neutral or detractor groups). Having your finger on the pulse of customers’ overall satisfaction allows you to be more nimble and responsive when the need for change arises.
Another vital component to surveying customers’ likelihood to recommend your company is providing the opportunity to elaborate on why a customer is (or is not) likely to recommend your company. Without this answer, a Net Promoter Score® is merely another set of numbers without real depth. With it you have a call to action for areas that need improvement and validation of actions of merit. You also have an opportunity to go the extra mile with dissatisfied customers. Customers can be asked to volunteer contact information, and when detractors choose to do so, it is a best practice to proactively contact them in an attempt to resolve their concerns, forge a relationship with them, and perhaps convert them into a satisfied promoter of your company.
There are other metrics of service you may already be tracking that, when paired with your Net Promoter data, can provide you with greater insight into which behaviors may be routinely contributing to customers’ overall satisfaction. These may be things like:
- Average wait time
- Average response duration
- Average points of contact before resolution
If you find a correlation between overall satisfaction and any of your specific metrics, you can then set benchmarks that make sense for your company and its customer base.
Allow metrics to be a tool for growth for your company rather than endless points of data without substantial meaning and productive goals behind them. Companies like Apple, American Express, G.E., and countless other companies have incorporated metrics like these into their day to day operations to support their success and growth, and you can too.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]